Clare Hall, Cambridge, March 21–22, 2024
We live, today, largely in a world of projects. As recent scholarship has suggested, the project as such has come to embody the quintessence of our contemporary world as it has developed from the 1970s, described inter alia as that of neoliberalism, of post-industrial capitalism or of liquid modernity. But we also live in a world of failed projects, which urges historians to embark on empirical studies of ultimately ill-fated, large-scale projects in order to untangle the historical challenges associated with their management. This need is especially urgent for writers of the history of transnational integration, not least in macro-regions such as Europe or, on a smaller scale, the Nordic region, whose promotors boast about being proverbial world champions in the field of integration. Appraising the histories of failure may bring crucial understanding to the limits and possibilities of integration; yet they are often forgotten, being obscured by success narratives disseminated by presently active stakeholders, or by historians focusing on the tales of the victors.
This workshop will counter such tendencies in the historical research on transnational integration by welcoming and discussing new research on failed projects of regional integration in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe. Within the framework of this workshop, we focus mainly on two types of failures, distinguished by how they have informed and impacted their historical contexts. The first of these are destructive failures, which have functioned or been perceived of as warning examples of transnational integration, indicating paths undesirable to take. Such failures may become obstacles for cooperation or integration by continuing to haunt plans and ambitions, both in the public sphere debates and in the planning processes of experts. The second category of failures are here dubbed productive failures, i.e. points of departure for compensatory measures, which have become drivers for other, different initiatives, of which there have been numerous examples in the history of Nordic and transnational integration. Both these categories provide us with glimpses of the future visions of the past, readable not least in the massive amount of work they produced. After all, failures are, just as much as successes, outcomes of intense interactions, and of an intensive knowledge production.
In this workshop, we propose to look beyond party politics and diplomatic history to lay bare valuable knowledge regarding the “hidden integration” of the transnational spaces, focusing on economic projects broadly conceived, from the infrastructures of the network industries to cross-border business ventures of media and entertainment.
Contact: Martin Johansson (martin.johansson@sh.se) and Andreas Mørkved (am2337@cam.ac.uk)Workshop: Using Genetics to Understand Social Structures: Genetic Influences across Time, Groups, and Societies
29 February-1 March 2024, University of Oslo
This workshop tries to bring together social scientists from the Nordic countries and elsewhere, to provide insight into whether the impact of genes on broader socio-economic and social-demographic outcomes depends on the social environments we are part of, such as socio-economic groups, schools, neighbourhoods, time periods or even countries. The core organizing team consists of Arno Van Hootegem, Torkild Hovde Lyngstad, Ruth Eva Jørgensen, Karri Silventoinen and Gaia Ghirardi.
The workshop is funded by NordForsk through the ReNEW research hub, UiO:Life Science through the AHeadForLife project and the European Research Council through the OPENFLUX project.
Contact: Arno Van Hootegem, a.van.hootegem@sosgeo.uio.no
30 November-2 December, 2023, Silkeborg, Denmark
The workshop aims at developing the proposal for a book anthology of high-quality research, on the themes of relational ontologies and epistemologies and experimental academic writing in tourism studies. Contact: Ana María Munar, amm.bhl@cbs.dk.
1-3 November 2023, Venice
Workshop on occultism and cultural transfers between North and South. The workshop aims at developing methodology for studying the mutual entanglements between esoteric and aesthetic practices, based on a series of Nordic case studies. Deadline for abstract submission is 15 April 2023. Call for papers: “Occultural Transfers between North and South”.
26-27 October 2023, Oslo
The 2025 marks the bicentennial of Norwegian emigration to North America. Norway was the country, next to Ireland, with the highest rate of its population emigrating in this period. Sweden ranks third. Between 1825 and 1930 around 3 million Scandinavians emigrated, most of them to North America, while several, may be as much as a fifth, remigrated. This mass migration was perceived as a national crisis, causing intense national discussions and anti-migration activities in Norway and Sweden. Gradually, emigrants came to be seen not primarily as lost resources, but as valuable transatlantic networks, connecting transnational – and translocal − communities. The close and increasing transnational contact and exchange, through networks, organisations, correspondence and publications played an important role in debates at home, both regarding democratic impulses and emigration as such. The Scandinavian experience thus makes an excellent case from which to evaluate the larger historical phenomenon of transatlantic mass migration shaping both the old and the new world. This unprecedented social experiment, with more than fifty million Europeans emigrating to North America, was fuelled by the first “great experiment in democracy” − the United States. America became a place for democratic learning and critique, where migrants and travellers could value, transvalue − and transmit back home − democratic experiences. The workshop aims to re-evaluate the transatlantic dimension of democratisation, taking the Scandinavian nations as its vantage point. The workshop is part of the activities of the research network "Transatlantic Dimensions of Democratic Values and National Cultures in the Long Nineteenth Century (TransValue), based at the UiO. Contact: Ruth Hemstad, ruth.hemstad@iakh.uio.no.
