António Sousa Ribeiro has just been elected to the position of Director of the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra (UC). Coordinator of the CES Executive Board since 2013, he is a full professor at the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures (German Studies) of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra (FLUC) and CES researcher virtually since its foundation, in 1978.

António Sousa Ribeiro succeeds Boaventura de Sousa Santos, professor emeritus at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra, who served as Director of CES since its creation, a time throughout which the Centre became the largest institution in Portugal in the area of  social sciences, arts and humanities, garnering unrivalled international recognition and hosting a vibrant community of 800 people (researchers, postdoctoral researchers, doctoral students, junior researchers and staff).

Boaventura de Sousa Santos, from now on director emeritus,  leaves office at the time CES comprises a body of researchers internationally recognised as highly qualified; its annual budget is close to 6 million euros; 90 research projects are being funded by national and international entities; over 650 annual publications are produced; more than 400 events are annually organized, affecting more than 17,000 people; 13 ongoing PhD programmes with CES as a partner scientific institution, with more than 450 PhD candidates; a consolidated administrative service structure, including a reference Library, with 30 motivated and competent staff members; and when FCT's direct financial dependency ratio is only 23% (programme funding).

António Sousa Ribeiro, during his career as professor and researcher, held several positions at FLUC, such as president of the Scientific Board (2000-2002) and director of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures (2009-2011), and at CES, where he was Editor of the Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais (1991-2008) and President of the Scientific Board (2003-2007). He is currently co-coordinator of the CES/UC PhD programmes in «Discourses: Culture, History and Society» and «Post-Colonialisms and Global Citizenship».

António Sousa Ribeiro has researched and published extensively on topics of German literature, comparative literature, literary theory, cultural studies and postcolonial studies, studies on Modernism and studies of violence, culture and identities. He has also been active as a literary translator and was awarded the APT/SPA Grand Prize for Literary Translation in 2017.