Summer Institute for Sexualities, Cultures and Politics, Skopje, 13-18 August‏

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

SUMMER INSTITUTE FOR SEXUALITIES, CULTURES, AND POLITICS:

QUEERNESS, COMMUNITY, AND CAPITAL:
TOWARDS NEW ALLIANCES OF THE POLITICAL

(August 13-18, Skopje, Macedonia)


organized by

Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities “Euro-Balkan”
(Skopje, Macedonia)
in cooperation with
Faculty for Media and Communications at Singidunum University
(Belgrade, Serbia)


CONFIRMED LECTUERS:

• David M. Halperin (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA)
• Jelisaveta Blagojević (Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia)
• Marina Gržinić (Slovenian Academy of Science and Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia / Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria)
• Jamie Heckert (University of Essex, UK)

COURSES OFFERED:

• Queerness, the Political, and Community (Lecturers: David M. Halperin, Jelisaveta Blagojević)
• (Queer) Arts, Culture, and Resistance (Lecturer: Marina Gržinić))
• Queering the General Strike and the Occupation (Lecturer: Jamie Heckert)


ELIGIBILITY AND FEE
Participants should be postgraduate students from the Region of the Balkans: preferably MA, PhD student or young researchers) interested in exploring the issues of Gender, Queer, Cultural Studies, Visual Arts and Humanities and/or activism, and related subjects and disciplines, as well as artists, curators, cultural workers, activists and practitioners from various domains. Participants from all countries are eligible to participate.

TUITION FEES

• 60 euro (includes: full time attendance, certificate, coffe breaks, welcome dinner, reading materials, use of library, free internet, social events; ECTS not included; only students from Euro-Balkan institute and Singidunum University can obtain 3 ECTS upon successful completion of the school)


APPLICATION
Send your application as soon as possible! Deadline: August 2, 2012

Download application form<http://euba.edu.mk/tl_files/Dokumenti/Bilten/Application%20Summer%20Institute%202012%20-%20SUMMER%20INSTITUTE%20FOR%20SEXU
ALITIES,%20CULTURES%20AND%20POLITICS.doc> at our website: http://euba.edu.mk/details-ohrid-summer-university/items/summer-institute-for-sexualities-cultures-and-politics.html

Send your application to: spanayotov@gmail.com<mailto:spanayotov@gmail.com>, slavco.euba@gmail.com<mailto:slavco.euba@gmail.com>

FORMAT
a) Intensive lectures
b) Afternoon seminars
c) Presentations by participants

ACCOMMODATION
Admitted particiants are to organize individually their accommodation. However, the organizers will provide assistance and advice in doing so.

SUMMER INSTITUTE DESCRIPTION

The Summer Institute for Sexualities, Cultures, and Politics is a new permanent project initiated by the Department for Gender Studies at the Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities “Euro-Balkan”, Skopje, Macedonia.

The general aim of the Institute is to gather young post-graduate students, scholars and teaching staff from both Eastern and Western Europe and promote a shared platform for research and trans-disciplinary theoretical reflection on the complex modes of interweaving sexuality, culture and politics, and consequently of exchanging and questioning geopolitically determined discourses in the research of sexualities, gender studies, and queer theory. Our idea is to provide students, scholars and teachers with the opportunity to question, decenter and democratize these areas by way of deferring the notion of theoretical and geopolitical privilege which is often implied by these research areas, and thus to introduce new models of rethinking context-specific phenomena related to sexualities and, vice versa, to enrich theoretical paradigms with context specific phenomena and research.

In this way, the Institute’s long-term goal is to

(1) strategically stimulate the particularization and application of key ideas and theories in sexuality research locally, and to

(2) universalize and popularize crucial and underprivileged positions and ideas on the European level, regardless of the East/West divide which is still central to the development of queer theory and sexuality research.

Our endeavor is not to relativize the embeddedness and situatedness of knowledges about sexualities, but to recognize and disrupt the existing invisible borders that obstruct the free dissemination of ideas as they are being determined by various hegemonic forces – political, educational, economic - in both Eastern and Western contexts of doing academic and artistic work related with our desires, bodies, and sexualities.

The theme of the 2012 Summer Institute for Sexualities, Cultures, and Politics is:

“Queerness, Community, and Capital: Towards New Alliances of the Political”

In its first and founding activity in Summer 2012, The Institute for Sexualities, Cultures, and Politics aims at exploring and reflecting on the complex entanglements of queer theories and practices, the Political, and cultures. We will provide space to radically question the hegemonic regimes of political communities’ institutions/sustenance, as well as the global and regional regimes of thinking neo-liberal forces. Hence, the Institute’s goal is to trace the multiple pathways through which queerness enters or exits the political projects of community constitution, in its various forms: revived nationalisms, communism’s legacy and the European community, on the one hand, and the global neo-liberal markets’ imperatives and their consequent commodification of identities and processes of de-democratization and de-politicization.
Further, departing from such a research framework, the Institute aims towards re-visioning the dominant forms of queer political struggles and strategies of resistance; also, we want to investigate what are the possibilities stemming from queerness and its already existing political embodiments and specific historical experiences? What opportunities there are in various geopolitical contexts to rethink our shared and general categories of politics, resistance, and community?
Thus, by investigating these multiple entanglements, the Institute will be the host of critical and in-depth analyses of the position queer struggles have in the wider context of struggles for social justice, economic redistribution and human rights, and will provoke discussions about the possibility of envisioning and enacting political alliances beyond the narrow boundaries of identity politics and the exclusionary logic and division of recognition and redistribution. Last but not least, we will particularly raise the question how the political influence of queer is being neutralized or re-radicalized in existing and allegedly queer-friendly political settings?
In the course of 18 days, the wide specter of topics that the Institute covers, are to be organized into a programme structured on the grounds of four major subjects. Each programme section includes morning lectures held by prominent scholars from Europe and SEE, reading seminars, joint discussions and participants’ presentations.


Slavco Dimitrov

Activist, Researcher and Teaching Assistant (Hyperactivist and Hyperpessimist)
Tel: ++389 72 519 006

Conference: The Balkan Wars (1912-1913), A Conference to Mark the 100th Anniversary, Oxford, 17-18 October 2012‏

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

THE BALKAN WARS (1912-13)
A CONFERENCE TO MARK THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY
Sponsored by the John Fell Fund and the University of Oxford

Modern European History Research Centre

Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th October 2012

Rees Davies Room ~ Faculty of History ~ George Street ~ Oxford

ALL WELCOME
HOWEVER NUMBERS ARE LIMITED ~ TO RESERVE A PLACE PLEASE CONTACT
tom.buchanan@conted.ox.ac.uk james.pettifer@history.ox.ac.uk jane.cunning@history.ox.ac.uk

This conference will mark the anniversary of a formative event in the modern history of
Europe and open up fresh avenues for reflection on how these conflicts affected the subsequent development of Yugoslavia and the Balkans.
It will thus assist clear thought about the ways in which the historical legacy affects
the present in a troubled region of Europe

Speakers to include:
Keynote Speaker: Sabrina Ramet (Trondheim) ~ Robert Pichler (Graz) ~ Bernd J Fischer (Indiana)
Biljana Vankovska (Skopje) ~ Christian Promitzer (Graz) ~ Michael Llewellyn Smith (Oxford)
Helen Katsiadakis (Athens) ~ Nada Boskovska (Zurich) ~ Eric Weaver (Debrecen)

Conference: Collective Identity and Practices of Citizenship in Postcommunism, University of Wroclaw, 22-23 February 2013‏

CfP: Collective Identity and Practices of Citizenship in Postcommunism,
22-23 FEB 2013
University of Wroclaw, Poland

Large number of postcommunist countries have undergone institution and state building since the start of democratic transition. These have affected issues regarding formal citizenship, but have practices of citizenship changed? The conference invites interested scholars to reflect on dynamics in practices of citizenship across postcommunist states.

We are specifically interested in comparative studies of societies that saw practices of citizenship changing since early 1990s as a result of border changes (including territorial adjustment and dissolution of socialist federations), population dynamics (both demographic, as a result of in and out migration, and resettlement after warfare) and amendments to their citizenship regimes (issuing passports to an ethnic kin folk and provisions for extraterritorial citizenship).

The conference calls on participants to reflect on the impact such structural factors have had on comparative developments in practices of citizenship across postcommunist region. Departing from the discussion on the concept of citizenship (e.g. T.H. Marshal, W. Kymlicka), its contemporary relevance (e.g. Y. Soysal, D. Miller) and its application in Central and Eastern Europe during democratic transition (e.g. R. Brubaker, M.M. Howard), we are particularly interested in contrastive analyses of continuities and changes in practices (political participation, civic education, community activities) related to formal criteria defining citizenry (citizenship status, passport).

