History of the GHES Department

The GHES Department was created following the founding of Université Paris 7 in 1971 – which subsequently became Université Paris 7 – Paris Diderot – on the Jussieu campus. Its name at the time was GHSS (Geography, History and Social Sciences) and its objective was to create a multidisciplinary environment in the social sciences. GHSS was home to geographers, historians, economists, sociologists and legal experts. Throughout its initial years, however, the social science unit separated from GHSS to form its own standalone department.

The GHES Department gradually created its three units, but allowed a majority of the research laboratories to continue their interdisciplinary research, thereby making their findings available to other disciplines.