5-6 October 2023, Oslo
Associational life in the North is often characterised by a high degree of conformity, consensus, and preparedness to cooperate with the state. This has been identified as a Nordic particularity and explained in reference to a political culture. The planned anthology takes a different approach to the study of voluntary associations by focusing on organisational practices, especially manifestations of bureaucracy like statutes and minute books, annual reports and members’ lists, audits and accounts, seniority and statistics, officers and offices.Starting from the observation that associations have developed bureaucratic traits to a greater extent than necessary for the mere pursuit of their stated purposes, the planned book asks how bureaucracy affected both the relations between members, the role of associations in (democratic) society, and their relationship towards the state. Historians and sociologists shed light on the organisational practices of associations of all kinds, from leisure clubs to advocacy groups, social movement associations and trade and industry bodies. Studies focus on individual clubs and their members at the local level or at larger associations at the regional or (inter)national level, including committees at the interface of the voluntary sector and the state. The two-day authors’ workshop will bring together 17 contributors to an anthology on “bureaucratic voluntarism” to discuss their draft chapters.Contact: Klaus Nathaus, klaus.nathaus@iakh.uio.no.
19-20 October, Denmark
Closed workshop that explores museum objects and how these play a crucial role in shaping our knowledge of Nordic countries, both when they are included in and excluded from museum collections and exhibitions.
Contact person: Stefanie Steinbeck, CBS
26-27 September 2023, Uppsala
Closed workshop to discuss a book project on the theme "The Early Modern Pastor in the North". Contact: Arne Bugge Amundsen
21 September 2023, Södertörn University, Stockholm
The workshop invites researchers on the shared heritage in the Baltic Sea- and Eastern European region to present their studies and to discuss the music material. We focus on Ukrainian folk music traditions that have been formed during the centuries of multicultural contacts in the region and that now represent a fusion of Ukrainian, Scandinavian, Jewish, Polish, Romany, Crimean-Tatar, and Moldavian song traditions. We invite The Alibi Sisters contemporary folk band who has developed an original musical live program to introduce the diversity of Ukrainian national and broader European music cultures through the folk and traditional Ukrainian songs performed in modern arrangement.The workshop aims to start a hybrid academic and artistic project, inviting Ukrainian musicians, musicologists and culture scholars to collaborate and to establish a unique network that will explore the shared musical and cultural legacy in the region. This event is especially important to hold now in the times of war since it sustains the academic and artistic exchange, artistic research, and intercultural collaboration in Europe. The musical program will contribute to securing artistic freedom and equal opportunities for Ukrainian artists. Contact: Irina Seits, irina.seits@sh.se. .
13-15 September 2023, Oslo
Closed writing workshop for young scholars and project seminar. Contact: Inga Bostad.
20-21 June 2023, The National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen
In the recent historiography of the Nordic welfare model, scholars have particularly focused on the laws, institutions, and political culture connected to social policy, creating a certain theoretical ephemerality around discussions of a Nordic model. With this workshop, planned as a collaboration between ReNEW and the Aarhus University-based project “Nordic model(s) in the global circulation of ideas, 1970-2020,” we aim to explore the multitude of ways in which materiality and the “modelization” of the Nordic region have been mutually constitutive. In exploring different channels through which materiality and the Nordic model have been interconnected and mutually defining, we emphasise perspectives on circulations as a means to study multi-scalar phenomena and thereby how Nordic models and materiality have been connected globally, internationally, and locally. We extend our perspective between the interwar period, with its formative decades for both notions of Nordic materiality and Nordic models, and today. Contact: Byron Rom-Jensen, byron.rom-jensen@helsinki.fi and Mikkel Høghøj, mikkel.hoghoj@natmus.dk.
See Call for papers: Materiality and the Nordic Model workshop, DL 28 February 2023.
8-9 June 2023, Oslo
The Nordic welfare states are known to provide exceptional social protection for their citizens. However, a growing body of research argues that the generous Nordic model has been quietly transforming under the growing fiscal pressures. Therefore, this workshop will explore the social policies currently implemented around the Nordic countries, and comparatively analyze them against the social protection implemented in the countries beyond the Nordic cluster. The purpose is two-fold: First, the workshop will aim to find out whether the Nordic welfare programs are still exceptionally generous and inclusive. Second, the presented research will tackle whether the Nordic welfare programs are still exceptionally successful in improving the quality of life among their citizens – with respect to their political and social attitudes, redistribution preferences, and behavioral patterns. The findings will foster our understanding of the determinants increasing positive impact of welfare states, and thus will constitute a relevant knowledge base when designing future programs. Contact: Miroslav Nemčok, miroslav.nemcok@stv.uio.no.
See Call for papers: Exploring the Impact of Social Policies on People’s Lives, DL 5 March 2023.
5-7 June 2023, Oslo
The latest reports from IPCC have made the world aware of the gravity of a global ecological crisis. Hence, we are also made aware of a cultural, political, and civilizational crisis reaching behind and beyond questions of ecology. The crisis is global, and yet it, in our specific context, it uncovers a deep ambivalence in the Nordic relation to nature, characterized by destruction and appreciation, gift and guilt. Focusing on the philosophical and religious sources of the crisis – and resources for understanding it – this workshop intends to gather philosophers of religion from all the Nordic countries discussing the topic of religion and nature. The participants are invited to identify and analyze our complex relation to nature in the Nordic context, based on its religious roots and contemporary philosophical analyses. Contact: Marius Timmann Mjaaland, m.t.mjaaland@teologi.uio.no, for more information visit: Religion and Nature: NSPR Conference.
Helsingborg, Sweden, 30-31 May 2023
Incarceration and immobility can have a profound impact on individuals, families, and communities. For those who are incarcerated, the experience can be traumatic and isolating, leading to mental health issues, social stigma, and a decreased likelihood of successful reintegration into society. Similarly, those who are immobilized due to restrictive immigration policies or exploitative labour practices may experience social isolation, loss of income and job security, and a decreased sense of agency and self-determination.
