Conference to discuss future of Eastern European, Eurasian studies

TALLINN - The sixth annual Tartu Conference on Russian and East European Studies will take place from June 12 to 14 in the southern Estonian university town of Tartu and will focus on societal developments in Europe and the rest of Eurasia.

The conference will be attended by over 150 researchers from across the world. The conference is organized by the University of Tartu Center for Eurasian and Russian Studies CEURUS.

Viacheslav Morozov, professor of EU-Russia studies at the University of Tartu and the main organizer of the event, said that the leading topic of the conference is very topical. "The program committee drafted the title of the conference last fall, when the shocking events in Ukraine had not yet taken place. The question of the future of Eastern Europe and Eurasia has now become a global debate," Morozov said.

More than 150 researchers and experts from Europe, the United States, Canada and elsewhere will speak at the conference's nearly 40 presentation sessions. The topics range from security issues and governance to law and from literature and translation studies to cultural and identity policy, covering not only Russia, Central and Eastern Europe but also the wider international context.

A keynote address on June 12 will be made by professor Vitaly Chernetsky from the University of Kansas, who will focus on the impact of the Ukraine-Russia war from a regional studies perspective in his presentation. On June 13, a keynote address will be made by professor Andrea Peto from the Central European University on the lessons learned from gendering illiberalism. Both presentations can be followed either in person in the assembly hall of the University of Tartu or via UTTV online. The presentations are open to the general public.

In separate sessions, the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war will be addressed not only from a regional perspective but also from a global perspective. On Monday, June 13, a special screening of the documentary "Tales of a Toy Horse", an Estonia-Ukraine co-production, will take place for the conference participants.