School of Political Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is a state institution that was founded in 1925. It is the largest university in Greece hosting 7 faculties organized into 33 schools, as well as 5 single school faculties and 4 independent schools. 

The School of Political Sciences was founded in 1999. Through its programmes of study (undergraduate and postgraduate) and its multiple research activities, the School of Political Sciences is concerned with the study of political phenomena: political institutions, processes and antagonisms. It cultivates and attempts to disseminate the theoretical and empirical tools necessary for the scientific analysis of the structure of, and relationships between, collective and individual identities within organized society. 

The programmes of study of the School of Political Sciences are characterized by the required balance between theory and empirical analysis in order to achieve a rigorous and multi-layered approach towards political action and political structures. It aims at producing graduates capable of describing and interpreting identities, relations, ideologies and policies, and of supporting decision-making processes in the public sphere. Above all else, it serves and encourages the exercise of critical thought in the spirit of academic freedom that ought to characterize such a democratic institution as a public university. 

The professors and researchers of the School of Political Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki who work for ELNES have been collecting data both on the Demand Side (voter studies) and the Supply Side (candidate studies) of politics since 2007. In addition, ELNES is in close co-operation with the Voting Advice Application HelpMeVote which have been applied in Greece and other countries with great success.