The Centre for Ethics, Politics and Society (CEPS) is a research structure of the School of Arts and Humanities (ELACH) of the University of Minho created in 2017.

CEPS results from the natural evolution of the Political Theory Group operating since 2008 in the Centre for Humanistic Studies of ELACH (UMinho). The accumulated experience of the Group has resulted in a community of researchers with its own research culture, bringing together teachers from UMinho, teachers from other universities, post-doctoral researchers and doctoral students, and, by effect of its own dynamics, a gradual diversification and expansion.

Currently congregating two dozen integrated researchers and as many others in collaboration, CEPS is the only research centre in Portugal specialised in the fields of Political Theory and Applied Ethics.

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CEPS is a research centre in Philosophy open to contributions from other social sciences and humanities. The adopted theoretical paradigms are those of Ethics and Political Philosophy. These paradigms have undergone a remarkable evolution since the 1970s, forming today an easily recognisable research object with considerable autonomy vis-à-vis other philosophical disciplines. The distinctly ethical-political perspective of CEPS leads to a special focus on social institutions rather than individual behaviour. CEPS is particularly interested in studying and assessing certain types of institutions and practices in the contemporary world from an ethical-political perspective, namely, constitutional democracy, social justice, and technological intervention and their relation to the quality of life of populations. The study of these practices is carried out, respectively, in the light of theories of political legitimacy, of normative conceptions of social justice, and of ethics applied to technology and populations, as well as the historical reconstruction of all these theoretical frameworks. CEPS's research bears therefore a specific characteristic - although theoretically and historically informed in the domain of Ethics and Political Philosophy, it focuses on areas and themes with special social relevance and practical application in the contemporary world.

Equipped with its own facilities in the main building of the School of Arts and Humanities (ELACH), CEPS shares the Vítor Aguiar e Silva Library with the Centre for Humanistic Studies.