2026

Philip Murawski, alumnus and operator of the cultural café KUKURYKU, was annoyed. Time and again, he hears people complaining about each other, senses elbows being pulled out and observes viewpoints hardening. "I thought to myself: Man, you have such cool people in your ranks, why don't you have a chat with each other?" Driven by this thought, he and Laura Gerards Iglesias from the Institute for Conflict Management (IKM) developed the "We need to talk" format, in which actors from politics and the city come together to discuss the most controversial topics possible. After three events, their assessment is mixed.

Natalie Freiin von Beust was awarded the Joseph T. McLaughlin Original Student Article Award on 12 February 2026 for her final thesis on the opportunities and risks of third-party financing in international arbitration proceedings. The International Centre for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR) honoured the Viadrina graduate at its annual conference in San Diego. Natalie von Beust studied Mediation and Conflict Management at Viadrina from 2023 to 2025. She is now a litigation lawyer and dispute resolution expert in Nuremberg.

Annika Kühn received the 2025 Research Award from the Society for Dance Research for her final thesis. She completed her Master's degree in Soziokulturelle Studien in 2025 with the thesis supervised by Prof. Dr Stephan Lanz. The jury praised the fact that her findings make a valuable contribution to questions relating to the body, resistance, empowerment and community from post-migrant and feminist perspectives.

She studied and did an internship in South Africa, taught German in India and coordinated the programme work of the Goethe-Institut in Central Eastern Europe in the Czech Republic - today Luisa Rath-John manages the Goethe-Institut in Los Angeles. She explains why studying Cultural Studies has opened up the world to her and what challenges she is mastering in Los Angeles far away from the film sets. She also gives current students advise for an international career.

How can science communication about Eastern Europe succeed? This was one of the questions Kuwi graduate and journalist Nancy Waldmann discussed with Michael Thumann, long-time correspondent for DIE ZEIT and an expert on Russia and Eastern Europe. The workshop discussion with young academics was organised by the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies (VCPU) on 12 January 2026.

Dagmara Jajeśniak-Quast has been Professor of Interdisciplinary Polish Studies at the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics since 2014. She is also head of the Viadrina Centre of Polish and Ukrainian Studies (VCPU). However, her connection to Viadrina goes back to its beginnings: she was one of the first students to enrol when the university was founded in 1992. In this interview, she talks about these pioneering years, her personal journey across borders and the future of Viadrina as one of the most international universities in Germany.