The Department of Human and Social Sciences recognizes the complexity of the human being and his/her psychological, social and educational connections with history and the natural world as the focus of its scientific research and its ‘philosophy’ of education and training.

The Department’s active research focuses are in the areas of education, psychology, social and anthropological disciplines as well as motor and sports sciences.

The Department is closely linked to the reality of the numerous accredited public and private personal services in the Bergamo area, with which numerous research and teaching collaborations are active (tutor hosting, seminar conferences, third mission, partnership calls). The scientific results achieved by the research groups are communicated, discussed and reviewed in the scientific community not only through publications, but also through seminars, conferences and workshops of national and international relevance.

The working groups and disciplinary areas of the Department also mainly support the teaching staff of the Doctorate in Human Sciences and Welfare Innovation, which aims to train young researchers capable of working with an interdisciplinary approach in the human and social sciences, enhancing the diversity of research methodologies: qualitative, quantitative, mixed, based on participatory and experimental perspectives.

The Department's educational offerings consist of Bachelor’s degree programs in Education Sciences, Motor and Sport Sciences, and Psychological Sciences, one-cycle Master's degree program in Primary School Education and Master's degree programs in Pedagogy Sciences and Clinical Psychology (also in English) and in Science, Methods and Didactics of Sport.

Together with the Department of Humanities, Philosophy, Communication, the Department of Human and Social Sciences is also involved in the Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and the Master of Arts in Philosophy and History of Natural and Human Sciences.

Mission

The Department of Human and Social Sciences has as its strategic objective the promotion of high quality educational, cultural and scientific actions in the different fields and areas of research, aimed at training the people involved, according to an epistemological and methodological approach based on personalised didactics, interdisciplinarity and the pedagogical principle of alternating training.

Thanks to these characteristics, the Department proposes a stimulating and innovative training offer capable of qualifying at a high level the skills necessary to practise the educational, psychological and social professions in today's globalised and intercultural world. A world in which the intergenerational balance is changing due to demographic causes, in which communication and production technologies play a strategic role and in which a significant effort is required to renew the traditional approaches of the welfare, health, education, production, cooperation, social and consulting services institutions.

For these reasons, in addition to the traditional teaching and research activities, a growing commitment is being made to actions aimed at increasing the relationship with the various territorial organisations (institutional, social, educational, entrepreneurial, cooperative, etc.), fostering reciprocal contamination and greater involvement in the activities and life of the Department and vice versa.