Ulf Brunnbauer

Prof. Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer holds the Chair of Southeast and Eastern European History at the University of Regensburg and serves as Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS). He leads the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies and directs the IOS since its 2012 founding as a merged entity of the East and Southeast Institutes.

His academic journey includes a PhD from the University of Graz (1999) on Rhodope Mountains household structures, followed by habilitation at Free University Berlin (2006) on Bulgarian communist social policy. He has authored/co-authored major works like History of Southeast Europe (2023) and edited the Southeast European Studies series and Southeast Research journal.

Research focuses on 19th-20th century Balkan social history, migration, labor history, historical family structures, and the global context of Southeast Europe. Methodologically, he integrates social history and historical anthropology.

He oversees the IOS as a Leibniz Association member, driving interdisciplinary research on Eastern and Southeastern Europe’s sociopolitical landscapes.