The CEHEC or Centre d'étude de l'histoire de l'Europe contemporaine (Center for the Study of Contemporary European History) was set up in 1987 and, since then, has promoted, under the aegis of the UCL Jean Monnet Chair of Contemporary European History, very many research initiatives, publications, meetings ranging from workshops to international seminars, collective projects and the networking of researchers, lecturers and research centres in Europe.
Since the year 2000, the CEHEC meets on the first Tuesday of the month for a research seminar. Participants are given the opportunity to follow and discuss a contribution, whether by a young researcher or an expert from UCL, from another Belgian university or a foreign institution. Human science practitioners in other fields attend these meetings regularly, thereby helping to enhance awareness and openness to multidisciplinary methods.
Composed of about 30 members, the CEHEC is a tool animating the kind of research that encourages its members to contribute actively to the media on subjects that may also take the form of lectures for a wide public, training sessions and other services on request.
The CEHEC has in its keeping a rich collection of archives and, in close collaboration with the UCL Archives Department, it makes these sources available through an extensive documentary service, thus crowning its role as a scientific and service-provider centre. Its goal is to be a meeting place in the networking of the European research space for the history of European construction, in addition to that of Belgium's foreign relations and its links with other countries, including the former Belgian Congo.
Lastly, the CEHEC has acquired noteworthy experience in the field of biographical research as well as that of networking history.