The Department of Political and Social Sciences (DiSPeS) is the result of the union of the Department of Political Science and the Department of Human Science, both of which have always expressed the interests, research proposals, and methodologies of such disciplines. By joining the two 'historic' departments into a common organizational structure, the role of the two sciences has been strengthened, both within the university context and in the university's relations with local institutions, regional research centers, and the city's civic, cultural, and economic entities.

DiSPeS hopes to become common ground for the meeting of professors, researchers, and working groups planning on working in synergy and with an interdisciplinary approach on topics related to the political and social dynamics of our society, and especially on the management of the economy, public and private finance, cultural organizations, and the tertiary sector. The university's surroundings and its citizens, seen as a sociopolitical community in a European context and interconnected with the international community, remain the primary grounds for analysis and research.

Political and social dynamics, the matters of public administration and organizations, international relations, and other complex phenomena require hybrid knowledge, which the new department hopes to enhance in the integrated form. Anthropology, economics, philosophy, geopolitics, law, linguistics, politology, psychology, sociology, and history are the disciplines dealt with at the department's research centers, which, in turn, are directly involved with the educational and developmental processes in our society.

It is on these disciplines, and in harmony with the challenges of our scientific community today, that DiSPeS hopes to offer joint project and research work on social aggregation, political structures, international dynamics, cultural and educational processes. The new department intends to promote empirical methodologies aimed at acquiring, processing, and interpreting both qualitative and quantitative information.  Data on our social and political realities in theoretical and historical analyses of current issues with particular reference to social change, territorial dynamics, political transformations, and cultural phenomena are also among the department's priorities.

By giving special emphasis to cooperation with other universities, research bodies, and international and European organizations, the new department hopes to take active part in the transformation processes of our times. This can be carried out by making the results of our research available through specific networks and by offering consultancy and specialized services to entities and agencies involved in the organization of life in our communities. 

With regard to didactics, the department offers undergraduate degree courses in Political and Administrative Studies in Trieste and International Science and Diplomatic Relations in Gorizia. Graduate degree courses are in Government and Public Policy in Trieste and in International Science and Diplomatic Relations in Gorizia.