Agnese Cimdiņa appointed Head of RSU Social Sciences Research Centre

Agnese Cimdiņa, who holds a PhD in Social Anthropology and has extensive international experience in the academic and private sectors, as well as in the diplomatic service, has taken up the post of Head of the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Social Sciences Research Centre (SSRC).

Cimdiņa has obtained a master’s degree and a doctoral degree in social anthropology from the University of Bergen in Norway. Her professional path has been closely linked to cooperation between Latvia and the Nordic countries, including her position as Senior Advisor at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Latvia, where she focused on developing bilateral cooperation in such areas as research, education, entrepreneurship, green innovation and social development.

For many years, she has been researching, advising and training organisations, with a particular focus on organisational culture, collaboration, intercultural understanding, diversity management and inclusion.

Her research interests include Nordic cooperation, human capital and organisational development, issues of sustainability and resilience, as well as the interplay between culture, business and the environment in international contexts. Agnese is the author of several publications, including the monograph ‘Searching for Sustainability in the Arabian Deserts: An Anthropology of Markets and Oil’, which is based on her postdoctoral research in the Middle East.

The Head of the SSRC emphasises: 

The social sciences help not only to understand the processes taking place in society, but also to recognise the interplay between people’s experiences and perceptions and technology, medicine, organisations, institutions and broader societal changes. I see the SSRC as an environment in which we can develop this knowledge through interdisciplinary and international collaboration, while strengthening both academic excellence and the practical significance of research for society.

It is a genuine pleasure, and also a great sense of responsibility, to begin working alongside the centre’s researchers and colleagues at RSU.’

As Head of the SSRC, Cimdiņa will continue to develop the centre’s research capacity, promote interdisciplinarity and international cooperation, as well as strengthen the link between the social sciences and issues that matter to society.

We will talk more about Agnese’s professional journey, her views on the role of social sciences in today’s society and her plans for the development of the Social Sciences Research Centre in an RSU interview.