Rather than a strict focus on physical borders as legal institutions, this workshop offers a unique vantage point from which to analyse current transformations in society. The importance of analysing such transformations concerns common perceptions of the “bordering” perspective, which is embedded in what James Scott (2015) calls "the everyday construction of borders" through geo-political changes, media representations, political discourses and institutional practices.
The Nordic countries have often been praised for their progressive social policies and justice systems. However, despite these advancements, issues related to incarceration, detention, and exploitation still persist in the region. This workshop aims to provide a platform for researchers to discuss and critically examine various forms of incarceration and immobility in the Nordic countries.
Programme: Reimagining Incarceration and Immobility in Nordic Countries.
24 ‒ 26 May 2023, Oslo
We are pleased to invite you to the 6th Nordic Challenges Conference. The Conference is also the concluding conference of the interdisciplinary research initiative UiO:Nordic at the University of Oslo, a partner in the university hub ReNEW (Reimagining Norden in an Evolving World). This means that we encourage a variety of approaches and topics that engage with the Nordic region, its culture, economics, and politics, with a stress on pasts, presents, or futures. For information visit conference website: 6th Nordic Challenges Conference: Nordic Challenges and Identities: Pasts, Presents, Futures.
11-12 May 2023, Copenhagen
This workshop explores museum objects and how these play a crucial role in shaping our knowledge of Nordic countries, both when they are included in and excluded from museum collections and exhibitions. Participants are asked to present a museum object of their choosing and through it reflect on the theme; collecting, constructing, and comprehending “Norden”. From this initial interpretation presented by each participant, we will have a larger collaborative dialogue. Contact: Stefanie Steinbeck, shs.mpp@cbs.dk.
26 April 2023, Oslo
The main objective of the planned workshop is to actively facilitate the UiO: Nordic funded project Gendering the Nordic Past main aim of producing presentations of the past that appear relevant for the generation growing up the Nordic area today, whilst remaining true to the empirical data of the given period. By invitation only. Organizer: Lisbeth Skogstrand, lisbeth.skogstrand@iakh.uio.no.
Event page: Conference - Gendering the Nordic Past: Dialogues between Past and Present
20-21 April 2023, Aarhus
Two-day workshop co-organised by two ReNEW hub partners: University of Oslo and Aarhus University. The primary purpose of this workshop is a comparative examination and applied humanistic inquiry of the manifesto as an and genre in Western deliberative democracies, and its push-pull against the political and cultural landscapes of the Nordic region.
See Call for Participants and Papers: Manifesting the 21st Century Manifesto in Nordic Public Spheres, DL 10 February 2023.
19-21 April 2023, Neskirkja, Reykjavik, Iceland
The long-term aim of this workshop is to stimulate research and discussion on decolonial practices as they relate to “nature” in Fenno-Scandinavia and the post-colonial North Atlantic (Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands). The short-term aim of this workshop is the preparation of a volume of research articles, essays and photographic essays based on the workshop presentations. The workshop asks how “nature” may be rethought—both historically and in the present day—from the perspective of Nordic subalternity. Visit event page: Decolonize Nordic Nature.
29-30 November 2022, Södertörn University.
We will seek to complement the current understanding of contemporary circulations of the Nordic model(s) by including the less explored cases from the Global South and Europe’s Eastern peripheries. The narratives pertaining to Nordic exceptionalism coming from these regions are often neglected or excluded from the mainstream analyses that are circulated internationally. Our workshop will contribute into the discussion of routes of circulation, claims about the exceptionality of Nordic models, and the diffusion and impact of the Nordic experiences and ideas. We will look into the internal fabrication of competing models and provide a pluralistic perspective on Nordic models, their internal competition, and their set-up as models for Norden in the world, rather than as fruitful models for the world. By Andrej Kotljarchuk, andrej.kotljarchuk@sh.se.
27 October 2022, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Research seminar on Nordic studies in the world and the circulation of Nordic models in time and in space. Contact: Haldor Byrkjeflot, haldor.byrkjeflot@sosgeo.uio.no.
29 September 2022, University of Iceland
This workshops brings together relevant scholars from Nordic universities in a bid to stimulate intra-Nordic collaboration to explore alternative pathways to meet the justice interests of survivors of sexual violence in the Nordic countries through a plural and exploratory approach of incorporating formal and informal justice processes and practices in the effort to further victim-survivors’ justice agenda that informs the workshop. The workshop takes place in connection to a conference on the same topic at the University of Iceland on 28 September 2022: Recognising Sexual Violence Developing Pathways to Survivor-Centred Justice. Organizer: Hildur Fjóla Antonsdóttir, postdoctoral researcher at EDDA Research Center at the University of Iceland.
19 September 2022, Copenhagen Business School
The purpose of the workshop is to bring together experts in the field of experimental design studies and researchers studying different aspects of labour market integration to develop a joint research endeavour with its concrete output being a developed research project. This workshop aims to bring together different experts to further research about ethnic and racial discrimination in the Nordic context but with a focus on a less studied but critical type of discrimination that may also lead to inequalities in the labour market. By invitation. Organizer: Carolin Schütze (CBS).
