Understanding contentious politics: theory and practice of social movement research
Organizing Committee
Organized by the Center on Social Movement Studies (COSMOS) of the Scuola Normale Superiore, the School is funded by the PNRR through the MERITA, the network for talent project*.
Date: 11 - 15 May 2026
Location: Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzone di Cortona (AR)
Total hours: 35
Max participants: 20
Language: English
Application deadline: 20 February 2026
Target audience: Graduate/Master’s/PhD students and early-career researchers
Contacts: cosmos@sns.it
The Summer School is open to 20 graduate and master’s students, as well as PhD candidates or early career researchers with a specialised interest in protest from different fields of study, including political science, political sociology, political communication, and political anthropology from Europe and beyond.
Description
The School will focus on how to analyse present and past forms of grassroots participation activated by social movement actors at the local, regional and transnational level. More in general, it aims at disseminating knowledge on how to investigate processes and mechanisms that sustain mobilisation. Grassroots participation has been at the centre of the public and political debate in the last decade (covering a range of issues, from anti-austerity to climate, from feminist to solidarity with Palestine). Massive popular protests have deeply impacted national and global politics. The emergence of new protest movements requires scholars to reflect on the research strategies and methodologies that are employed to study grassroots participation. The Summer school addresses this gap discussing how to apply the main theories and methods in the social sciences to investigate social and political mobilisation.
Over five teaching days, the Summer School will feature thematic sessions, participant project presentations, and feedback, highlighted by two keynote speeches from leading scholars Donatella della Porta (Scuola Normale Superiore) and Rory McVeigh (University of Notre Dame).
The Organizing Committee is composed of Lorenzo Bosi, Donatella della Porta, Martín Portos and Lorenzo Zamponi from the Scuola Normale Superiore.
Application procedure and requirements
Applicants must email a cover letter in which they explain how the Summer school would be beneficial for their research, a 250-word abstract of their proposed paper, and a curriculum vitae no later than February 20th, 2026 to: cosmos@sns.it
Applicants will be informed of the outcome by email as soon as possible. Those offered places must confirm their participation within 7 days, after which places may be offered to applicants on the reserve list.
Students will be required to write and submit a 7,000-8,000 word paper before the Summer School begins. The paper will be then presented and discussed during the Summer School. Students will be also required to complete the mandatory readings for lectures and method sessions and to actively participate in the discussion.
The Summer school is tuition-free: no fees will be required.
Admission to the Summer school includes participation in the lectures, the educational material and lunch on the days when the Summer school takes place. Participants will have to cover for travel and accommodation.
Based on the ranking, 2 scholarships will be awarded, providing a maximum reimbursement of € 300,00 for travel and accommodation expenses.
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* MERITA, the network for talent project is the result of a collaboration between five Italian academic institutions: the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the Collegio Superiore dell’Università di Bologna, the Scuola Galileiana di Studi Superiori dell’Università di Padova and the Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati della Sapienza Università di Roma.
The MERITA project is funded within the Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR), Missione 4 – Istruzione e Ricerca, Componente 1, Investimento 3.4 "Didattica e competenze universitarie avanzate"- "Rafforzamento delle Scuole universitarie superiori". (National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), Mission 4 – Education and Research, Component 1, Investment 3.4 "Advanced university teaching and competences" - "Enhancement of the institutions for higher education").
Photo by Mahmut Yildiz on Unsplash