Catégorie : Congrès

The General Assembly of the Comité international des sciences historiques (CISH) has elected a new Board

At its congress marking the centennial of its founding on 14 May 1926, the Comité international des sciences historiques (CISH), the international organization of historians, held its General Assembly in the presence of 41 delegates from national committees and affiliated organisations.

In accordance with the association’s constitution, the General Assembly elected a new Board. CISH had received a total of 13 candidatures. All the candidates proposed by the Nominating Committee — composed of Catherine Horel, Edoardo Tortarolo, Katalin Szende, Veronica Zárate, Tomasz Schramm, Radhika Seshan and Olafunke Adeboye — were elected by the General Assembly. With 3 former members of the Board and 11 new Board members the 14 members of the Board offer a large geographic, gender and thematic diversity.

Members of the new Board:

1. Sacha Zala (President, Swiss Society for History) – former
2. Katalin Szende (Commission for the History of Towns / Hungarian National Committee) – former
3. Matthias Middell (German National Committee) – former
4. Gabriela Pellegrino Soares (Brazilian and Chilean National Committee) – new
5. Radmila Švaříčková Slabáková (Czech National Committee) – new
6. Anne Conchon (French National Committee) – new
7. Tyson Retz (International Committee of the History and Theory of Historiography) – new
8. Mahmood Kooria (International Consortium for Oceanic History) – new
9. Joanna Wojdon (International Society for History Didactics / International Federation for Public History) – new
10. Irene Gaddo (Italian National Committee) – new
11. Tamar Herzig (The Historical Society of Israel) – new
12. Milos Vojinovic (Serbian National Committee) – new
13. Kimberly Welch (American Historical Association) – new
14. Elina Ziehm (International Students of History Association) – new

The new Board will serve the next term, continuing CISH’s mission of promoting historical scholarship and international cooperation among historians worldwide.

The General Assembly elected Sacha Zala as President.
Zala is Director of the research centre Dodis (Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland) and Professor of History at the University of Bern. He joined the CISH Board as Treasurer in 2017 and served as President of the Swiss Society for History (SSH) from 2012 to 2026. He succeeds Catherine Horel of France, who was elected President of CISH in 2022.

In his acceptance speech and the closing speech to the Centennial Conference in Leipzig, Zala outlined four priorities for his term:

1. Complete CISH’s institutional reform, professionalise its structures and secure the financial resources required for its long-term sustainability.

2. Strengthen cooperation among CISH members, particularly by forging closer ties with National Organisations and deepening collaboration with Affiliated International Organisations.

3. Further develop CISH’s international congresses, making them more dynamic, financially sustainable and attractive to historians worldwide.

4. Defend academic freedom and strengthen CISH’s role as the world organisation representing historians and promoting international scholarly cooperation.

Presse release F/D/I

In 2021 the GA chose Jerusalem for the venue of the International Congress of Historical Sciences to be hosted in 2026. Because of the ongoing war in the Near East, in 2024 it was decided to postpone the congress to 2028 and to host a Centennial Congress in Leipzig in 2026 instead. However, the circumstances in the Near East since then even have worsened. The Israeli National Committee thus informed us about its desire to step back from organizing the Congress in 2028 as the circumstances in the Near East simply do not allow its organization in the near future (Letter and Response). CISH is deeply committed to the idea that international scholarship and dialogue can foster mutual understanding as well as reconciliation. In this spirit, we hope that someday it will be possible to host a CISH-Congress in Israel, and we sincerely thank Professor Shmuel Feiner and all our Israeli colleagues for their efforts in these past months.

Considering said developments, the CISH Board invites its members to submit candidatures for hosting the next International Historical Congress in 2029 or 2030. Candidatures must include a concept, letters of support of the hosting institutions and the government as well as a preliminary budget. Please send your candidatures to office@cish.org until 31 May 2026. A public Q&A will be held on November 28, 2025, 13:30–15:30 CET via Zoom. Please inform office@cish.org about your intention to participate in this Q&A to obtain a link. Supposing that the new Constitution will be enacted, a set of candidatures will be selected in the GA of 2026 in Leipzig. The Presidium will then conduct negotiations with the respective National Committees; the final decision will be taken by the CISH-Board.

For the celebration of CISH’s 100th Anniversary, we invite all National Committees, International Organisations, and Internal Commissions to contribute to the project of recording a series of short videos, each no longer than 4 minutes, to spotlight the activities and contributions of each member committee/commission/organisation. These videos aim to showcase the diversity and impact of CISH’s members while celebrating a century of advancing historical scholarship and collaboration worldwide. The project will be coordinated by the International Federation for Public History and the resulting videos will be published on the new website of CISH. 

There are two ways to participate in creating the videos:

1. Record on Your Own: You can create the video at your convenience by answering the questions provided in this form. This approach allows you to take your time and produce the video in your preferred setting.
2. Meet with Jimena Perry: Schedule a meeting with Dr. Jimena Perry, Project Manager of the IFPH Explorers, at jimenaperry@gmail.com. During the meeting, she will guide you through the questions and record the video for you.

Both options are designed to make your participation as seamless as possible while celebrating CISH’s milestone anniversary.

For more details about the proposed format and content of recordings, and to schedule the recording session (between September 1 and December 15, 2025) please visit the link with a simple on-line form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1SZ2LQxP3RRmH3O83_qSGkMhf991JDKNCjTfzgYi5y0c/viewform

In case of any questions please contact Jimena Perry at jimenaperry@gmail.com