15-16 September 2022, University of Oslo/Blinder
In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the historical relationship between the modern Nordic welfare states and the development of a Lutheran culture since the 16th century. This relationship is complex and has varied between the different Nordic countries, but one element should be regarded as crucial: The development of a professional, well educated group of Lutheran ministers in charge of a wide range of administrative, economic, cultural and philanthropic tasks. Not least important is the fact that the Lutheran ministers were the local representatives of the King, linked together through a well functioning hierarchy of power, control and care. Our overarching idea is that analyzing the roles and tasks of the Lutheran pastors through formative periods will make it possible to connect a history of a profession with the development of Nordic welfare states: The different clerical tasks and obligations were slowly disentangled and made elements of new professions – teachers, medical doctors, lawyers, and politicians. By invitation only. Contact: Arne Bugge Amundsen, a.b.amundsen@hf.uio.no.
8-7 September, 2022, Södertörn University
The primary purpose of the workshop is to explore the current state of the art in research related to civic participation in secondary education in the Baltic Sea region, and, more specifically, to classroom practices promoting the democratic mission of the school. A subsidiary aim is to establish a Nordic and Baltic network of researchers and teachers’ organisations on this theme.Since the turn of the millennium, the Scandinavian countries have introduced Rhetoric as one way to meet these needs, but the ambition to apply this tradition to teach democracy in the classroom has not been followed through evenly across the region. In other Baltic Sea countries, different approaches have been taken, often within the framework of human rights and democratic development – but again, with varying degrees of success.This workshop addresses the following research question: What are the challenges of fulfilling the democratic mission in upper secondary education, and what solutions work and do not work, respectively, based on classroom experiences? To find answers to this question, this workshop will bring scholars who research democracy teaching together with teachers in the subject across the Baltic Sea region, to compare experiences and establish usable best practices. Contact: Stefan Rimm, Södertörn University, e-mail: stefan.rimm@sh.se.
28-29 August 2022, Oslo
The workshop aims to bring together early career researchers from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and further afield, as well as leading scholars in the disciplines of Criminology, Law, and International Relations, to develop an understanding of ‘borders’ and ‘bordering’ practices in the Nordic region. ‘Borders’ and ‘bordering’ processes are understood here at different levels, from spatial to virtual, some at the edge of the state, other in state institutions and every day life. The themes of the workshops will be as follows: migration to the Nordic region; detention, imprisonment, and deportation from the Nordic region; border communities, spaces, and bodies; border technologies and the securitization of migration; and border research methodologies. The workshop will be organized at the University of Oslo (Dorina Damsa, Phd candidate) in collaboration with the University of Oxford (Maayan Ravid, Phd candidate). The workshop is intended for early career researchers under the mentorship of senior researchers in the field. There will be open lectures, accessible to the public, panel presentations, as well as focused group discussions. Participants will be invited to present papers, during the two day workshop, and collaboratively work on a volume on ‘Nordic Borders’, either as a special issue or edited volume, to be later presented to Oxford University Press. Contact: Dorina Damsa, dorina.damsa@jus.uio.no.
26-27 August 2022, University of Oslo
This workshop invites papers that investigate how the foreign politics of the Nordic countries is rendered in various expressions of popular culture, be it literature or nonfiction, news and other forms of journalism, film and TV, arts, informational campaigns, world exhibitions, etc. The main goal of the workshop is to understand how Nordic foreign politics is represented in popular culture, and how these representations relate to – whether they clash with or support – the technical discourse of foreign politics itself. This frame will allow a better view of how Nordic engagement abroad is legitimized and criticized in popular culture, and what the consequences of those processes are. By invitation only. Organiser: Sunniva Engh, University of Oslo.
26-27 August 2022, Copenhagen Business School
Associational life in the North is often characterised by a high degree of conformity, consensus, and preparedness to cooperate with state authorities. This has been identified as a Nordic particularity and explained in reference to a political culture rooted in “values” and “traditions” reaching back centuries. The workshop suggests a different approach to the study of voluntary associations by focusing on organisational practices, especially manifestations of bureaucracy like statutes and minute books, annual reports and members’ lists, audits and accounts, seniority and statistics, officers and offices. Starting from the observation that associations have developed bureaucratic traits to a greater extent than necessary for the mere pursuit of their stated purposes, the workshop asks how bureaucracy affected both the relations between members and the role of associations in society. Contact: Klaus Nathaus, University of Oslo, klaus.nathaus@iakh.uio.no.
24-25 August 2022, Helsinki
A two day conference on systemic change within the logistics and freight transport sector in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from transports. The conference themes are: Digitalisation and AI supporting emission reductions; Technical innovations and best practices for actual implementation; Regulatory and sustainability frameworks and; Fostering behavioral changes for sustainability. Conference website: Implementing “Fit for 55” – The right Logistics and Transport Infrastructure for a Net Zero-Carbon Future – The Nordics at the Helm?
1–3 June 2022, Stockholm
ReNEW together with the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) invites to the 5th Nordic Challenges Conference "Nordic Neighbourhoods: Affinity and Distinction in the Baltic Sea Region and Beyond". The conference is planned to be on-site and addresses both the overarching theme “Nordic Neighbourhoods” and other topics fitting to the six streams of the research programme “Reimagining Norden in an Evolving World” (ReNEW): Nordic cooperation and region-building; Democracy, governance and law; Public policy, gender equality and labour markets; Imagining Norden - branding and Nordic reputation; Multiculturalism and globalization and; Nordic culture, education and media. More information, including the Call for applications, will be added on a continual basis during the second half of 2021 to the conference webpage: The Fifth Nordic Challenges Conference: Nordic Neighborhoods. Affinity and Distinction in the Baltic Sea Region and Beyond.
