ICS Institutional Brochure

HISTORY The history of the ICS began with the creation of the GIS - Gabinete de Investigações Sociais (Social Research Office), which was founded in 1962 by Adérito Sedas Nunes.GIS became important above all through its innovative thinking on the obstacles to the economic,cultural and social development of Portuguese Society which was disseminated in the journal Análise Social . The social sciences flourished in Portugal after the political changes of 1974 and the transition to democracy.Taking advantage of the return of numerous exiles, the GIS increased its staff numbers and diversified its research on epistemological and methodological issues in the social sciences,as well as on the recent history of Portugal. Other innovations in this period consisted of major topic-based conferences, pioneered by the GIS-ICS, which led to publications which were hallmarks of their time: O Século XIX em Portugal (The Nineteenth Century in Portugal) (1979), O Movimento Operário (The Workers' Movement) (1981), A Formação de Portugal Contemporâneo (The Making of Contemporary Portugal) (1981), A mulher em Portugal (Women in Portugal) (1985). Multiple scientific publications - a fundamental feature of the institution - were also the product of this context. In 1982 the GIS became part of University of Lisbon and changed its name to Instituto de Ciências Sociais . In 2002 the ICS achieved Associate Laboratory status with the Fundação para a Ciência e aTecnologia (Foundation for Science andTechnology - FCT) and took on the institutional profile it has today.