In accordance with the statutes, CES has two Monitoring units aiming at analyzing and assessing the activities organized by the Centre, producing detailed annual assessment reports: The Internal Monitoring Unit and the External Monitoring Unit. The Internal Monitoring Unit consists of five members appointed by the Scientific Board; the External Monitoring Unit is formed by three to six renowned scientific experts, of which at least two operate in international units.

The current Internal Monitoring Unit members are:

Ana Oliveira
Clara Keating
Cláudia Pato de Carvalho
Patrícia Vieira (since October 2023)
Pedro Hespanha
Tiago Santos Pereira (March 2022 to October 2023)

The External Monitoring Unit members for the period 2020 - 2022 and 2023-2025 are:

Alessandra Capuano - Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"
Jacqueline Descarpentries – Université Paris 8
Mary Layoun - University of Wisconsin–Madison
Mikael Rask Madsen - University of Copenhagen

James Wilsdon – University College London (2024-2025)

Sue Scott – Newcastle University (2020 – 2023)

The previous Internal Monitoring Unit for the period 2019-2021 was composed by:

Ana Cordeiro Santos
Gonçalo Canto Moniz
Miguel Cardina
Pedro Hespanha
Silvia Rodríguez Maeso

The former External Monitoring Units were composed by:

2016 to 2019

Maria José Fariñas Dulce – Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
Matthieu de Nanteuil – Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Roberto Vecchi – Università di Bologna, Italy

2013 to 2015
Goran Therborn - University of Cambridge - United Kingdom
Gurminder K. Bhambra - Social Theory Centre of the University of Warwick - United Kingdom
Wanda Capeller - Institut de Sciences Politiques (Sciences-Po, Toulouse) - France

2009 to 2012
Benjamin Tejerina - Universidad del País Vasco - Spain
Ramon Grosfoguel - University of Califórnia, Berkeley - United States of America
Teresa Cruz e Silva - Universidade Eduardo Mondlane - Mozambique

Every year, the two Units hold several individual and joint meetings, produce reports and provide recommendations based on the previous year’s Activities Report and on the Activities Plan for the following year. The External Monitoring Unit visits CES regularly and meets with the governing bodies and with CES research community.