Our focus on practices of citizenship opens the door to consideration of the role civic education plays across the region in framing citizenries during and after democratic transition. Papers reflecting on the role of formal and informal education, cooperation between individuals through social, political and cultural networks are particularly welcome. We are also interested in ways the extant social, political and cultural practices are translated into individual and group activities as practices of active citizenship. Papers relating to these issues might reflect on policies of education and policy initiatives emphasising actions of civil society. All of the above topics could reflect upon domestic, regional and European dynamics of citizen empowerment to make sense of singular initiatives, local practices and case by case interpretations of personal engagement as citizens.

Selection of key issues to be discussed:

X Conceptual and theoretical changes of focus in understanding the post-communist citizenship

X Institutional/legal developments of citizenship in the post-communist countries with a focus on controversies

X The role of transformation processes for the citizenship practices in those countries

X Practices of citizenship and social coherence in the countries in question

X Citizenship and civic education (the role of the education system vis-à-vis citizenship)

X Post-communist citizenship and nationalism (Is there a ‘crisis of the hyphen’ in post-communist countries?)

X Power and citizenship in the post-communist countries (the role ofinequality and class stratification)

X The impact of external actors such as the Russian Federation, the U.S. or the EU on the citizenship practices in post-communist countries

Please submit your paper proposal to the organisers, via http://www.conferencepro.eu/citizenship

If you have any additional queries, please get in touch with us:
Prof. Ireneusz Pawel Karolewski, Willy Brandt Center for German and European Studies, University of Wroclaw & University of Potsdam (karolewski@wbz.uni.wroc.pl) Dr Timofey Agarin, Queen’s University Belfast (t.agarin@qub.ac.uk )

Timeline:
Abstract submission: by September 30 2012 Authors invited to attend the conference will be notified by October 15 2012 First draft submission: by January 31 2013 Conference in Wroclaw, February 22-23 2013 Final draft submission, March 31 2013

Conference will take place in Wroclaw in February 2013. Conference papers will be submitted to The Journal of Social Science Education and published in a contracted special issue “Post-Communist Citizenship“ in 2013. The special issue will include theoretical/conceptual articles, empirical research articles engaging comparative analyses of selected countries. Here, one of the main points of interest is the role offormal civic education (schools and the universities) vis-à-vis the citizenship practices outside formal settling (NGOs, civil societygroups, transnational activist networks). A pool of selected papers will be additionally published as an edited book with the leading academic publisher in 2014. Details will be communicated to the selected participants only.

Scholarship: Tsvetan Stoyanov Fellowship for a Bulgarian Scholar 2013, The Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna‏

Tsvetan Stoyanov Fellowship for a Bulgarian Scholar 2013


The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) currently accepts applications for the Tsvetan Stoyanov Fellowship for a Bulgarian scholar. The IWM will provide the fellow with an office, access to internet, research and administrative facilities.
The fellow will receive a stipend of Eur 1,500 per month. The 6-month research term must be completed between January and December 2013. Candidates are eligible to apply also for a Robert Bosch Fellowships 2013 at the IWM.

All details of the application procedure are available on www.iwm.at/fellowships.htm

Summer School: GIZ – DAAD Summer School on the ‘Social Dimensions of Human Trafficking in the Balkans’, Belgrade, 10-28 September 2012‏

Open Call for applications
(deadline: 01 of August, 2012 - CET 00.00h)
GIZ – DAAD Summer School on the ‘’Social Dimensions of Human Trafficking in the Balkans’’
10th of September until 28th of September, 2012
Belgrade

Background and Description
The German International Cooperation (GIZ) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) are inviting PhD and/or MA students, junior researchers and junior professionals and experts from any disciplinary background working on the outlined topics to participate in a 3-week long Summer School on The Social Dimension of Human Trafficking on the Balkans from September 10th to 28th 2012 in Belgrade. After a fruitful and successful Forum in Skopje, Macedonia in November 2011, in 2012 the issues of human trafficking will be addressed within the context of social vulnerabilities trying to find out jointly causes and cures researching ongoing projects within the region.
Through its innovative learning approach, the GIZ-DAAD-Summer School ‘Social Dimensions of Human Trafficking on the Balkans’ aims at introducing participants from the Balkan and Germany to the current problematic, to state-of-the-art approaches and varying forms of implementation. This Summer School on the Balkans will be the ninth within this framework after Vietnam (2), Egypt, Brazil, Peru and India (3). It will focus on strengthening sustainable links between researchers, policy makers, development practitioners and businesspeople, as well as strengthening the scientific and institutional bonds throughout the region. By introducing new teaching and educational methods based on peer-and action-learning and inter-disciplinary training for participants with different cultural and technical backgrounds, the Summer School meets the requirements of the current labour market and responds to the region’s needs for creative and decisive intellectuals, future decision-makers and representatives of their country within the increasingly international governance-framework.



Overall goal
The Summer School aims to contribute towards sustainable development on the Balkans by bridging the communication gap between research, policies and implementation in the field of combating Trafficking in Human Persons. Through improved communication and networking the mutual benefits could be achieved at different levels with relatively small efforts and can serve as examples for further policy-fields.

Some objectives and challenges for Social Dimensions of Human Trafficking on the Balkans

• To understand the vulnerable groups’ perspective of their life world
• To transcend life worlds of different classes and cultures by common action research
• To offer international experiences concerning the social dimensions of human trafficking
• To identify interfaces of security and social agendas and discuss possible co-operations
• To possibly elaborate a framework for further international and national co-operations after the end of the summer school

Benefits for the participants
• Understanding of the underlying concept of sustainable development within the field of international cooperation
• Insights on the social dimension of human trafficking within an international framework of practitioners and academics.
• Acquisition of new learning methods and soft skills (team work, intercultural communication, peer learning)
• Building of a professional network including the possibility to participate in an ongoing project on the social dimension of human trafficking on the Balkans

Expectations towards the participants
• High motivation to transcend the own academic and/or professional horizon and to deal with new perspectives on known issues
• Readiness to contribute to the common learning process with own experiences and knowledge
• Preparedness to work “after hours”
• Tolerance and openness towards “the other”
• Drafting of a group-report and preparation of a group presentation
Structure of the GIZ-DAAD-Summer School
The duration of the Summer School will be from September 10th to 28th 2012 and will take place at the University of Belgrade and it is jointly supported by GIZ, DAAD and the University of Belgrade.
e-learning to level and to complement the knowledge of the participants will take place from -the moment of the confirmation of participation
First week ‘State-of-the-art in Human Trafficking research’: In the first week, the political and juridical frameworks, state-of-the-art methods and peer-learning techniques will be presented to the participants by well selected resource persons. A first, topic-related excursion will take place. In the end of the week, group work regarding different research sites on the Balkans will be initiated; research questions will be elaborated.
Second week ‘Action research’: Participants will start to carry out well prepared action research on causes, forms and handling of human trafficking at their research-sites in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, and Macedonia under the guidance of regional partners of GIZ. By the end of the week the participants will discuss their results with local experts from the different fields and perspectives.
Third week ‘Learning Dialogs’: During the third and final week, learning-dialogues with leading scientists and practitioners from the Balkans and Germany will be held at Belgrade University. The learning process will be concluded by delivering a presentation of the results in a public symposium on the last day. Students are required to submit group-based research papers one month after the Summer School ends. Research papers will be disseminated to a large network of anti-trafficking actors in the Balkan region Europe, thereby, exposing Summer School students to the professional world.
Some learning-goals for the Summer School “The Social Dimensions of Human Trafficking on the Balkans”
• To understand the vulnerable groups’ perspective of their life world;
• To transcend life worlds of different classes and cultures by common action research;
• To offer international experiences (north-south-north & south-south) concerning the social dimensions of human trafficking;
• To identify interfaces of security and social agendas and discuss possible co-operations; and
• To possibly elaborate a framework for further international and national co-operations after the end of the summer school

The three-week program will introduce participants to anti-trafficking by first providing a broader overview of main theoretical frameworks applied in anti-trafficking research followed by global governance in anti-trafficking and finally narrowing down to more specific thematic areas:
1. Theoretical and juridical frameworks in anti-trafficking research: migration, human rights and security

2. Governance: Think globally, act locally:Introductory lecture will provide an overview of treaties, international instruments, main international institutions and regional bodies as well as mechanisms implemented at national and local level.
3. Thematic areas:

• Rethinking reintegration models aimed for trafficking survivors
• Empowerment of vulnerable groups and addressing socio-economic and cultural conditioning of HT
• Developing early warning system as a prevention tool for targeting potential victims
• Exploring connections between communication and anti-trafficking
• NGO-Government cooperation

Interested applicants should apply no later than 01 of August, 2012 - CET 00.00h by either filling out the online form at http://www.htsocialprotection.org/summerschool.html or if you encounter problems please download the application form here and send all documents (CV and completed application form) to sppht@giz.de

Workshop: Mapping Neoliberalism and Its Countermovements in the Former Second World, Budapest, 23-27 July 2012‏

Mapping Neoliberalism and Its Countermovements in the Former Second World
a five-day workshop, July 23rd-27th, 2012
Budapest, Hungary


DESCRIPTION
In early July 2011, under the auspices of Budapest’s Central European University, a summer school took place. Its unwieldy title (The “(Neo)liberalization of Socialism and the Crises of Capital”) and stellar faculty attracted a group of young scholars interested in transcending the worn-out paradigms through which postsocialist societies are still interpreted in media, policy analysis, and academic research: communism v. democracy, transition, “return to Europe.” Many of the participants turned out to be no mere detached, Weberian scholars but social movement activists in their own contexts, whose theories draw on their political practices.

