Events

German Jewish Thought, Critical Theory, and the Global South

17/06/2026 - 18/06/2026, Essen | hybrid

What is missing in the histories of German Jewish thought and of Critical Theory is a sustained account of their relations to European imperialism and colonialism. This workshop asks how apparently non-systematic references irritate established meanings, allowing the Global South to penetrate into European philosophical modernity.

Editorial Politics: Transmission and Reception of Religious and Confessional Knowledge in the Ottoman Empire

18/06/2026, Essen | hybrid

The workshop explores how religious knowledge is transmitted through texts and images as they move between manuscripts and printed forms, and how these processes shape meaning and interpretation. The focus is on authority, authorship, and inter-communal relations in the multi-confessional Ottoman Empire in the 18th century.

Die Geschichte des Ruhrgebiets bis 1914. Buchvorstellung & Gespräch

22/06/2026, Essen | Event in German | Essener Wissenschaftssommer

Wie ist das heutige Ruhrgebiet entstanden? Der erste Band der Buchreihe 'Geschichte des Ruhrgebiets' zeichnet die Entstehungsgeschichte der Region von der Frühen Neuzeit bis zum Beginn des Ersten Weltkriegs 1914 nach. Die Herausgeber*innen Nicolai Hannig und Ute Schneider und Historikerin Anne Friedrichs beleuchten bei der Veranstaltung unter anderem, wie die Lebenswelten der damaligen Bevölkerung…

Rechtsextremismus als Hype? Zur Radikalisierung junger Menschen in den Sozialen Medien

23/06/2026, Essen | Event in German | Essener Wissenschaftssommer

Die Bildungswissenschaftlerinnen Nicolle Pfaff und Wivian Weller zeigen anhand von ausgewählten Social-Media-Inhalten auf, wie länderübergreifende ideologische Vorstellungen des Nationalismus und der sozialen Abwertung von Gruppen zum Bezugspunkt jugendkultureller Praktiken werden.

Heat and Health: Bodies, Environments, and Unequal Thermal Worlds

26/06/2026, Essen | hybrid

Extreme heat is linked to illness and increased mortality. Both harmful and therapeutic uses and effects of heat are unevenly distributed across societies. This workshop examines heat as an embodied and sensorial experience that shapes health and illness, exhaustion, recovery, and care. A second focus lies on the approach to heat in health governance: how do different conceptions of heat – as…

Children Who Work: Child Labour from Multidisciplinary Perspectives

03/07/2026, Essen | hybrid

Child labour is still prevalent, particularly in the Global South. This workshop aims to deepen the understanding of child labour from an interdisciplinary and international comparative perspective. The focus is on socio-economic structures, legal frameworks, and historical aspects.

Sustaining Academic Freedom: Ilia State University and its Academic Partnerships with Germany

07/07/2026 - 08/07/2026, Essen

Organisers: University Alliance Ruhr & Ilia State University (Georgia)

The conference brings together representatives from academia, university management, funding organisations and civil society from Germany and Georgia. The focus will be on current developments in the Georgian higher education sector, the importance of academic freedom, and prospects for future cooperation and support measures.

Women as Victims or Perpetrators of Violence: An International Perspective

09/07/2026 - 10/07/2026, Essen | hybrid

This workshop aims to gain a better understanding of how women experience or shape the nature of violence and victims in different cultural, social and economic contexts. Researchers and practitioners from both the Global South and the Global North will examine the intersections of gender, culture and violence; agency, context and legal issues; and aspects of resistance, resilience, coping and…

Working across the Borderlands: Epistemic Recognition for Interdisciplinary Research

09/07/2026, Essen

Workshop for researchers working in interdisciplinary spaces

Why is some knowledge easily heard – and other knowledge easily overlooked – in interdisciplinary work? In this participatory development workshop, the team of the Borderlands project introduces epistemic recognition – and invites participants to help build it.

Neo-Emotions: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Feelings and Change

16/07/2026, Essen

The concept of ‘neo-emotions’ is based on the idea that our emotional range changes over time and in context. Not only have the meanings of classic terms such as anger, happiness, or embarrassment been transformed, but new kinds of emotions have also emerged. This workshop brings together scholars from different disciplines to examine how feelings become established emotions, which conditions…