26-27 May 2022, University of Iceland
Ongoing changes during the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic in the Nordic welfare states call for a new understanding of social citizenship and solidarity among citizens, communities, and societies, as well as social and citizens groups. This joint ESPAnet-ReNEW workshop will take place in Iceland on 26 and 27 May 2022. Participation is free and accommodation covered. Call for papers: ReNEW-Nordic ESPAnet workshop for doctoral students and early career researchers: Social Citizenship, Democracy and Sustainability in the Nordic countries.
5-7 May 2022 Helsinki
Workshop focusing on the ways in which contemporary Nordic culture reacts to current changes taking place in the world. Contact: Kristina Malmio, kristina.malmio@helsinki.fi.
5-6 May 2022, Lysebu Hotel, Oslo
The Nordics are often assumed to pursue similar foreign policies and are regularly categorized as ‘middle powers’ or ‘like-minded nations’ in the international sphere. An important part of this image is the participation of civil society actors, such as voluntary associations or NGOs, who play a significant role in Nordic international engagement. However, is there such a thing as a Nordic view of the world? If there is, what is the place of the Nordics in this image, and how does it affect the Nordic countries’ role internationally? The workshop aims to explore new research ideas and build and extend networks of scholars of Nordic international engagement, looking beyond the traditional focus on the state as a main actor, and beyond the familiar national and regional narratives. Encouraging study of civil societies’ international engagement, we question the idea of a ‘Nordic worldview’, i.e. a shared understanding of the world and the Nordics’ place within it, and in turn how such an idea affects the Nordic countries in an increasingly globalized system. The topic thus encompasses national, regional and global levels of analysis, and encourages the inclusion of transnational perspectives in the debate. Contact: Sunniva Engh, sunniva.engh@iakh.uio.no. Read the Call for papers here: A Nordic worldview? The Nordics in the world.
31 March-2 April 2022, Stockholm
The three-day course Academic Writing in Modern English – Examples from Nordic Studies is meant to give recent PhDs and PhD candidates useful help in writing academic English.
January 2022, Oslo
The purpose of this workshop is pursue on-going cooperation in the context of a joint publication comparing Nordic policies on queer refugee and asylum. Forced transnational migration since 2015 has created a sense of urgency in generating new approaches to migration management that might address deficiencies in existing frameworks. One such deficiency has been the inconsistency in how Nordic countries have been dealing (or not dealing) with the issue of queer refugees and asylum seekers. Since the United Nations Refugee Agency published guidelines specifically dealing with refugee claims related to sexual orientation and gender identity, the topic has received some attention both in scholarly literature and in the formulation of national guidelines on immigration and asylum in some of the nations that make up the Nordic region. However, these national policies and guidelines remain inconsistent. The goal of this workshop is provide our intra-Nordic research network the space and a face-to-face interaction it needs to focus specifically on producing a comparative paper on the national guidelines and policies relating to queer refugees. by invitation only. Contact: May-Len Skilbrei, m.l.skilbrei@jus.uio.no
6 December 2021, Stakkalid University of Iceland
The workshop spotlighted pedagogy courses in teacher education in Nordic countries. It was held at the University of Iceland with participation from University of Oslo, Umeå University, University of Faroe Islands. Contact: Thuridur Jona Johannsdottir (University of Iceland) and Eyvind Elstad (University of Oslo).
5-6 November 2021, Boston University, Boston, MA
The Fourth Nordic Challenges Conference will be held November 5th-6th, 2021 at Boston University with focus on the themes of Nordic democracy and welfare, Nordic and small states’ responses to “grand challenges,” the new geopolitics of Nordic identity, circulation and contestation, and Nordic neoliberalism. The conference will include two special plenary panels: “Reconsidering the Nordic Model” with Torben Iversen (Harvard University), Chris Howell (Oberlin College), and Cathie Jo Martin (Boston University) and “The Nordic Model in a Global Context” with Herman Mark Schwartz (University of Virginia), Jette Steen Knudsen (Tufts University), John Campbell (Dartmouth College), and Haldor Byrkjeflot (University of Oslo).
More information on conference website: The Fourth Nordic Challenges Conference: Reconsidering the Nordic Models in an age of polarization.
2-3 December 2021, Hanaholmen, Helsinki
The workshop aims to investigate how university governance has evolved in the Nordic countries. The perspective will be both historical, tracking the developments that have led to the present situation, and comparative, analyzing national differences and similarities between the Nordic countries. The workshop will discuss how international trends in university governance, such as New Public Management, have affected the systems of higher education in the Nordic countries. Topics discussed include the relationships between external (government, business, labour unions) and internal (vice chancellors, faculty, students) actors in university governance, and the role of collegial decision making and top-down managerialism. The workshop will also address the relationship between constitutional and legal guarantees for academic freedom and the limitations exerted by different governance systems in this regard. Contact: Janne Holmén, janne.holmen@sh.se
12-13 December 2021, Online workshop
Thsi workshop is the second of the series of two workshop that will lead to a book. The workshops and book project will cast new light on the panmovements in the Nordic region, Scandinavianism and Nordism, by analysing them as closely interconnected phenomena, and as integrated parts of a wider international pattern. For more information contact: Peter Stadius, peter.stadius@helsinki.fi and Ruth Hemstad, ruth.hemstad@iakh.uio.no.
