CONSIRT Cross-National Studies: Interdisciplinary Research and Training Program

CONSIRT is an organization established in 2008 through an agreement signed by the President of The Ohio State University (OSU, USA) and the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN, Poland). The OSU-PAN MoA was renewed in 2023 for a 5-year period. CONSIRT links institutions and scholars across countries and disciplines who are interested in advancing the field of methodology for comparative research in the social sciences. This involves members from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, and many European countries. CONSIRT’s mission is to stimulate interdisciplinary cross-national research, train graduate and undergraduate students and promote and manage an active network of institutions and scholars from across disciplines, fields and countries. Involvement of faculty, students and alumni in events and publications is a priority. Over 100 OSU faculty, students and alumni participated in our events, and many contributed to publications in high-quality academic outlets.

Website: consirt.osu.edu

CONSIRT Projects

Common projects link PAN and OSU faculty, from the Departments of Sociology and Political Science, the Mershon Center, the Department of Human Sciences and the Slavic Center, especially. Examples of currently funded projects are NAWA PROM Short term academic exchange (USD ~ 220,000; NAWA BPI /PRO/2024/1/00020/DEC/1), Structures and Futures: Polish Panel Study POLPAN 1988-2023 (USD ~ 533,000; NCN 2022/45/B/HS6/04090), Sustainable International Growth in Doctoral Education (USD ~ 540,000; NAWA BPI/STER/2021/1/00030/U/00001), Visions of a Post-Pandemic Society via Street Protest in Poland (USD ~ 200,000 2021/43/B/HS6/01155). CONSIRT organized 14 international conferences and 15 international workshops next to many sessions at major international conferences.

Recent CONSIRT-led international, interdisciplinary events include:

Comparative Analyses Using Multi-Source Databases: Insights from the Survey Data Recycling (SDR) Project, May 9-12, 2023, OSU Main Campus. Resulting publications: Survey Data Harmonization in the Social Sciences (edited volume. First published 2023, Wiley; onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781119712206).

Harmonized longitudinal data on social structure: Polish research in a cross-national perspective, December 1-2, 2021, Warsaw, Poland. Resulting publications: Poland: Thirty Years of Radical Social Change (2024; Brille).

Politics and Inequality across Nations and Time: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches, Warsaw, Poland, December 12–14, 2018. Resulting publications: Special Issue, International Journal of Sociology (2021; doi.org/10.1080/00207659.2021.1946947), Special Issue, American Behavioral Scientist (2020 64(9)), Edited volume Gender Quotas in the Post-Communist World: Voice of the Parliamentarian (Warsaw: IFiS Publishers).

Democracy, the State and Protest: International Perspectives on Methods for the Study of Protest, May 11 – 12, 2017, OSU Main Campus (co-organized with the Mershon). Resulting publications: two Special Issues of the American Behavioral Scientist (2021).

CONSIRT hosted 104 OSU students in the annual OSU Study Abroad Summer School in Poland that provided training in social statistics, independent research, and the politics of Central and Eastern Europe. In 2014-2019, OSU students in this program won over $98,000 in research grants and fellowships.

CONSIRT manages major external grants, including on panel survey data, ex-post harmonization of survey data, political voice and economic inequality in comparative perspective, and other substantive research projects. External funding is key to CONSIRT activities.

CONSIRT Management Structure

Kazimierz M. Slomczynski

Kazimierz M. Słomczyński

Irina Tomescu-Dubrow

Irina Tomescu-Dubrow

Joshua Kjerulf Dubrow

Josh Dubrow

CONSIRT Steering Committee

The Steering Committee provides CONSIRT administration with professional advice and guidance on strategy design and supports them in identifying means to achieve CONSIRT’s objectives. As part of this process, the Steering Committee helps CONSIRT administration identify the needs of CONSIRT’s founding units, and evaluates the actions that CONSIRT proposes in response to these needs. The Steering Committee also evaluates CONSIRT as a whole. The composition of the Steering Committee reflects the participation of OSU and PAN institutes in CONSIRT and CONSIRT’s strive for excellence in both methodological and substantive interdisciplinary research.

From OSU: The Chairs of the Departments of Sociology and Political Science and the Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

From PAN: The Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology (IFiS) of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), and the Director of the Graduate School for Social Research that links three PAN Institutes; IFiS, and the Institutes of Political Studies and Psychology.

CONSIRT Funding Sources

CONSIRT administrative activities are funded by the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). Since 2008, PAN is supporting the positions of Program Directors and Program Coordinator, by building them as a percentage (30%) of the PAN academic positions of the Program Directors and Program Coordinator.

CONSIRT research, training and networking activities are funded through external grants and with generous support from the Polish Academy of Sciences. Various OSU academic units, including the Mershon Center, the Center for Slavic and East European Studies, the Departments of Political Science and of Sociology, and the College of Social Work, have provided some resources for specific events.

CONSIRT Offices

Department of Sociology The Ohio State University
136b Townshend Hall 1885 Neil Avenue Mall
Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Telephone: +1 614 292 8078

Institute of Philosophy and Sociology Polish Academy of Sciences
Room 211
72 Nowy Swiat, 00-330 Warsaw, Poland
Telephone: +48 22 657 2755