Standards to uphold

Anthropology emerged in Latvian academia just over a decade ago. Since then, this discipline has gained a prominent place within the Latvian social sciences, providing quality methodologies for a range of subjects from law to love. The success of this branch reflects the specific nature of social sciences in Latvia – most of the research is relatively small-scale, with a distinctive close-up approach, where a single researcher or a small team combines qualitative and quantitative data analysis. You could say that it is like precision medicine for social issues.

Outside of academia, the social sciences are dominated by applied and market research. Strong links with Northern European academic traditions and best practices are maintained by the presence of Scandinavian higher education institutions, like the Stockholm School of Economics and the University of Copenhagen, the latter is represented in the doctoral programme at the Riga Graduate School of Law. Otherwise, international cooperation increases year on year, including the use of local data for international comparative research and social science competences for other disciplines.