These research groups, together with IES proseminar program provide a substantive intellectual focus for many of the short-term exchanges between U.S. and European scholars. Below is a list of past and presently functioning convenor groups. The Political Economy of International Finance research group is chaired by Barry Eichengreen, Jeffry Frieden, and Andrew Rose. This research group is jointly sponsored by the Weatherhead Center and the Institute of European Studies Center for German and European Studies with the goal of promoting cross-disciplinary research on the causes and consequences of international monetary and financial relations. Its meetings, which alternate between Harvard and Berkeley, bring together prominent scholars from social science disciplines with an interest in political-economic analyses of international money and finance.
Meetings feature the presentation and discussion of research in progress by group members.
The Political Relations and Institutions research group takes a more historical and institutional approach to the current changes in Europe. These groups ran sequentially, simultaneously, and in overlapping years, as indicated below. Currently, the Institute has put out an official call for new proposals in this convener group. The founders of CGES recognized that Europe's transformation would be characterized by dissolving and contested political, ideological, and territorial boundaries that would have a profound impact on European society and culture. Two of the most important of these include the process of rapidly changing political identities and the rise of a multicultural Europe.