Department of Ethnic Studies
Department of Ethnic Studies is a structural unit of the Institute of Sociology at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences.
The activities of the Department for Ethnic Studies date back to 2002, when the Ethnosociology Division was founded at the then Institute for Social Research. Natalija Kasatkina, a well known Lithuanian sociologist, was the founder and long-time head of the division. In 2021, following the reorganisation of the institutes of social sciences, the Lithuanian Social Research Centre became the Institute of Sociology of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, and the Ethnic Research Institute was renamed to the Department of Ethnic Studies and operates as a division of the LCSS SI. The main focus of its activities – the research on ethnosocial processes.
Department of Ethnic Studies and its scientists conducts the social researches, monitors and examines the situation of ethnic minorities, migrants and other vulnerable groups; collects and analyses the data from government institutions, non-governmental organisations and other sources about the preconditions and problems of integration in employment (employment relations), education, legal acts, housing, social security, and health care; collects and analyses data on racist violence and crimes; and develops specialised studies on the issues of discrimination of various social groups. Since 2003, the Institute for Ethnic Studies has published the scientific journal Etniškumo Studijos (Ethnicity Studies). Department of Ethnic Studies is the national division of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in Lithuania.