Conferences and summer schools

Conference, 11 and 12 June 2026

From voice assistants and generative AI to the evolving relationships between humans and their animal companions, language-based communication with non-humans is becoming an increasingly common feature of the everyday. In response, we are seeing a surge in research from linguistics to philosophy to the social sciences, investigating the meanings, quandaries, and realities of this new communicative terrain. This conference aims to build a bridge between the predominantly distinct fields of human–animal and human–machine communication in order to jointly investigate the similarities and differences in our communicative practices when languaging with non-human others.

The conference is organized by the DFG-funded Emmy Noether research group “Posthumanist linguistics? Communicative practices between humans, animals, and machines” (team: Prof. Dr Miriam Lind (PI), Marlén Jacobshagen, Hannah Sawall).

Venue: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Germany

Language: English 

Festival with workshops, talks and scientific perspectives - open to everyone, 18-20 June 2026

The Fake News Festival brings together science, practice, and the public to examine disinformation, artificial intelligence, and the future of our information society from diverse perspectives. In keynotes, lectures, and workshops, experts from research, media, politics, and civil society discuss how AI is changing the creation and spread of fake news, what risks and opportunities are associated with it, and how we can better recognize and counter digital manipulation.

The festival is aimed at everyone who wants to understand how disinformation is created, why it works – and what role AI plays in it. The goal is to make knowledge accessible, to stimulate debate, and to create space for exchange, questions, and new ideas.

The festival can also be attended by school classes or groups.

Venue: European University Viadrina, Collegium Polonicum, various locations in the twin city

Languages: German and English

Conference, 25 - 27 June 2026

Manor or country houses are iconic symbols of European cultural landscapes, combining history, culture, architectural and natural beauty. Many now serve as rural tourism destinations, transforming from elite residences into commercial attractions mainly for the middle class. In the framework of the conference the development of the manor houses as a tourist destination and its historical transition to becoming ‘public property’ should be highlighted first. How did some manors become famous for their gardens, libraries and collections, and how did they establish themselves as hubs of knowledge transfer? Who was actually willing to open up their home, why, and for whom?

The second part shall be dedicated to the sense of manorial tourism in our times. The prospect of a vacation in a castle may well be enticing and often evokes romanticised ideas of aristocratic life. The public's expectations are quickly identified and, of course, catered for. While this approach can be economically necessary – given the high maintenance costs – it risks reducing these sites to ahistorical, nostalgic fantasies, isolating them as middle-class enclaves.

The conference is being organised by the Chair of Cultural Heritage Studies at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).

Ort: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Große Scharrnstr. 59, Room 109 (Senatssaal)

Language: English

Summer School, 6 - 17 July 2026

This Summer Course will deal in detail specifically and exclusively with the European system for the protection of human rights. Although there are numerous summer courses and other special study programmes within Europe on human rights protection, this course concentrates on an integrated treatment of the various European systems and of specifically European issues of human rights protection, that is, with important matters relevant to over forty European countries with diverse political, economic, and social systems. The subject matter, therefore, includes human rights protection under the regimes of the Council of Europe (the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter), the European Community, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (Helsinki Accords), as well as that on the universal level of public international law to the extent it is relevant. The treatment of the substantive regimes and their specific rights catalogues will be set against the background of a consideration of the philosophical, historical, political, economic, and sociological aspects of human rights, and include practical institutional matters such as complaint procedures as well as developments such as in the area of ‘New Rights’.

Practical and contemporary issues, such as the protection of human rights in situations of war or civil disorder, will also be addressed.

This comprehensive course has been organised by and will be presented by a dedicated group of experienced experts and teachers from universities in eleven European countries, co-ordinated by the Viadrina European University Frankfurt (Oder) (Germany). The other participants are the Universities of Poznań (Poland), Barcelona (Spain), Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Aberystwyth, Milton Keynes, Lancaster (United Kingdom), Bochum (Germany), Maribor, Kranj (Slovenia), Szeged (Hungary), Vienna, and Salzburg (Austria).

Venue: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Conference, 17–18 September 2026

The COST Action CRICULT (CA24125) invites contributions to an international conference dedicated to the role of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in times of crisis and its impact on tangible heritage. Cultural heritage is increasingly affected by a wide range of crises, including climate change, armed conflict, forced migration, political instability, and rapid socio-economic transformation. While much attention has been devoted to the protection of tangible heritage, the loss, transformation, and instrumentalisation of intangible heritage—including traditions, languages, rituals, and knowledge systems—remain underexplored, despite their fundamental role in shaping cultural identity and sustaining material heritage.

Within CRICULT, Working Group 4 (WG4) focuses on the crisis of intangible heritage, emphasizing how the erosion of cultural practices and knowledge systems can directly impact the preservation, meaning, and continuity of physical heritage environments. A special focus of this conference will be on Intangible Religious Heritage, addressing the specific
challenges arising at the intersection of religious practices, legal frameworks, spatial environments, and processes of secularisation, transformation, and politicisation. To complement the academic discussions on Intangible Religious Heritage, a research trip to Neuzelle Abbey will be organized, offering participants the opportunity to engage directly with a significant site where intangible religious pract ices and tangible heritage are deeply interconnected.

This conference aims to bring together scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to explore how crises affect intangible heritage and to contribute to the development of interdisciplinary frameworks and policy-oriented solutions, in line with CRICULT’s objective of building crisis and solution matrices for cultural heritage protection.

Venue: Collegium Polonicum Słubice, Poland

Language: English

Final Conference from 29 September to 2 October 2026

As an overarching research initiative under the leadership of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), the project is dedicated to the current challenges facing the European Union and examines possible counter-strategies. The project entitled "ValEUs. Research & Education Network on Contestations to EU Foreign Policy" is funded by the EU Commission as part of the Jean Monnet Policy Network (JMPN) for three years from January 2024 with 1.2 million euros.

The ambitious project, which involves 20 partner institutions from 17 countries on five continents, analyses the foreign policy of the European Union and its contested values. The third and final conference of the research initiative will take place at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder). More information will follow.

Venue: European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)

Language: English

Save the Date: Conference, 10-12 September 2026 (postponded until March 2027)

Participation - Opportunities, Challenges and Limits of a Democratic Mediation Practice

Objectives, content, methods and forms of history education are on the programme of the interdisciplinary conference of the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies (VCPU) for multipliers of historical-political education in museums, memorials, schools and universities.

Venue: European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)