Inspired by the experience of mutual recognition, by the stakes of our conversation, and the opportunity to talk to other scholars from a region whose cultural and intellectual interconnections have been largely severed, we have organized a workshop from July
23rd to 27th, 2012, once again in Budapest. We have conceived it as at the same time a narrower and more ambitious event than last year’s. Narrower, because we lack the institutional affiliations, the major funding, and the intellectual resources that made
last year’s summer school possible. Ours will be a summer school without teachers. More ambitious, because the conversation has already begun, the commonalities/ camaraderies have been established, potential allies identified, and the urgency to formulate
intellectual and activist agendas and link them up across national borders — even greater!

In this spirit, we propose the following three themes as our main intellectual agenda for the workshop:
• Postsocialist neoliberalism. What is the explanatory power of concepts such as "neoliberalism" and "peripheral capitalism", “Third-Worldization” and "dependent development” when applied to the former Second World? What are their material expressions in
people’s everyday lives? What ideological justifications have been propagated to legitimate this developmental model?
• Countermovements. What forms does resistence to postsocialist neoliberalism take? Can the strength of right-wing and nationalist parties be explained this way? What does the left look like in every one Uof the societies represented at this workshop?
• We ourselves, as postsocialist scholars and activists. What are our locations in the academy and outside of it? How can we carry out critical research and participate in social movements? How can we help each other, across borders?


PARTICIPANTS AND CONTRIBUTORS
Over the course of a week in late July, more than 40 participants from a dozen of postsocialist countries will be answering the above questions. We hope, however, to reach a wider audience by opening sections of the workshop to the general public, audio-recording others, and linking it with regional journals/ internet sites of social critique with which our participants are affiliated: Commons (Ukraine), Critic Atac (Romania), Krytyka Polityczna (Poland), New Left Perspectives (Bulgaria), Prasvet (Belarus), Rabkor (Russia), and others.

The event is made possible thanks to the help of Corvinus University’s College for Advanced Studies and Theory (TEK), CEU’s Center for Historical Studies (Pasts, Inc.), the Global Civil Society Program of Tomori Pal College, Social Center Haspel in Sofia, and
the Budapest Center for Architecture.


PROGRAM
Monday, 23 July
12.00 – 13.00
Registration and coffee

13.00 – 14.30
Talk: Mary Taylor via skype
The 2011 Neoliberalizing Socialism in Budapest: the 2011 CEU summer course

15.00 – 17.00
First Round of Introductions
All participants will briefly explain who they are, what they are fighting for (in research and activism) and introduce the institutions, publications, and groups with which they are affiliated.

18.00 – 19.00
Attila Melegh talk, “"The Global 1950s”"


TUESDAY, 24 July
10.00 – 11.00 József Böröcz talk, "Whitening Histories"

11.30 – 14.30 Excavating the origins of the neoliberal present in the late socialist past
Coordinators: Dan Cirjan, Rossen Djagalov, Piotr Wcislik
One of the recurring problems of most scholarship on postsocialism has been its tendency to build its analyses against the background of an undifferentiated socialist past, a homogenous set of institutions, economic practices and types of governance, which
seem to have remained constant throughout the communist period only to be reshaped by the “great transformation” of the 1990s. This panel, by contrast, is based on the premise that a more nuanced, global, and historically informed perspective on late socialism
will provide us with the much-needed understanding of the elements that were “re-formed”, reframed and re-organized through neoliberal policies under neoliberalism.

Late socialism also saw the emergence a particular type of discourse coming from dissidents, the “democratic opposition”, and reformists, which framed and interpreted “actually existing socialism” and its “crisis” outside of the official Party monologue. This
type of discourse proved pivotal in shaping the postsocialist public sphere and paved the way for the “neoliberalization of the Left,” especially the reformist left, after 1989. In this sense, the panel has a dual aim: on the one hand, it seeks to understand
the late-socialist reforms in the spheres of production and welfare provision and their relationship to world-economic processes, especially the capitalist restructuring of the 1970s and 1980s. On the other, it aims at reconstructing the process through which
elements in the political thinking of the Left could lead to embracing neoliberalism as a progressive project.


15.30 – 18.30
History of class formation in CEE
Coordinators: Mikolaj Lewicki, Maciek Gdula, Adam Ostolski, Przemyslaw Sadura
The transformation of social structures after 1989 in so called post-communist countries is rarely analyzed with reference to the notion of class. The popularity of concepts such as inequality, social mobility and stratification contribute to naturalization
of capitalism and do not form a basis for critique of new order. We would like to offer an analysis of social structures in Central and Eastern Europe from a number of class-oriented perspectives. The focus will be on three interconnected aspects:
changes in composition of class system, different class cultures and social conflicts. This approach offers not only a much richer perspective on what has happened during last twenty years but also allows us to pose questions about the prospects of social and
political change.



Wednesday, 25 July
10.00 – 14.00
"Is the revolution necessarily urban?"
Coordinators: Mariann Dosa, Csaba Jelinek, Zsuzsanna Pósfai
Many writings from critical/radical urban studies scholars since the 1980s highlight the pivotal role of cities and urban landscapes in neoliberal restructuring and governance. Apart from these theories, the emerging leftist struggles against the neoliberal
hegemony have often been situated in and focused on the urban realm. An especially powerful and well-known concept encapsulating the intimate relationship between urban phenomenon and (counter-)hegemonic forces of neoliberalism is the Right to the City (RTC)
framework developed by David Harvey. Recognizing the fact that many of the young critical scholars from our region have a special interest either in critical urban research or in urban movements, this session tries (1) to theoretically reflect on the role
of cities in leftist countermovements, (2) to explore postsocialist specifics and differences within the region regarding urban scholarship, marginality and movements and (3) to speculate about the potentials of a future urban focused coalition among the leftist
actors in the region.

We will begin this session by introducing Harvey's urban theories and his Right to the City concept. Two case studies — the Hungarian City is for All and the Polish RTC movement — will inform our discussion. Workshop participants will help us establish our
empirical base by answering the following questions about urban life in their societies: How was the privatization of the housing stock/ urban space carried out? Is there a housing crisis, and if yes, what characterizes it (is it quantitative, qualitative
or accessibility crisis)? What is the structure of the housing sector and what are the main processes in it? What are the forms of urban marginality?

We will then move on to discuss the specificity of postsocialist cities and the applicability of the RTC framework to urban struggles there. Can we agree with Harvey that — in this region not unlike his Western and Third-World examples — cities and urban movements
should be crucial sites for leftist struggles? Who are the agents of postsocialist urban movements (middle-class hipsters? vulnerable groups?) and what are the issues that they problematize (homelessness, the urban environment)? What are the main topics and
dynamics of critical urban research in the various countries? How can we urban research and urban struggles?


15.00 – 19.00
Crisis, austerity, and countermovements, Part I. Movements on the right
Coordinators: Marek Mikus, Piotr Wcislik
In this panel we want to question the entanglements between neoliberal crisis, the postsocialist condition and the countermovements on the right. The goal is to see the real thing behind the various caricatures which proliferate in the academic descriptions,
including on the Left. Most interpretations of nationalist protest movements classify them according to their sources or their political functions in the dynamics of postsocialist capitalism. As far as the sources are concerned, the interpretations range between
the extemporaneous and contemporaneous arguments. The privileged trope of the former (traditional liberal) approach has been the "homo sovieticus," designating a type of mentality unable to adapt to the postsocialist realities both in the marketplace (outdated
welfare demands) and in the sphere of values (unprocessed xenophobia, traditional values, nationalism). The latter (more critical) argument assimilates the protest movements on the right under the umbrella term of "populism," which is considered to be the
product of the postpolitical condition of both Western and Eastern societies after 1989. As far as the political functions of those countermovements are concerned, the interpretations range between a "Troyan horse of capitalism" and a "surrogate Left" perspectives.
In the first case, the focus is on how the objective economic sources of popular indignation are steered towards an (ethnic or ex-Communist) Other while redeeming the image of capitalism as a nice thing if run by decent people. In the second case, the ideological
fundamentals of the nationalist right - such as the defense of popular sovereignty, critique of — hegemony and anti-elitism — are taken seriously to the extent that they overlap with left's own agenda.

All these conceptual problems should include a comparative dimension in both time and space. Are the CEE nationalist protest movements from the 1990s the same as today’s? How do they compare with the far-right movements in Western and non-Western worlds?

The objective of the panel is to rethink these interpretations with the view of the Left's own strategy. Where is the place of the Left? With the liberals in a "popular front of modernization" or with the "people,” that is, the current constituency of right-wing
protest?