17 - 19 November 2021, Oslo
The purpose of this workshop is to investigate how religious institutions, congregations and individuals in the Nordic region have been affected by the social changes brought about by the COVID-19 regulations. Analytical themes regarding religious rituals and community will be primary, but methodological issues will also be on the agenda because conducting research in an age of social distancing calls for methodological rethinking and innovation. Organizers: Elisabeth Tveito Johnsen (University of Oslo), Auli Vähäkangas (University of Helsinki) and Henrik Reintoft Christensen (Aarhus University).
6-9 October 2021, University of Helsinki
The Workshop on Immigrant Languages in the Americas (WILA) is an annual conference focused on heritage language research. Today, Nordic societies are multicultural entities, due to transnational and global migration and regional developments. In previous centuries, they have taken part in similar flows, when large groups of people migrated from the Nordic countries to the Americas, in search of a better life. This workshop highlights new research conducted both on migrants who have left the Nordic countries, as well as those who are in the Nordic countries in the current era. The 3-day event is organized as a hybrid (in person and virtual) workshop at the University of Helsinki and at the Nordic Culture Point in Helsinki. The workshop is freely available to the public. Contact: Eeva Sippola, eeva.sippola@helsinki.fi, University of Helsinki. Link: The Twelfth Workshop on Immigrant Languages in the Americas. Theme: Language Ideology.
4-5 October 2021, Södertörn University, Stockholm (also online)
In a bid to stimulate intra-Nordic research on decolonization processes in higher education in the Nordic countries, GRÓ-GEST will host a workshop at and in collaboration with Södertörn University on 4-5 October 2021. The workshop will be both in person and online (hybrid workshop) and is open to registration to all scholars in relevant fields. The workshop will include keynote sessions by two internationally recognized scholars in the field of decolonisation; Rauna Kuokkanen and Madina Tlostanova, in addition to presentations by decolonial scholars from across the Nordic region. Please register below before September 25. More about the event: https://tinyurl.com/hfsyd2j9.
Registration: https://forms.gle/KeewRDku4PazGK7a7
27-28 September 2021, University of Helsinki
This workshop is the first of the series of two workshop that will lead to a book. The workshops and book project will cast new light on the panmovements in the Nordic region, Scandinavianism and Nordism, by analysing them as closely interconnected phenomena, and as integrated parts of a wider international pattern. For more information contact: Peter Stadius, peter.stadius@helsinki.fi and Ruth Hemstad, ruth.hemstad@iakh.uio.no.
20 September 2021, University of Helsinki
This one-day symposium hosted by HeGRIC – Helsinki Game Research Collective seeks to reflect on the benefits and challenges of doing multidisciplinary game research by discussing the state of game studies as a discipline, the nature of collaboration in our field, multidisciplinary approaches (including communication with the game industry), and the importance of diverse research environments. Contact: lysiane.lasausse@helsinki.fi.
23-25 August 2021, Öckerö/Gothenburg
Two days writing workshop and a one day open seminar on Nordic equality and discrimination laws to disseminate information about the equality and anti-discrimination law in the five Nordic countries and invite to dialogue with researchers and students in law, gender studies and political science. Contact: Anne Hellum, anne.hellum@jus.uio.no.
17-18 May 2021, Paris
This symposium explores a new and critical Nordic–Baltic research front on cross-border relations and the artistic connectivity of the Nordic–Baltic realm and relations to European neighbours, in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It is arranged by Department of Art History, School of Culture and Education, Södertörn University and the Swedish Institute, Paris, in cooperation with the Research group Artl@s at the École Normale Superieure and scholars at Nordic and Baltic universities and museums. The symposium will be open to public. More information on Södertörn University website: Cross-border connectivity in Nordic–Baltic Art in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
19 April 2021, Helsinki
This project establishes a research group and Nordic and international connections to study patenting, technology transfers, and human capital accumulation in order to better understand long-run economic development in Finland. Contact: Jari Eloranta, jari.eloranta@helsinki.fi.
15 October 2020, 17:00-18:30 (Swedish time, CEST)
Place: Zoom: https://sh-se.zoom.us/j/62116096430, Meeting ID: 621 1609 6430
Guest lecture by Professor Cora Alexa Døving, Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies. Her field of research covers different aspects of Minority- and majority relations, Racism, Islamophobia and Antisemitism. She is the project leader of the research project Negotiating Jewish Identity – Jewish Life in 21st Century Norway.
