Research
The Nanovic Institute promotes and supports research on a broad range of issues relating to the social, cultural, political, economic, and religious dynamics of Europe. The Institute is particularly interested in research that has implications for contemporary debates about European unification and division, though the concept of unification is not restricted to any particular period. The Institute promotes interdisciplinary projects that, like that transcend a focus on any one country, state, or people to stimulate new ways of thinking about Europe as a whole.
To see projects in one or more particular research areas, use the buttons provided below.
- Religion & Secularism
- Movement of Peoples
- Social & Political Geographies
- Patterns of Integration
- Revolutions
Recent Acquisition: First Edition Frankenstein (1818)
Rare Books and Special Collections shares news about an original 1818 edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Asylum in Austria
This spring, the Institute funded a faculty-led seminar to Salzburg to explore the complex phenomenon of asylum seeking in Europe.
Neapolitan Theatre in Europe
In conversation with Francesco Cotticelli, Distinguished Visiting Italian Fulbright to Notre Dame in spring semester 2017.
Visiting in Spring 2017
Literary historians Francesco Cotticelli (Università della Campania) and Károly Pintér (Pázmány Péter Catholic University).
Populism in Italy Today
A conversation with Lucia Manzi, a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, on Italy and populism today as we prepare for the January 30th current events...
Faculty Research: Summer 2016
Eight Nanovic fellows received funding to conduct exciting and innovative research projects this summer in Europe.
Architecture Longa, Vita Brevis
The premise that somehow Italy’s venerable buildings and urban fabric are inherently fragile is, at best, an exaggeration.
Religious Liberty in France
In the story of religious liberty in France, Ernest Renan (1823-1892) holds an influential and complicated place.
Russia's Failed Revolution
Leading scholars of the Russian Revolution meet in Rome to take into account new information from freer access to previously closed Soviet archives.
Peace for Ukraine?
Dmytro Sherengovsky, the Nanovic Institute's visiting scholar, answers a few questions about his work and his home country of Ukraine.
Cultural Transformations
An interdisciplinary group focused on cultural revolutions in Europe has a proven track record of award-winning publications and national awards.
Anthropologist and Film Professor Launch Innovative Multimedia Book on Irish Islands
The abandoned island of Inishark off the coast of western Ireland is coming to life again thanks to new technology—a multimedia book project by Notre Dame anthropologist Ian Kuijt and...
ND and Fulbright
Distinguished US-Italian Fulbright Scholars reflect on "The Humanities in a Global Context" at a Nanovic gathering in Rome. Papers are online here.
Illuminating Modernity
Do we have adequate histories of European secularism? New translations in philosophy and theology by Nanovic fellows challenge the narrative.
Housing the Migrant
Europe's tent cities are disasters. Are there better ways of housing asylum seekers? A panel exploration and a remarkable new proposal.
Protean in Tsarist Russia
Johannes Ambrosius Rosenstrauch (1768-1835) lived a cosmopolitan, protean life. What does this tell us about the social geography of Russia?
Roman Forum, 2014+
How will future generations perceive a common world heritage? Scholars digitize the Forum for the first time and reflect on the implications.
Social Ecology of Violence
Why does interethnic violence in Europe persist across generations? A major empirical study by scholars at Notre Dame and Milan has answers.
Sources of the Civic
How and why are Catholic European universities involved in the civic formation of their students? A conference in Rome, with papers online here.
Islam and Literature
What is the place of Islam in contemporary European literature? Muslim and Muslim-born writers gather to reflect together for the first time.
Migration, Housing, Borders
Physical conditions are often staggeringly bad in Europe’s “tent cities,” which are intended to house migrants and asylum seekers. Can they be improved in the short term? In the longer term,...
Sharia and International Law
Nanovic fellow Emilia Justyna Powell (Political Science) has been awarded a Muhammad Bin-Laden Visiting Fellowship at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies for April 24 - June 18, 2016. During her...
Cosmopolitan Russians
Alexander M. Martin, Nanovic Fellow and Professor of History, was awarded the 2013 Marc Raeff Book Prize for Enlightened Metropolis: Constructing Imperial Moscow, 1762-1855. The prize, given by the...
The Theatre of Interfaith Love
Disheartened by anti-Muslim rhetoric that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Anne García-Romero resolved to write a play that explored the intricacies and nuances of interfaith love, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence....
ND Expert: Open more, safer legal ways into the EU to deal with refugee crisis
Each day seems to bring a troubling new chapter as Europe confronts a staggering refugee crisis. On Thursday (Aug. 27), 71 refugees were found dead in the back of an...