Thursday, 26 July
10.00 – 14.00
Crisis, austerity, and countermovements, Part II. Movements on the left
Coordinators: Natalia Buier, Agnes Gagyi, Mariya Ivancheva, Piotr Wcislik
In the second session on countermovements to neoliberal regimes we discuss the contemporary movements associated with the left or considered as progressive both inside and outside the academia. We invite participants to introduce countermovements they know
well so that we could reach a larger, international perspective of their workings as well as a sense of „what is to be done.”

Beyond serving to introduce relevant regional developments, the panel will problematize the study of social movements through a dual epistemological concern: on the one hand, it will ask how the array of recent social movements challenges our analytical tools
as sociologists, anthropologists, students of history and culture; on the other hand, it also asks seeks to understand the inscription of dominant ideologies in the act of studying these movements and the complicity of academics in obscuring histories of militance.
Our own relationship to those movements as both researchers and participants will be further discussed in the next panel: Academic struggles.


15.00 – 19.00
Academic struggles: the position and task of the CEE academic left
Coordinators: Jana Bacevic, Natalia Buier, Rossen Djagalov, Agnes Gagyi, Mariya Ivancheva
The panel aims to be a theoretical reflection on our own work, as well as a strategic discussion about what we could do together, internationally. We will begin with a discussion of the role of universities (as institutions) and higher education (as a field
of knowledge production) in reproducing neoliberal ideology as well as its political and economic elites deploying that ideology. What are the implications of the changing conditions of knowledge production for the possibilities, stratagems, and spaces of
resistance within the academe? Could critical pedagogy and activism be aligned within the university we know? What kind of epistemological challenge do practices such as militant ethnography pose? What do we make of the differences in position, history and
vocabulary from similar questions asked in Western academia? From the institutional context, we will then move to the disciplinary one. Each of the disciplines represented at this workshop — anthropology, sociology, history, and so on — has a specific capacity
for legitimating and critiquing neoliberalism. What would a leftist academic project look like in each of them? Finally, many of us also inhabit non-academic spaces, be they NGOs, journals of social critique, political parties. What is the relationship between
our academic and non-academic engagements?

We invite participants to introduce the academic context of their work, join the debate about our common task, and think of possibilities of collaboration.


Friday, 27 July
10.00 – 14.00
Interview Day
As many workshop participants happen to be editors or contributors to leftist magazines and web sites and as other, local publications might also join us, the last morning is left open for group/personal interviews and inter-publication networking. Those of
us who are not giving interviews might just sit on the nearby terrace and continue our discussion over a few beers.

Scholarship: Robert Bosch Fellowships 2013, The Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna‏

Robert Bosch Fellowships on South-Eastern Europe 2013


The Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) currently accepts applications for the Robert Bosch Fellowships 2013 from countries of ex-communist South-Eastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia.
The IWM will provide fellows with an office, access to internet, research and administrative facilities. Visiting Fellows will receive a stipend in the amount of Eur 4,000 per month. Junior Visiting Fellows will receive a stipend of Eur 1,500 per month. The 6-month research term must be completed between January and December 2013.

All details of the application procedure are available on www.iwm.at/fellowships.htm

Conference: Ethnic Politics Workshop , Arizona State University, 13-14 December 2012‏

Ethnic Politics Workshop IV

December 13-14, Call for Proposals


We invite applications to present at the fourth Ethnic Politics Workshop to be held December 13-14, 2012, at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. The Workshop aims to promote new approaches to the study of ethnic politics in the social sciences by periodically bringing together small interdisciplinary groups of social scientists to exchange ideas, brainstorm, provide constructive criticism of each other’s works in progress, and promote joint projects that may result from the workshop. We seek social scientists of all career stages--from post-fieldwork dissertation writers to senior scholars--whose work: (a) demonstrates substantial theoretical innovation grounded in empirical research; (b) has ethnicity or identity as a central focus; (c) has the potential to lead to generalizable and falsifiable arguments; and (d) reflects (potential for) a long-term research program rather than a one-off project. Interested researchers should submit a CV and a one-page description of a research project idea they would like to present at the workshop, explaining how it fits into their longer-term research program. These should be sent to csrc@asu.edu<mailto:csrc@asu.edu> by October 1, 2012. Applicants will be notified of decisions within two to three weeks. Transportation and accommodation costs will be covered by the organizers. The meeting is funded by a grant from the Institute for Social Science Research, and is organized by the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, at Arizona State University. Information about previous workshops, which were held at GWU and UCLA, is here:http://ethnicpoliticsworkshop.wordpress.com/

Michael Hechter and David Siroky,
School of Politics and Global Studies,
Arizona State University

PhD: Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, workshops and fellowships 2013‏

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Summer Research Workshops for Scholars
JULY-AUGUST 2013
Preliminary applications due October 15, 2012

The Center invites proposals from Workshop Coordinator(s) to conduct two-week research workshops at the Museum during summer 2013. We welcome proposals from scholars in all relevant disciplines, including history, political science, literature, Jewish studies, philosophy, religion, anthropology, comparative genocide studies, and law.

Summer Research Workshops provide an environment in which groups of scholars working in closely related areas of study--but with limited previous face-to-face interaction--can gather to discuss a central research question or issue, their research methodologies and findings, the major challenges facing their work, and potential future collaborative scholarly ventures.

Participants have access to approximately 70 million pages of Holocaust-related archival documentation; the Museum's extensive library; oral history, film, photo, art, artifacts, and memoir collections; and a Holocaust survivor database. In addition, participants have access to more than 100 million digitized pages from the holdings of the International Tracing Service (ITS), a collection that holds information on the fates of 17.5 million people who were subject to incarceration, forced labor, and displacement as a result of World War II. Many of these sources have not been examined by scholars, offering unprecedented opportunities to advance the field of Holocaust studies.

The Summer Research Workshop program has a two-stage application process. Stage One is a Preliminary Application, consisting of a one-page single-spaced description of the proposed workshop that details the research project's focus, significance, scope, methods, objectives, and expertise required from potential participants. Stage One applications are due October 15, 2012. Applicants will be notified at the end of October whether they will be invited to submit a Full Proposal in the second round of the competition, with the assistance of Center staff. The deadline for the full proposal is February 1, 2013. Applicants will be notified of the Center's decision by March 1, 2013.

Please address inquiries and applications to Krista Hegburg, Program Officer, University Programs, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at 202.488.0459 or khegburg@ushmm.org.

---------------------------------

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
2013-14 Fellowship Opportunities
Applications due November 30, 2012

The Center awards fellowships to support significant research and writing about the Holocaust and welcomes proposals from scholars in all relevant academic disciplines, including history, political science, literature, Jewish studies, philosophy, religion, sociology, anthropology, comparative genocide studies, law, and others.

Fellowships are awarded to candidates working on their dissertations (ABD), postdoctoral researchers, and senior scholars. Applicants must be affiliated with an academic and/or research institution when applying for a fellowship. Immediate post-docs and faculty between appointments will also be considered. Awards are granted on a competitive basis.

The specific fellowship and the length of the award are at the Center's discretion. Individual awards generally range up to nine months of residency; a minimum of three consecutive months is required. Fellowships of five months or longer have proven most effective. Stipends range up to $3,500 per month for the purpose of defraying local housing and other miscellaneous living expenses. Residents of the Washington, DC-metropolitan area receive a reduced stipend of $1,750 per month.

Fellowship applications and supporting materials must be received by November 30, 2012. Decisions will be announced in March 2013. All applications must be submitted in English via an online application process. For complete fellowship competition guidelines and to apply, please go to ushmm.org/research/center/fellowship (http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/fellowship).

Please address inquiries to Jo-Ellyn Decker, Program Coordinator, Visiting Scholar Programs, Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, at 202.314.7829 or vscholars@ushmm.org.

PhD: Doctoral Positions - Friends, Patrons, Clients. Practice and semantics of friendship and patronage in historical, anthropological and cross-cultural perspective, University of Freiburg‏

Within the PhD Research Group (DFG Graduiertenkolleg)

Friends, Patrons, Clients. Practice and semantics of friendship and patronage in historical, anthropological and cross-cultural perspective.

of Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

8 Doctoral Positions (TV-L E 13, 60%) are available from 1 December 2012

These positions are initially available for eighteen months. Subject to evidence of satisfactory progress at the end of this period, these positions can be further extended up to a maximum total duration of three years.

The PhD Research Group is comprised of the following disciplines: History (from antiquity to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including the history of Eastern Europe and China); Philosophy; Sociology; Political Science; Ethnology.

Candidates are expected to have a Masters degree or equivalent with above average results.

Your application should be sent to michael.strauss@geschichte.uni-freiburg.de and should include all of the items listed below (as a PDF, rtf or Word document); the total file size should not exceed 3 MB (complete application).