Contact: Lena Roos, Professor of the Study of Religion, lena.roos@sh.se
11-12 June 2020, on-line meeting
History is an important resource in contemporary efforts of branding and representing the Nordics, whether the attempt takes place inside the region or outside. But what kinds of pasts are being produced and used in these strategic imaginings of the future from a Nordic perspective today? How does the past of the current Norden relate to those ‘Nordic pasts’ being (prod)used in earlier times? And what notions of the past have Nordic brands and models carried with them? These are among the questions taken up for discussion in this project, drawing on the work of individual Nordic researchers with a background in the fields of political history, Nordic studies, gender history, economic and business history, history and memory among others. By invitation only. Contact: Eirinn Larsen, eirinn.larsen@iakh.uio.no
28.5.2020
3-4 March 2020, Copenhagen
Contact: Mads Mordhorst, Associate professor, PhD. Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy, Copenhagen Business School, e-mail: mmo.mpp@cbs.dk, Lizaveta Dubinka-Hushcha, Assistant lecturer, PhD. Department of International Economics, Government and Business, Copenhagen Business School, e-mail: ld.egb@cbs.dk
10-11 February 2020, Institute of Contemporary History, Södertörn University
18-19 December 2019, Oslo
Follow-up workshop by invitation only. Contact: Kjell Lars Berge, k.l.berge@iln.uio.no
12-13 December 2019, Copenhagen
There is a blind spot when it comes to the interaction between political and administrative coordination and its impact on government performance in the Nordic countries. Mapping this hinterland of overall politico-administrative coordination is pertinent because it provides a potent explanation for the success (and failure) of government activities and, thus, the citizens’ trust in the political systems in the Nordic countries and beyond. This workshop seeks to measure and explain the variation in politico-administrative coordination across the Nordic countries and beyond, as well as assess the impact of such variation for government success. Three interlinked questions will guide the workshop addressed: How do the political and administrative parts of the Nordic executives coordinate, and how could types of politico-administrative coordination be distinguished and classified? How can we account for the cross-country variation in politico-administrative coordination? What is the impact of politico-administrative coordination on government success in Nordic countries? Contact: Mads Dagnis Jensen (mdj.egb@cbs.dk), Flemming Juul Christiansen, Christel Koop and Guy Peters .
2-3 December 2019, Copenhagen Business School
The workshop seeks to develop a new research theme and a research network around neoliberalism and neoliberalisation in the Nordics. By invitation only. Contact: Mathias Hein Jessen, mhj.mpp@cbs.dk
13-15 November 2019, Aarhus University
21-22 November 2019, Copenhagen
Research network meeting by invitation only. Contact: Hanne Pico Larsen, hpl.markt@gmail.com
30 October - 1 November 2019, Aarhus University
In the Nordic countries, the Bible continues to play a significant role as container of cultural values. This workshop at Aarhus University is a platform for new critical reflection on the use of the Bible in contemporary cultural and political debates in the Nordic countries. In Nordic Lutheran societies, the Bible has traditionally been perceived as a basis of religion and social cohesion. Whereas such religious and Lutheran factors in the historical genesis of the Nordic welfare states are well-researched, the focus of the present workshop is on public use of the Bible in present debates. The interdisciplinary workshop consists of a series of case studies that discuss how Nordic bibles (translations, Children’s bibles, rewritings, reenactments in art and politics) and Nordic bible use (the Bible as argument and icon in the public sphere) legitimize and criticize common cultural codes and values of Nordic welfare societies (gender equality, individualism, national identities, religion as private phenomenon, division of religion and politics, secularized Protestant ideas, etc.). Without essentializing the idea of a ‘Nordic Bible,’ it is the purpose to discuss common—and opposing—trends in biblical discourse across the Nordic countries. Whether there is such thing as a ‘Nordic Bible,’ i.e., a particular understanding and use of the Bible in the Nordic welfare states, remains an open question, but the workshop and its subsequent publication aims to demonstrate that the reception of the Bible is an excellent showcase of contemporary Nordic identity formation in an evolving world.
The workshop is organized by Aarhus University, University of Oslo, University of Helsinki, and University of Iceland in conjunction. Workshop papers will be published in a joint volume. A second workshop is planned to take place at University of Oslo in 2020. Participation by registration only (by 25 October 2019), contact: Kasper Bro Larsen, e-mail: kbl@cas.au.dk.
24-25 October, 2019, Södertörn University
21-23 October 2019, Stockholm
Nordic Democracy; Challenges, Threats and Possibilities The Nordic countries have been depicted as representing a special mode of democracy, a ”consensual democracy”, enabling compromises between works and capital as well as universal characterized welfare systems, a societal political solution - “the Nordic model” – long regarded as a role model of democracy, by the Nordics as well as by other parts of the world. Since the late 1970s the characteristics that constituted this model have changed. From the late 1980s change has accelerated, partly because of internal Nordic political and economic change – liberalisation, privatisation and individualisation, partly by general tendencies as medialization, globalization and digitalidation. Today the region is confronted by several democratic challenges, including isolationist and populist backlash, rising inequality, widening gaps between citizens and politicians, and growing distrust – a development taking place in new geopolitical context challenging the security politics drawn up on the premises of the “window of opportunity” opening up due to the collapse of the Soviet union and independence of the Baltic States. How do the Nordic countries and Nordic politics – within different policy fields and different political arenas - respond to these changes? How do they affect the Nordic model? Which future roles are designated the Nordic countries, region and model in the present rhetoric and discourse? Which players claim to own the political solutions of future democracy? Which modes of democracy are advocated ? Which arenas are brought out as central - civic society, local society, national parliamentarianism, Nordic political bodies for transnational co-operation, the EU, the UN? By invitation only. Contact: Ylva Waldemarson, ylva.waldemarson@sh.se
18-19 October 2019, Copenhagen
The workshop investigates digitalization of corporate governance and its impact on accountability, transparency, efficiency and therefore trust within society, thus impacting democracy. Specific emphasis is on analyzing the Nordic model of corporate governance and how digital transformation will impact current notions of governance, business models and interaction between management and boards with shareholders (private) and other stakeholders (public entities). The aim with the workshop is to explore this emerging research topic and identify areas for further research and appropriate methodologies. Further, the aim to investigate how disruptive technologies are changing the current notion of governance and practiced. The discussion that will take place seeks to integrate governance issues at different levels by selecting examples of corporations from the Nordic countries of different governance traditions: foundations, state ownership, private ownership, and a few non-Nordic cases to be used as benchmarks. Thus, governance at the firm level will be discussed in relation to relevant governance at the societal level (macro-level), and to related governance issues at the micro-level. By invitation only. Contact: Olaf Sigurjonsson, os.ccg@cbs.dk
15 October, 2019, Södertörn University
11-12 October 2019, University of Iceland, Reykjavik
People who flee persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression (SOGIE) constitute a particularly vulnerable group of migrants in both asylum and integration processes. During this two-day workshop at the Nordic House in Reykjavik, experts from all of the Nordic countries will come together to discuss the prospects of researching SOGIE asylum and integration processes, including the mapping of existing data, analyzing relevant policies, examining the role of digital media, and carrying out in-depth interviews with four different stakeholder groups: SOGIE refugees, gatekeepers, advocacy groups, and service providers. The goal of the workshop is to strengthen our scholarly communities in a way that will address challenges of SOGIE asylum and integration at an intra-Nordic level. This will be the first time researchers from all the Nordic countries come together to organize qualitative cross-national knowledge about SOGIE refugees in the Nordic region. Participation only by invitation. Contact: May-Len Skilbrei, e-mail: m.l.skilbrei@jus.uio.no.
