Education
Summer School: previous editions
Online School on Human Rights
“Bridging Perspectives: Human Rights Dialogues Between Russia and Europe. The Future of Human Rights in Russia and the Challenges of European Fundamental Rights”
Date: 3 September – 10 October 2024
On the other hand, the European Union (EU), having passed through the history of wars and conflicts, has transformed into a Union founded on the principles of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. In this regard, the EU has valuable insights to offer. However, the EU itself is facing a number of challenges, starting from climate change, which has repercussions on human rights, to the backsliding of democracies. In the end, the question is whether the European Union has as many powers as obligations to forge the observance of human rights. Those questions are intertwined into what can be an interesting comparative perspective of two human rights systems.
With this approach in mind, Ghent University’s Eureast Platform together with the Irish Centre for Human Rights and School of Law at the University of Galway, and in collaboration with the Elena Bonner School of Human Rights, organized an Online School on Human Rights 2024. This project was supported by the European Commission Foreign Policy Instrument initiative ‘EU Public Diplomacy - Russia’.
This Online School welcomed both Russian and European students and invited them to delve into human rights issues from two perspectives. First, the School presented an outlook on the deteriorating state of affairs of human rights in Russia with its root causes and repercussions. Second, as for the European perspective, the School provided an opportunity to examine the human rights construction in the European Union, focusing on climate change, migration, democracy and human rights nexuses. The program also encompassed a historical analysis of the transition to democracy and the restoration of human rights safeguards in some European countries.
This Online School offered a unique opportunity for European and antiwar-minded Russian students to exchange views on critical human rights issues. In the current context, where institutional contacts with Russian universities and students are limited, this School created a valuable space for such interactions.
Find more information about the speakers and the programme of this summer school edition.
Ukraine and the challenges of nationhood, individuality and survival.
Date: 12 – 16 September 2022
Focus and goals
The purpose of this multidisciplinary international Summer School is not only to provide a deeper understanding beyond the clichés of the conflict and the societies and environments involved, it is also to teach participants how to approach these clichés if they are to work with Ukraine in later professional environments or other capacities.
The focus is on Ukraine’s society and societal dynamics rather than on the grand geopolitics. Different experts on - and many also from - Ukraine offered an in-depth analysis of the following four topics, each of which was addressed in a separate thematic day:
• identity, culture and ‘culture wars’;
• economic-ecological dynamics;
• the ‘humanitarian frontline’;
• formal and informal governance.
This Eureast Platform summer school was initiated and compiled by the Department of Conflict and Development Studies and the Department of East European Languages and Cultures of Ghent University.
Find more information about the speakers and the programme of this summer school edition here.
Online Summer School: Russia in Covid times
Date: 12-16 July 2021
Focus and goals
Russia remains a key player in international affairs during the COVID-19 outbreak. When the COVID-19 crisis erupted, Russia took several decisive steps to safeguard its sovereignty and increase its soft power capabilities: closing its border to China and developing its own Sputnik-V vaccine for use throughout the world. Over the course of the pandemic, Russia’s preparedness also ran into several difficulties: low levels of domestic interest in vaccination, questions over Sputnik’s effectiveness and production capabilities and concern that the state was more interested in using vaccines as a tool of international diplomacy over domestic needs. COVID-19 thereby serves as a critical issue to assess broader political and societal factors in Russia and its relation to the international system. What exactly is Russia’s role in the world? Does international/regional prestige outweigh domestic demands? How should we envisage the Russian domestic realm, the economic situation, and the means that are employed by the Kremlin to address challenges at home and abroad? This summer school aims at exploring and explaining these questions with a specific focus on the effect that the COVID-19 crisis has had on Russia’s political and societal life over the past year. Read more.
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