The IISH organizes the ESSHC once every two years. The conference does not have a central theme and welcomes papers about all periods and subjects. The main objective of the conference is to introduce historians who use the insights and techniques from the social sciences to social scientists that focus on the past in their research and vice versa. The conference is advised by the Advisory Board.
The ESSHC is patterned on the annual conventions of the American Social Science History Association. The programme revolves around 28 thematic networks that address various subjects. Colleagues from the Netherlands and abroad serve as network chairs and are driving forces in elaborating the programme. This approach is conducive to organizing interdisciplinary panel sessions for an interdisciplinary and international audience.
The first ESSHC took place in 1996 in Noordwijkerhout. Followed by conferences in 1998 and 2000 in Amsterdam and in 2002 in The Hague. For the fifth European Social Science History Conference it was decided to extend the trans-border scope of the conference beyond its substance. In 2004 the ESSHC took place outside the Netherlands for the first time. The ESSHC was successfully organized at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. For the 2006 we returned to Amsterdam. About 1330 participants enjoyed the discussions held in about 325 sessions. In February 2008 the conference took place in Lisbon, with a record number of 1600 participants. See also the reports and photos of past conferences. For the programme of the 2008 conference please click here