1) Completed application form, available at: http://www.grk-freundschaft.uni-freiburg.de/ApplicationDez12/ApplicationFormular/view

2) Outline of proposed research project (5-6 pages)

3) Outline of proposed work schedule with time plan (2 pages)

4) CV (in tabular form)

5) Scan of university diplomas/certificates

6) Scan of school leaving certificates/qualifications

7) Bibliography (if required)

In addition, two letters of recommendation from university teachers are required. These can either be sent directly by your referees to the email address given above or in a sealed envelope to the following address:

Universität Freiburg

Graduiertenkolleg 1288

c/o Historisches Seminar

Rempartstr. 15

79085 Freiburg

Germany



The closing date for applications is 14 September 2012

Further information about the PhD Research Group can be found on our website (http://www.grk-freundschaft.uni-freiburg.de). Any queries can be directed either to the Coordinator (michael.strauss@geschichte.uni-freiburg.de)or to the chair of the PhD Research Group (ronald.g.asch@geschichte.uni-freiburg.de).

Master: Interdisciplinary Joint Master’s Programme in South-Eastern European Studies – University of Graz, 4 additional places [DL: 31 July 2012]‏

Interdisciplinary Joint Master’s Programme in South-Eastern European Studies – University of Graz



Deadline 31 July 2012

The University of Graz is pleased to announce a second and final call for applications for four additional places in the Interdisciplinary Joint Master’s Programme in South-Eastern European Studies.

This two year MA programme is conducted as a joint degree between four partner universities (Graz, Belgrade, Skopje and Zagreb) and the second generation commences in Graz in October 2012.

Students enrol in and spend the first year at Karl-Franzens University of Graz. In the second year, students spend at least one semester on mobility at a partner university. Partner universities include Belgrade, Skopje, Zagreb, Bologna, Ljubljana, Novi Sad, Poitiers, Sarajevo and South East European University, Tetovo.


Why Southeast European Studies in Graz?

South-Eastern Europe has been a focus of the University of Graz for over a century. The noble prize winner Ivo Andrić wrote his PhD in Graz and many scholars and prominent intellectuals from the region have studied here. Since the early 1990s thousands of students from across the Balkans have decided to study at the University of Graz and it is today normal to hear Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, and Albanian in addition to German and English in the hallways of the university. Only two hours from Ljubljana and Zagreb by car, the city is close to South-Eastern Europe and the dense ties to the region are tangible throughout the city, from the cultural life to the social scene.

Over the past decades, the University has had a strong academic interest in the history of South-Eastern Europe, in particular historical anthropology. Various exchange programs, teaching, research and public events on the region have a long tradition. The Centre for Southeast European Studies is not only coordinating the Master’s Programme, but also hosts regular public events, workshops, conferences and conducts research on South-Eastern Europe. There are two other degree programs focused on South-Eastern Europe, an MA programme in the History of South-Eastern Europe and an LLM in South-East European Law and European Integration. Students are thus not just offered an MA programme in South-Eastern Europe, but are part of a vibrant community of scholars and students interested in and from South-Eastern Europe.


Content of the Programme

The Interdisciplinary Joint Master in South-Eastern European Studies is an international and interdisciplinary programme in social sciences and humanities of the highest quality which enables participants to effectively understand the interrelationship between law, politics, economics and culture with an emphasis on South-Eastern Europe. The programme prepares students for doctoral studies and professional life in a variety of
other fields including work in international, local governmental and non-governmental organisations, journalism, business, scientific research, and consultancy.

In the first year at the University of Graz, students take core courses which include an introduction to multidisciplinary approaches in the study of South-East Europe, public law, political science, history, economics and cultural studies. In the summer after the first year a joint summer school is held for all students from the participating universities to complete the compulsory core modules. In the second year, students attend one of the partner universities and specialise in their desired field. There are also optional provisions in place to offer students professional trainings and internship positions.

In the final semester students write a master thesis reflecting their capacity to work on a scientific subject independently.

All compulsory subjects are conducted in English though students are able to take classes in other languages. Language acquisition is an important key aspect of the joint degree and students are expected to learn a regional language and/or the predominant language of their mobility institution.


Faculty

Most of the compulsory courses in Graz are thought by the staff of the Centre for Southeast European Studies – Florian Bieber, Joseph Marko, Armina Galijaš, Marko Kmezić and Rory Archer. Other faculty members offering classes on South-eastern Europe and/or contributing to classes in the framework of the MA Programme are Karl Kaser (History), Harald Heppner (History), Renate Hansen-Kokoruš (Slavic Studies), Branko Tošović (Linguistics), Wolfgang Benedek (International Law) and Hubert Isak (European Law).
For further details on lectures and the courses they teach see: http://www.seestudies.eu/node/35


Academic Degree

Students completing the Interdisciplinary Joint Master’s Programme in South-Eastern European Studies earn the degree “Master of Arts”, abbreviated MA. The joint degree is awarded by all four partners (pending accreditation at some partners).


Admission

The Interdisciplinary Joint Master’s Programme in South-Eastern European Studies welcomes applicants who hold an academic degree of at least 180 ECTS credits (bachelor’s degree or equivalent) who can demonstrate their basic knowledge of social sciences or humanities -- law, political, social, cultural or economic sciences -- and who have some general insight and interest in South-Eastern Europe.


Tuition fees are €380.86 per semester with the possibility of tuition waiver for Austrian/EU and certain other states a refund for SEE citizens upon successful completion of the academic year. For enquiries about the admission procedure and tuition fees at the University of Graz please contact Alexandra Gross alexandra.gross at uni-graz.at<mailto:alexandra.gross at uni-graz.at> at the Office for International Relations.



Please note that the University of Graz is does not provide financial support – no scholarships are available




The APPLICATION should consist of:

1. completed application form http://www.seestudies.eu/node/36
2. at least one letter of recommendation (preferably from a university professor or employer)
3. certificate/diploma obtained at the undergraduate level (translation into English or German)
4. transcript of records obtained at the undergraduate level (translation into English or German)
5. letter of motivation
6. proof of proficiency in English language: IELTS (required minimum score: 6.0), a TOEFL (required minimum score: 210 on the computerised test, 547 on the paper based test, 78 on the internet based test), a Cambridge Exam (required level: FCE) or an equivalent certificate. Students who have completed their BA in English are not required to provide this proof of proficiency but may be interviewed.


Applicants should apply by email sending the application as A SINGLE PDF FILE to rory.archer at uni-graz.at<mailto:rory.archer at uni-graz.at> (multiple files will not be accepted)

The deadline for applications is 31st of July 2012

Internship: Optimy is hiring Sales and Marketing internship for an Italian speaking student - Brussels, Belgium

Presentation of the Company
Optimy is a fast-growing start-up that develops innovative technical solutions in the area of sponsorship, partnership, patronage and corporate patronage. It is backed by the Brussels Region, ING Bank and Business Angels actively involved in its evolution.
Our customers are BNP Paribas, Volkswagen, Carlsberg, Randstad, Audi, Delhaize, RTL, Carrefour, Bacardi, Décathlon, L’Oréal, Fondation SFR, Fondation EDF, BMW, Volvo, Fondation Air France, Fondation Groupama, Ice-Watch, etc.

Mission
Operational support of the Sales & Marketing department:
- Market surveys, customers satisfaction surveys and competition analysis
- Preparation of sales support tools (Catalog, products PPT, presentation videos and copywriting)
- B2B and B2C communication (social networks and press releases)
- Customer support (e-mails)

Profile
- Student in Business, Economics, Sales & Marketing / Communication
- Italian and English or French are mandatory
- Autonomous and  teamwork minded
- Results driven
- Start-up minded
- A previous internship in the same field is a plus

We offer
- A young, dynamic and international-minded working atmosphere
- An experienced management team
- The opportunity to be part of a fast-growing project and to evolve within the company

Contact Information
- Company: Optimy
- Email: jobs@optimy.com
- Website: www.optimy.com

Internship: Optimy is hiring Sales & Marketing interns - Brussels, Belgium

Presentation of the Company
Optimy is a fast-growing start-up that develops innovative technical solutions in the area of sponsorship, partnership, patronage and corporate patronage. It is backed by the Brussels Region, ING Bank and Business Angels actively involved in its evolution.
Our customers are BNP Paribas, Volkswagen, Carlsberg, Randstad, Audi, Delhaize, RTL, Carrefour, Bacardi, Décathlon, L’Oréal, Fondation SFR, Fondation EDF, BMW, Volvo, Fondation Air France, Fondation Groupama, Ice-Watch, etc.

