Eduardo Marques, is now part of the Vice Chair Membership of the Research Committee 21. Marta Arretche, CEM’s Director, is also Vice Chair of RC-05 (IPSA)

CEM’s researcher, professor Eduardo Marques, assumes as Vice Chair Membership of the Research Committee 21 (The Research Committee for the 21st Century), of ISA, board 2010-2014. Director of CEM, professor Marta Arretche, since 2009 is Vice Chair of RC05 (IPSA) for Comparative Studies on Local Government and Politics.

The on-going scientific activities of the ISA (International Sociological Association) are decentralised in Research Committees, Working Groups and Thematic Groups, each dealing with a well recognized specialty in sociology. These groups bring together scholars who wish to pursue comparative research on a transnational basis and they constitute basic networks of scientific research, intellectual debate and professional exchange.

Research Committee 21 (RC21) is a committee of ISA considered on a global level as the most important group of specialists on Sociology of Urban and Regional Development. It was established three decades ago to promote theory and research in the sociology of urban and regional development, and - in so doing - create an international community of scholars who will advance the field. The RC-21’s network activity is considered of the most relevance because of the promotion of advance on academic fields. Today Eduardo Marques is Vice Coordinator of the National Institute of Science and Technology of Metropolitan Studies.

Also established on the 1970s, Research Committee 05, of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), has as major objective supports international comparative meetings and research projects. Its main objectives are: to develop research in political science, especially work based on international co-operation; to organize and maintain personal contacts among political scientists with common interests from around the world; To disseminate information and publish scholarly research and to provide a framework between individuals and organizations concerned with teaching and research in political and other social sciences.