The first professorial chair at the Department of Political Science was installed as early as in 1936 and was named after the manufacturer, politician, publicist and author Lars Johan Hierta. The first holder of the professorship was Hebert Tingsten and the latest person to hold the professorial chair is Michele Micheletti.

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Since the beginning a total number of 153 researchers have defended their doctoral theses at the Department.

The Department is part of the Faculty of Social Science and harbours today around 40 teachers and/or researchers, about 70 Ph.D. candidates and about ten administrators.

The aim of the Department is to serve as a bridge between science and society. We have comprehensive and close contact with different groups and networks within national and international research.

The efforts of bridge-building between science and society are to a large extent based on the staff's two-sided activity profiles: deep roots in the research and co-operation with colleagues in other countries, and broad contact areas towards media, politics and public administration.