Mission
Operational support of the Sales & Marketing department:
- Market surveys, customers satisfaction surveys and competition analysis
- Preparation of sales support tools (Catalog, products PPT, presentation videos and copywriting)
- B2B and B2C communication (social networks and press releases)
- Customer support (e-mails)

Profile
- Student in Business, Economics, Sales & Marketing / Communication
- English is mandatory
- Autonomous and  teamwork minded
- Results driven
- Start-up minded
- A previous internship in the same field is a plus

We offer
- A young, dynamic and international-minded working atmosphere
- An experienced management team
- The opportunity to be part of a fast-growing project and to evolve within the company

Contact Information
- Company: Optimy
- Email: jobs@optimy.com
- Website: www.optimy.com

Conference: Leaving Europe’s Waiting Room. Overcoming the Crisis of EU Enlargement in the Western Balkans, Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz, 9-11 November 2012‏

The Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz in
cooperation with the European Fund for the Balkans, Österreichische
Gesellschaft für Europapolitik, Südosteuropa Gesellschaft and Europe Direct
Steiermark will host a three day conference on the state of EU enlargement
in Graz on the 9-11th November 2012. The goal of the conference is to
reflect whether EU enlargement in the Western Balkans is in crisis and will
include policy-led discussions on reinvigorating the EU enlargement process
and academic panels on specific obstacles in the enlargement process. An
edited collection of the best papers presented at the conference is planned
for 2013.

This conference will discuss the obstacles and approaches to accelerate and
reinvigorate the enlargement process. Instead of viewing enlargement as a
state fullfilling formal criteria, the conference will focus on how and if
the enlargement process can overcome “enlargement fatigue” and skepticism
towards membership of the Western Balkans in the EU to key aspects that the
enlargement process both hopes to overcome and which risk remaining an
obstacle for EU membership. The conference in particular seeks to give room
to young researchers who are able to contribute rich empirical work to the
discussion. As an interdisciplinary event, the conference will include
policy makers, lawyers, political scientists, sociologists and scholars
from other disciplines. The working language of the conference is English.

The organizers invite paper proposal for the conference. Researchers
interested in participating are asked to submit a 400 word abstract and CV
by 20 July 2012 to the following email address: florian.bieber at uni-graz.at.
Applicants are particularly encouraged to apply with papers on the
following thematic areas:



· Enlargement Fatigue in the EU? Causes and how to build support for
Enlargement.

· Making EU Enlargement Work--How to reinvigorate the accession process?

· EU Conditionality Before Membership: Membership Conditionality vs. Policy
Conditionality

· How to Break the Deadlock of Bilateral Disputes in the Western Balkans

· Regatta or Big Bang Model of Accession?

· Closing Difficult Chapters: Rule of Law and Judiciary Regional
Cooperation in the WB

· Global Economic Crisis and its Influence on the EU Enlargement



The authors of accepted proposals will be invited to submit draft version
of their papers of 6,000 to 9,000 words for circulation among participants
prior to the conference by October 20th 2012. The organizers of the
conference will cover accommodation and board as well as transport to and
from Graz for invited participants, conditional on the submission of the
draft paper by the deadline.

* *

*Centre for Southeast European Studies*

The Centre for Southeast European Studies was founded at the University of
Graz in 2008 as interdisciplinary forum for teaching and research, based on
the university-wide Southeastern Europe focus. The Centre runs a Joint
Degree MA program in Southeast European Studies and a PhD program in
Diversity Management and Governance, as well as organizing regular events
on the region. Its research focus in on contemporary Southeastern Europe,
including Europeanization, interethnic relations and democratization. Its
staff include political scientists, historians and lawyers and it
collaborates closely with other researchers at the University of Graz and
internationally. In 2012, among others, it is hosted a lecture by the
Croatian president Ivo Josipović and is organising a workshop of the
dynamics of social change in Southeastern Europe.

Website of the Centre for Southeast European Studies:
http://www.suedosteuropa.uni-graz.at/

The International Center for Transitional Justice offers jobs for students

The International Center for Transitional Justice is an international non-profit organization specializing in the field of transitional justice. ICTJ works to help societies in transition address legacies of massive human rights violations and build civic trust in state institutions as protectors of human rights. In the aftermath of mass atrocity and repression, we assist institutions and civil society groups—the people who are driving and shaping change in their societies—in considering measures to provide truth, accountability, and redress for past abuses.

The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) seeks a part-time Student Worker for July/August 2012. S/He will provide administrative and organizational support to the Senior Financial Officer and the Administrative and Finance Assistant. This position is remunerated and located in the ICTJ Brussels Office. Applicants must be enroled in a university.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Administration:
1. Support the Senior Finance Officer in preparing and sending receipts, arranging reimbursements and Wire Transfers.
2. Assist in managing contacts, documentation and organizing agendas, invitations and logistics for events, meetings, and seminars.
3. Liaise with other ICTJ offices on administrative matters.
4. Provide other administrative support as needed.

Office Coordination:
1. Manage vendor contracts for Brussels office.
2. Organize and maintain office filing system.
3. Coordinate necessary maintenance and repairs.
4. Coordinate mail, fax delivery and courier services.
5. Maintain office supplies.
6. Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:
1. Professional level oral and written capability in English and French is required.
2. High level of professionalism and attention to detail.
3. Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and the ability to use spreadsheets effectively.
4. Excellent oral, written and interpersonal communication skills.
5. Ability to work under pressure and adhere to strict deadlines.
6. Basic bookkeeping and administration experience highly desirable.

To apply:
Please submit cover letter and curriculum vitae to brussels@ictj.org as soon as possible. Interviews will be scheduled in Brussels in mid July 2012. Please include the job title “Student Worker – ICTJ Brussels Office” in the subject line of the email. Only qualified candidates will be contacted.
ICTJ is an equal opportunity employer strongly committed to hiring and retaining a diverse staff.

Summer School: BIRN Summer School of Investigative Reporting, Mavrovo, Macedonia, 19-25 August 2012‏

Five star line up for the BIRN Summer School

Professor of Columbia University and Director of Toni Stable Center for Investigative Journalism Sheila Coronel, Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Schoofs,, Special Projects Editor for the Guardian, Reporter of the Year and 2009 Bevins Prize winner for outstanding investigative journalism Paul Lewis, the executive director of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Paul Radu and more on http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/birn-summer-school/birn-summer-school-trainers-and-panelists-2012.

Through the programme participants will learn basic investigative techniques, to structure an investigation and preparing a story memo, about computer-assisted reporting skills, to use the web and public records as sources of information and more.

Application and scholarship  !!! Scholarships for Balkan journalists !!!

All Balkan journalists are able to apply for scholarship that will cover accommodation, full board, participation fee and travel costs up to 100 euros.

International participants can apply for the School as well, but they will have to pay participation fee.

Application is open until 1^st August 2012 for scholarship students and 9^th August for international ones.

Investigative Initiative Fund for the Best Story Idea

From day one, students will work and collaborate actively in small groups to pitch an investigative story idea. All participants will have the opportunity to research and develop their idea into a full story.

And Finally, Lots of Sun and Fun

This year, The BIRN Summer School is set in Mavrovo, Macedonia, Hotelu Radika, the beautiful lake shore and spa resort.

Click here to read the enrolment requirements, fill in the application form and spend a fantastic summer with the BIRN Summer School of Investgative Journalism.

Conference: Headwinds Through the Iron Curtain. Fundamental and Applied Sciences in Communist Eastern Europe, Manchester, 22-28 July 2013‏

Headwinds Through the Iron Curtain. Fundamental and Applied Sciences in Communist Eastern Europe, part of the 24th International Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine - in Manchester, (Monday 22 - Sunday 28 July 2013). See the Congress web site here: http://ichstm2013.com


Scholars interested in contributing to this symposium should contact us with a title and an abstract in English or French of no more than 2500 characters before the 1st of September.


The history of science in the countries of the Eastern bloc between 1945 and 1989 was a field of confrontation between opposing influences. In the early years of communism, the traditional relations with the West have been interrupted and Soviet scientists have become the essential references. Nevertheless, the scientific blockage was suspended by unexpected periods of opening during which certain sciences that had been annihilated (such as sociology, genetics) were restored as academic disciplines, while international networks were reactivated. The timeline of these different waves of influence, specific for each country, is not linear and it does not cover a homogeneous reality. Stalinization, de-Stalinization, national resistance and nationalist movements have influenced the degree of autonomy of science from political power. Moreover, an energetic refusal with respect to the "pure" science led to an active orientation of the research toward the fields of application.


This symposium aims to address the conflicting influences exerted on the various sciences (experimental, social or exact sciences, humanities) in all the countries from the Eastern bloc. In response to the overall theme of the Congress, Knowledge at work, we wish to highlight the areas of applied science. Did they really use the Soviet methods during fieldwork, or just a scientific rhetoric that was accepted by the regime? In the case of agriculture, was there a difference in the reception of influences between the official line of Lysenkoist biology and methods of breeding? How do the social sciences reflect the realities of each country? What was the role of science in deciding the state health politics? Experimentation, application, technologies, and medicine - are they more autonomous than the fundamental research facing ideological and political influences?


We have brought together proposals for the Romanian case and we are waiting for contributions on other Communist countries from Eastern Europe, in order to open a discussion from an international comparative perspective. This symposium will provide the opportunity to create an international network, the aim of which is to develop a collective, comparative approach of the subject.

