Conferences and summer schools

Conference, January 30 to February 2, 2025

In January 2009, over 30 language centre directors from a variety of European institutes of higher education came together in Wulkow in Brandenburg, Germany to discuss the key issues and challenges facing them, their centres and their parent institutions. This initiative, started by the Director of the Language Centre at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), has resulted in an annual meeting ever since.

Each meeting focuses on a specific theme and examines a range of topics. The conclusions, compiled in the Wulkow Group Memoranda, reflect the view of a wide range of institutions, represented by a leading community of practice. European Language Centres in Higher Education foster not only successful language teaching but also act as a driver for mobility, employability and intercultural communication.

Aims of the 16th Wulkow Meeting: "Beyond Languages?"

Our language departments and centres have been constantly faced with ever varied demands from the learning community around us. We have embraced this. Over time, our core business has transformed significantly. What once primarily involved traditional language instruction now encompasses a broad spectrum of innovative teaching methods, digital resources, and interdisciplinary approaches. This evolution bears witness to our dedication to remaining relevant, learner centreed and effective in a constantly changing educational landscape. Indeed the very boundaries of our work are continually being challenged, redrawn and redefined. We are no longer confined to the conventional classroom setting; instead, we engage learners through online platforms, immersive experiences, and collaborative projects that bridge cultural divides. These shifts not only respond to the needs of our learners but also push us to explore new frontiers in language education. This Wulkow workshop entitled "Beyond Languages?" will give us an opportunity to take stock of the changes we have dealt with and hopefully give us some insights into how better anticipate the next ones.

Contact: post@viadrina-dialog-transfer.gmbh

Location: European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)

Conference, 28 March 2025

Discourse on diversity in organisations, political processes and society as a whole is controversial. Many people experience them as polarised - and this polarisation causes many people great concern. This conference invites professional conflict workers, especially mediators, to jointly illuminate, reflect on and discuss which approaches seem appropriate for a constructive
dealing with the reality of social diversity. To this end, we will focus on privileged and marginalised diversity categories, group affiliations and identities. We also focus on conflicts that are triggered or exacerbated by very different political and ideological starting positions. In doing so, we will also take a look at the values-based attitude and social position of those involved in the conflict.

We will address the following questions, among others:

What are the characteristics of diversity-sensitive and power-critical conflict management?

To what extent is it legitimate and consistent with their role for mediators to make their personal values and socio-political positionings visible?

What are the (methodological) consequences of this?

How can privileges, ascribed power and power asymmetries be dealt with? What role do the conflict mediators' own conscious and unconscious privileges play here?

Where do mediators reach the limits of their impartiality and openness to results - and what does this mean in concrete terms? Do certain positions lead to leaving the framework of mediation?

Do certain forms of conflict management in certain controversies inhibit necessary social development? How can conflict management support and promote social change?

In the morning, distinguished speakers will introduce facets of this controversial topic with keynote speeches. In the afternoon, parallel focus groups will work on various aspects of diversity and value-based positioning in conflict resolution.

Location: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Time: 10 am to 6 pm

Conference, 3 - 4 April 2025

The ecological crisis has far-reaching effects and manifests itself in many different ways. This is also evident in the controversies and debates it is sparking: There are still voices that trivialise the predicted consequences of climate change or relativise or completely deny the influence of human activity on the climate. Others, on the other hand, are firmly convinced that the consequences of climate change will be devastating and that the causes (and solutions) are to be found in human activity alone. (...)

The different ways of seeing and acting point to the thematic complexity and conflicts that currently characterise society with regard to itself and the future of its environment. The conference will therefore look at various materialist discourses and discuss their conceptions of nature, culture and agency. The focus will be on their potentials as well as possible difficulties with regard to their practicability in the face of the ecological crisis. What could such conceptualisations contribute to change in this regard and what might they not? What role does the way in which they are communicated and presented artistically or in the media play in all of this? The aim of the conference is to make a contribution to bringing theory and practice together.

Deadline Call for Papers: 27 December 2024

Location: European University Viadrina, Senate Hall (Room 109), Große Scharrnstraße 59, 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)

Conference languages: German and English

International Conference, 22 to 23 May 2025

The VCPU Annual Conference 2025 is dedicated to the conclusion of the 7-year research project "Mod-Block-DDR" and to the focus on the current and future challenges of Polish and Ukrainian studies at the European University Viadrina. Both events are marked by the terms "modernization" and "transformation": The summary of the research results on socialist modernization in the GDR and the People's Republic of Poland, their achievements and blockades, serves as a stimulus to discuss the political, economic, social and cultural transformations of the region of Central and Eastern Europe, especially East Germany, Poland and Ukraine, which have been underway since the 1980s. We would like to dedicate a special place to Ukraine as a new space of modernisation changes (migration, opening to Western Europe, integration with the EU) and socio-economic transformation that began with the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war. This opens up the diverse theoretical and methodological possibilities of Polish and Ukrainian studies: interdisciplinarity, which is based on historical, political and cultural studies and brings together the cooperation of scholars from Germany, Poland and Ukraine. The conference thus offers the opportunity to present new research results in the field of Polish and Ukrainian studies, to create new paradigms and to strengthen cross-border scientific dialogue.

Further information will be published soon.

Location: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Language: English