26-28 September 2019, University of Iceland, Reykjavik
2-3 September 2019, University of Oslo
Closed workshop. Contact: Nina Witoszek, nina.witoszek@sum.uio.no.
2-3 September 2019, University of Helsinki
26-28 August 2019, University of Helsinki
19-20 June 2019, University of Oslo
6-7 June 2019, University of Oslo
15-24 May 2019, University of Iceland
24 May 2019, Hanaholmen, Espoo
2 May 2019, Näringslivets hus, Stockholm
Panel talks with practicioners, researchers and representants from media and culture about current conflicts and the future of public diplomacy and nation branding.
Public diplomacy and nation branding are expanding fields at the intersection of policy, practice and research. The approaches and models for diplomacy and branding practices are getting more diverse, and so are the theoretical and methodological approaches to these phenomena as study objects. Especially for small and medium sized states, public diplomacy has been seen as a way to gain influence and shape the international agenda beyond their limited hard power resources, whereas nation branding presents a way for smaller nations to create and maintain a distinct international image. Scandinavia, the Baltic area and Eastern Europe are thus excellent regions for discussing this phenomenon, as they include small nations, both with a long history, as well as newly founded countries in search of an international image. The implementation of public diplomacy and branding strategies as well as the emergence of related research fields have not only created a variation in methods and approaches, but also different forms of tensions and conflicts on various level. The purpose of the conference is to bring together practicioners and researchers to discuss current conflict lines within the field of public diplomacy and nation branding. The conference is hosted by Södertörn University in cooperation with the Swedish Institute and supported by thre Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) and ReNEW. For more information please contact: Andreas Åkerlund, andreas.akerlund@sh.se and Jerker Sundstrand, jerker.sundstrand@si.se
3 May 2019, Södertörn University, Stockholm
Day 2 of the conference Public Diplomacy in Conflict is an academic workshop with invited researchers from the field.
1-3 April 2019, Nordhost/UIO:Nordic and the SIMI institute in Rome
28-29 March 2019, University of Oslo
The workshop is open to scholars in the Oslo region and from the ReNEW consortium universities, but they have to finance the participation by means of their own research funds. Those who are interested in participating should get in touch with Lars Mjøset, lars.mjoset@sosgeo.uio.no.
27 March 2019, Copenhagen Business School
18 - 19 March 2019, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Oslo
5 March 2019, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen
→ Participation still possible, please fill in the First ReNEW Emerging Scholars Day application form and return it to renew@sh.se.
6-8 March 2019, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen
5-6 February 2019, University of Oslo, Oslo
17-18 December 2018, University of Oslo.
6-7 December 2018, MaxPo Center for Coping with Instability in Market Societies, Paris
16-18 November 2018, Copenhagen
29-30 October 2018, Tivoli Hotel & Congress Center, Copenhagen
19-20 October 2018, University of Iceland, Reykjavik
The EDDA Research Center in cooperation with the ReNEW Excellence Hub, hosts an international conference on emergency politics. It brings together scholars in diverse academic fields to explore “states of exception” from historical and contemporary perspectives and in different geographies, with emphasis on Europe, the Nordic region, and the United States.
11-12 October 2018, University of Helsinki, Finland
This workshop invites doctoral students from different fields in the humanities and social sciences to discuss their on-going research projects by focusing on the theoretical, methodological and empirical challenges that the notion of nationalism and transnationalism pose in their research. The aim of the workshop is to explore different ways of approaching transnationalism from both historical and contemporary perspectives.
4-5 October 2018, Aarhus University, Denmark
Norden’s dramatic television series currently serve as a model for the rest of the world. Shaped by public service broadcasting traditions these programmes provide a rich reservoir of representation of how northern Europe sees itself. With this in mind, this workshop will investigate the geopolitical implications of the series within and beyond the region.
The workshop is open to all, but places are limited. To register, please contact Dr Pei Sze Chow at pschow@cc.au.dk.
See announcement: ReNEW Workshop: Nordic Noir, Geopolitics, and the North
27-28 September 2018, Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering (CILSE), Boston University
20-21 September 2018, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen
7 August 2018, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen.
7‒9 March 2018, University of Helsinki.