Dr. Cristiana Oghina-Pavie, Université d'Angers, CERHIO (UMR CNRS 6258) France

Dr. Luciana Marioara Jinga, The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile, Romania

Event: Platwnopolis - Philosophical Studies of Antiquity as an interdisciplinary synthesis of philosophical, historical and philological studies, St.Petersburg, 25-28 August 2012‏

The Plato philosophical society of Saint Petersburg invites you to participate in the Eighth Summer Youth Scientific School “PLATWNOPOLIS: Philosophical Studies of Antiquity as an interdisciplinary synthesis of philosophical, historical and philological studies"



25.08.2012-28.08.2012.



Event is conducted with the support of Russian humanitarian scientific fund, Grant №12-03-14100.

Director PhD Aleksey Vasilyevich Tsyb



Summer youth scientific school “Philosophical Studies of Antiquity”, organized by the Plato philosophical society and scientific association MIR (http://mir.spbu.ru/), sets as a goal the development of experience and the popularization of the results of historico-philosophical scientific-pedagogical activity in Russia. Project is directed toward the intensified study of the general conceptual role philosophical studies of antiquity and Platonism in the emergence and formation of the first programs of scientific knowledge, tradition of philosophical rationality, the case study of the sources of philosophical idealism.

Proposed themes for the consideration:

- The problems of the history of the Ancient Philosophy: the Ancient Philosophy, philosophical studies of antiquity, Plato, history of the academy, Aristotle, peripatetic, stoicism, atomicity, neo-Platonism, exegetics, Christianity, antique tradition in the contemporary philosophy and culture, forms and the methods of its interpretation;

- Pithagoreism and the formation of scientific knowledge;

- The conceptual role of Platonism and Aristotelism in the emergence and formation of the tradition of European and Russian philosophical rationality;

- Antique gnosticism and the culture of late hellenism;

- Neo-Platonism and early Christianity;

- Origenistics;

- The ethics of late antiquity in the context of traditional problems;

- Platonism and Aristotelism of the Middle Ages: European, Armenian, Georgian and Arab philosophical traditions;

- The philosophy of Italian renaissance;

- Cambridge neo-Platonism in the context of European philosophy;

- The Ancient Philosophy and culture in the domestic philosophical tradition;

- The problems of transfer, understanding and interpretation of philosophical text;

- Philosophy and literature.



Shape and program of measure will be designed according to the submitted applications for participation. Working languages are Russian and English. To participate in the event we invite specialists in the fields of the history of philosophy, classical philology, antique history, students, graduate students and young specialists, as well everybody interested in the history of Ancient Philosophy.

In order to apply, you should send until August 15, 2012 to the organization committee of the School in the name of Aleksey Vasilyevich Tsyb [Алексей Васильевич Цыб] (alex@AC9195.spb.edu), or Olga Yurevna Bakhvalova [Бахваловой Ольги Юрьевны] (rem24@mail.ru) an application for participation, indicating:

- Full names, job, place of the work/ studies, academic rank and degree, contact telephone, e-mail address, reporting the form of the personal participation - lecturer, speaker, listener;

- for the lecturers: brief description of the planned lecture with a volume of 6-10 thousand characters for the publication,

- for the speakers: the theses of brief scientific reports in the seminar studies and the round tables with a volume of up to 6 thousand characters for the publication.



We request applications to be send by e-mail. The materials from the event is planned to be published in a separate volume. Publication should be realized in Russian, English, French, German, Spanish and Italian languages.



E-mail: alex@AC9195.spb.edu; rem24@mail.ru



Telephone numbers for contact: 8-921-918-45-09 (A.V.Tsyb, the director of the project), 8-905-2645634 (Olga Yur’evna Bakhvalova, the administrator of project).

Master: Interdisciplinary Joint Master’s Programme in South-Eastern European Studies – University of Graz, 4 additional places [DL: 31 July 2012]‏

Call for Applications: Interdisciplinary Joint Master’s Programme in South-Eastern European Studies – University of Graz



Deadline 31 July 2012



The University of Graz is pleased to announce a second and final call for applications for four additional places in the Interdisciplinary Joint Master’s Programme in South-Eastern European Studies.



This two year MA programme is conducted as a joint degree between four partner universities (Graz, Belgrade, Skopje and Zagreb) and the second generation commences in Graz in October 2012.



Students enrol in and spend the first year at Karl-Franzens University of Graz. In the second year, students spend at least one semester on mobility at a partner university. Partner universities include Belgrade, Skopje, Zagreb, Bologna, Ljubljana, Novi Sad, Poitiers, Sarajevo and South East European University, Tetovo.





Why Southeast European Studies in Graz?



South-Eastern Europe has been a focus of the University of Graz for over a century. The noble prize winner Ivo Andrić wrote his PhD in Graz and many scholars and prominent intellectuals from the region have studied here. Since the early 1990s thousands of students from across the Balkans have decided to study at the University of Graz and it is today normal to hear Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, and Albanian in addition to German and English in the hallways of the university. Only two hours from Ljubljana and Zagreb by car, the city is close to South-Eastern Europe and the dense ties to the region are tangible throughout the city, from the cultural life to the social scene.



Over the past decades, the University has had a strong academic interest in the history of South-Eastern Europe, in particular historical anthropology. Various exchange programs, teaching, research and public events on the region have a long tradition. The Centre for Southeast European Studies is not only coordinating the Master’s Programme, but also hosts regular public events, workshops, conferences and conducts research on South-Eastern Europe. There are two other degree programs focused on South-Eastern Europe, an MA programme in the History of South-Eastern Europe and an LLM in South-East European Law and European Integration. Students are thus not just offered an MA programme in South-Eastern Europe, but are part of a vibrant community of scholars and students interested in and from South-Eastern Europe.





Content of the Programme



The Interdisciplinary Joint Master in South-Eastern European Studies is an international and interdisciplinary programme in social sciences and humanities of the highest quality which enables participants to effectively understand the interrelationship between law, politics, economics and culture with an emphasis on South-Eastern Europe. The programme prepares students for doctoral studies and professional life in a variety of

other fields including work in international, local governmental and non-governmental organisations, journalism, business, scientific research, and consultancy.



In the first year at the University of Graz, students take core courses which include an introduction to multidisciplinary approaches in the study of South-East Europe, public law, political science, history, economics and cultural studies. In the summer after the first year a joint summer school is held for all students from the participating universities to complete the compulsory core modules. In the second year, students attend one of the partner universities and specialise in their desired field. There are also optional provisions in place to offer students professional trainings and internship positions.



In the final semester students write a master thesis reflecting their capacity to work on a scientific subject independently.



All compulsory subjects are conducted in English though students are able to take classes in other languages. Language acquisition is an important key aspect of the joint degree and students are expected to learn a regional language and/or the predominant language of their mobility institution.





Faculty



Most of the compulsory courses in Graz are thought by the staff of the Centre for Southeast European Studies – Florian Bieber, Joseph Marko, Armina Galijaš, Marko Kmezić and Rory Archer. Other faculty members offering classes on South-eastern Europe and/or contributing to classes in the framework of the MA Programme are Karl Kaser (History), Harald Heppner (History), Renate Hansen-Kokoruš (Slavic Studies), Branko Tošović (Linguistics), Wolfgang Benedek (International Law) and Hubert Isak (European Law).

For further details on lectures and the courses they teach see: http://www.seestudies.eu/node/35





Academic Degree



Students completing the Interdisciplinary Joint Master’s Programme in South-Eastern European Studies earn the degree “Master of Arts”, abbreviated MA. The joint degree is awarded by all four partners (pending accreditation at some partners).





Admission



The Interdisciplinary Joint Master’s Programme in South-Eastern European Studies welcomes applicants who hold an academic degree of at least 180 ECTS credits (bachelor’s degree or equivalent) who can demonstrate their basic knowledge of social sciences or humanities -- law, political, social, cultural or economic sciences -- and who have some general insight and interest in South-Eastern Europe.



Tuition fees are €380.86 per semester with the possibility of tuition waiver for Austrian/EU and certain other states a refund for SEE citizens upon successful completion of the academic year. For enquiries about the admission procedure and tuition fees at the University of Graz please contact Alexandra Gross alexandra.gross@uni-graz.at at the Office for International Relations.



Please note that the University of Graz is does not provide financial support – no scholarships are available





The APPLICATION should consist of:


completed application form http://www.seestudies.eu/node/36
at least one letter of recommendation (preferably from a university professor or employer)
certificate/diploma obtained at the undergraduate level (translation into English or German)
transcript of records obtained at the undergraduate level (translation into English or German)
letter of motivation
proof of proficiency in English language: IELTS (required minimum score: 6.0), a TOEFL (required minimum score: 210 on the computerised test, 547 on the paper based test, 78 on the internet based test), a Cambridge Exam (required level: FCE) or an equivalent certificate. Students who have completed their BA in English are not required to provide this proof of proficiency but may be interviewed.



Applicants should apply by email sending the application as A SINGLE PDF FILE to rory.archer@uni-graz.at (multiple files will not be accepted)

The deadline for applications is 31st of July 2012

PhD: Visiting Fellow Grants for international doctoral candidates, Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany‏

Visiting Fellow Grants for international doctoral candidates to fund up to four month research at the the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany

Supported by the Excellence Initiative, the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology has been established as a joint institution of the Department of History and the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University, Germany.

