7th International Summer Doctoral Retreat of the Centre for Southeast European Studies (CSEES), Karl-Franzens University Graz

The 7th Summer Doctoral Retreat of the Doctoral Consortia “Europeanization of Southeastern Europe “was successfully held on 27th and 28th of June 2023 at ADAM.

The Doctoral Retreat gathered faculty members and ten PhD researchers from Karl-Franzens University in Graz and various international universities and conducted a two-day session with debates focusing on each of the ten PhD research projects. These interdisciplinary research projects covered a wide range of disciplines, including political sciences, history, law studies, economics, sociology, anthropology and human geography. Next to finding solutions to challenges for each of these research projects related to Southeastern Europe through collegial academic discussions, the objective also was to tackle broader questions with regard to perspectives, concepts and challenges for Area Studies in general.

Chaired by Doctoral Program Speaker Univ.-Prof. Dr. Florian Bieber, the Doctoral Retreat had invited distinguished guest speakers to broaden approaches and perspectives of the PhD researchers.

Among the renowned speakers were Prof. Sinisa Malesevic from University College of Dublin – UCD, one of the most prominent experts on nationalism, who held a key note lecture on the “Golden Age of Nationalism in the Western Balkans”. Dr. Gerald Lind, academic coordinator of the Doctoral Academy Graz, contributed with a closing lecture regarding aspects of academic careers titled: “Secrets of Academia”. Organizational support was provided by PhD researchers Ivana Spirovska and Lorenzo Ugurgieri.

The Doctoral Retreat was co-financed by the Government of Styria and the Doctoral Academy, Karl-Franzens University Graz.