The Graduate School is offering 1 – 2 Visiting Fellow Grants for international doctoral candidates to fund up to four month research stay at the Graduate School.

The scholarships will be awarded for the Winter Term 2012/2013 (1 October until 31 March 2013) and include a stipend of 1.200 Euro per month. Upon application, travel costs can also be covered by the Graduate School. If applicable, a children’s allowance will be added.

Requirements: Applications are invited from international doctoral candidates who work on a thesis in history, sociology, political science or social anthropology.

Applications: Applicants are asked to submit the following documents:
- cover letter detailing your interest in researching at the BGHS (800 words max.),
- curriculum vitae (in tabular form),
- research proposal (2,000 words max.),
- work schedule and timeframe for your stay at the BGHS,
- recommendation from two college or university professors (approx. 400 words),
- certificates of college and university degrees.

We strongly recommend contacting research associates or professors of the Faculty of Sociology or the Department of History at Bielefeld University before applying for the scholarship. Please name your contact(s) in your application.

For more information please visit our website: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/bghs/

All applications should reach the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology via email (bghs@uni-bielefeld.de) by 15 August 2012. Please compile your application in one single PDF-file and note that the BGHS will not process incomplete applications.

If you have any questions, please contact us at bghs@uni-bielefeld.de.

Dr. Karen Holtmann
General Management
Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS)
Bielefeld University
P.O. Box 10 01 31
33501 Bielefeld, Germany
Phone: +49 (0)521 106 6523
Email: bghs@uni-bielefeld.de
Visit the website at http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/bghs/

Conference: Nationalism in European Media and Film, Manchester, 23-25 May 2013‏

Ethnicity, Race and Nationalism in European Media and Film: Rights, Responsibilities, Representations

International Conference, The University of Manchester, UK
23-25 May 2013

The recent explosion of migration flows across the world, the crisis in which established models of multiculturalism find themselves in Europe and elsewhere, and the current global financial and economic crisis have combined to raise the prominence of issues of ethnicity, race and nationalism in most countries. Speeches made in 2011 by Angela Merkel and David Cameron, and controversies over the expulsion of gypsies and the wearing of religious attire in public places in France, indicate a common crisis in European tolerance. Eastern Europe demonstrates similar difficulties in managing ethnic diversity in the face of global mass population movements, of which the shocking outbreak of racial violence in Moscow in 2010 is just one example.

The European media play a crucial role both in exacerbating the tensions which inter-ethnic relations arouse (the spread of racial hate language and nationalist extremism on the internet; the use of ethnic profiling and racial stereotyping in crime reporting), and in fostering inter-ethnic cohesion and harmony (national policies on promoting diversity and equality in broadcasting). This conference aims to facilitate a cross-cultural, comparative study of the impact of media and film on the playing out of the “crisis of multiculturalism” in West and East European societies, and to analyse the similarities and differences in media and cinematic approaches to ethnic cohesion issues throughout Europe.

The conference will address questions such as:
• In what senses are various types of media, including those reliant on new communication technologies, aggravating inter-ethnic tensions in Europe?
• How serious a threat to social cohesion in European societies are extremist websites, blogs and other new media forms of global and national provenance?
• Are ethnic and racial minorities accorded appropriate rights to representation in national broadcasting systems?
• To what extent are representations of ethnicity, race and nationhood, and the coverage of issues pertaining to ethnic cohesion, dependent on national context?
• What are the conceptual frames to which journalists and film-makers in various European societies resort when covering this area and what are their origins and consequences?
• How are European broadcasters with national responsibility dealing with the rise of the anti-immigration, Islamophobic right on one hand, and with the loss of faith in official multicultural policies on the other?
• What role does non-news broadcasting (drama serials; documentary programming; situation comedy; light entertainment genres) play in the representational process?
• How have cinematic imaginations of national and European identity refracted the shifting consensus on values of ethnic diversity?

It is intended that selected papers from the conference will form the basis for special issues of one or more prominent journals in the field (we already an initial agreement with /Europe-Asia Studies/)

Please email your proposals (250 words) for papers of up to 20 minutes in length and your one-page CVs to the conference organisers (Professors Stephen Hutchings and Vera Tolz) at RRRMediaConference@manchester.ac.uk<mailto:RRRMediaConference@manchester.ac.uk> by 30 September 2012

PhD: Fellowships for PhD Students at University of Konstanz, 2012 Germany

The Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology, University of Konstanz offers doctorate Studentship in the field of Synthetic Chemistry, Cellular Biochemistry, Biophysics, Biomedicine, and Computational Life Science, 2012 Germany
Study Subject(s):Synthetic Chemistry, Cellular Biochemistry, Biophysics, Biomedicine, and Computational Life Science.
Course Level:PhD
Scholarship Provider: KoRS-CB
Scholarship can be taken at: Germany
Eligibility:The University of Konstanz is an equal opportunity employer and tries to increase the number of women in research and teaching.
Scholarship Open for International Students: No
Scholarship Description: The Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology (KoRS-CB) is an interdisciplinary initiative of the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, and Computer & Information Science at the University of Konstanz and is supported by the German Excellence Initiative.
How to Apply: Electronically
Scholarship Application Deadline: By 1 August 2012
Further Scholarship Information and Application

PhD: 2012 Call for PhD Scholarships at the University of Erfurt, Germany

PhD Scholarship for German Students in Various Subjects at University of Erfurt, Germany 2012
Study Subject(s):Various
Course Level:PhD
Scholarship Provider: University of Erfurt
Scholarship can be taken at: Germany
Eligibility:
Applicants for Scholarships must hold a Master’s or equivalent degree with high marks in one of the relevant core areas. Scholarships for PhD candidates are € 1,100 per month and run for a period of up to 3 years. Material and travel expenditures can be reimbursed. Women are therefore particularly encouraged to apply for our graduate programmes and funding.
Scholarship Open for International Students: No
Scholarship Description: The University of Erfurt offers structured PhD programmes in several fields of research. Participants are given the opportunity to work in an outstanding research environment. They profit from an innovative conception of mutual team support and an intensive mentoring programme. With their research they will be integrated into cross-disciplinary research teams. Furthermore you will find an excellent library on the campus on the outskirts of the historic old town.The University of Erfurt is a family-friendly institution and is committed to equal opportunity within employment and research. Scholarships for PhD candidates are € 1,100 per month and run for a period of up to 3 years. Material and travel expenditures can be reimbursed. In Erfurt, each scholar will have his or her own workplace. Scholars are requested to reside in Erfurt for the duration of their scholarship. Participation in seminars of the respective graduate school or the mentoring research teams is mandatory.
How to Apply: Email
Scholarship Application Deadline: July 15th, 2012
Further Scholarship Information and Application

Scholarship: Nieman-Berkman Fellowship in Journalism Innovation, 2013/14 USA

2013/14 Fellowship in the field of Journalism Innovation for the applicants of United States citizens and citizens of other countries at Harvard University, USA
Study Subject(s):Journalism innovation
Course Level:Fellowship
Scholarship Provider: The Nieman Foundation and the Berkman Center
Scholarship can be taken at: USA
Eligibility:The Nieman-Berkman Fellowship is open to both United States citizens and citizens of other countries. Candidates should either be working journalists or work for a news organization in a business, technology, or leadership capacity. Independent journalists are also welcome to apply.
Scholarship Open for International Students: Yes
Scholarship Description: The fellowship is a collaboration between two parts of Harvard: the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Both share a set of common interests around journalism, innovation, and the evolution of the digital space. And both have longstanding fellowship programs that give people a year to learn and collaborate with others in the Harvard community.
How to Apply: Online
Scholarship Application Deadline: Feb. 15, 2013
Further Scholarship Information and Application

Master: 2012 LLM International Scholarships at University of Leicester, UK

Postgraduate Scholarships in Law for International Students at University of Leicester, UK 2012
Study Subject(s):General Law, International Commercial Law, International Human Rights Law, Public International Law, Legal Research
Course Level:Postgraduate
Scholarship Provider: School of Law-University of Leicester
Scholarship can be taken at: UK
Eligibility:
The scholarships are for full-time campus based study only and applicants must be able to commence their studies in October 2012. The scholarships are open to international (i.e., outside the EU) applicants who achieve a final grade at undergraduate level that is higher than our benchmark entry requirement. Benchmark entry requirements vary according to the LLM programme applied for:
Scholarship Open for International Students: Yes
Scholarship Description: The School of Law is pleased to offer a number of scholarships for October 2012 entry to any of its five full-time campus based LLM degree programmes. The scholarships are worth up to £2,000 each and are open to international applicants who can demonstrate academic excellence at undergraduate level.The School of Law is a research-led department committed to producing the highest quality scholarship while recognising the important relationship between excellence in research and in teaching. It is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK law schools:
How to Apply: Online, Post
Scholarship Application Deadline: 31 August 2012
Further Scholarship Information and Application