Integration conference to bring together experts from 8 states

TALLINN - The Estonian Integration Foundation is organizing a conference entitled "30 Years of Integration: Success Stories, Challenges and Unused Opportunities" to be held in the conference center at Original Sokos Hotel Viru in Tallinn on Thursday and Friday, the event will bring together internationally recognized experts from Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Estonia.

The two-day conference will include speeches and discussions in which experts, researchers, policy-shapers and representatives of civil society organizations will be analyzing the integration processes implemented in Estonia and other countries over the last 30 years, summarizing achievements and setbacks and discussing what still needs to be done to foster a more cohesive society.

A total of 15 speakers will be presenting at the conference. They include Adrian Favell, the chair in sociology and social theory at the University of Leeds and research associate of the Center for European Studies at Sciences Po in Paris, and Birgit Glorius, professor for human geography at the EUROPA Institute of Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany.

Presentations will also be given by Lithuanian Social Research Center and NGO Diversity Development Group researcher Giedre Blazyte, University of Latvia doctor of social sciences Inese Supule and political scientist and City of Helsinki urban research and statistics unit senior researcher Pasi Saukkonen.

Estonian researchers Marju Lauristin, Raivo Vetik, Kats Kivistik and Triin Vihalemm will be analyzing 20 years of integration monitoring and discussing changes in Estonian society in recent decades.

The working language of the conference will be Estonian, with simultaneous interpreting into English and Russian. The event can be watched live free of charge on the website integrationconference.ee/en  or via the Worksup environment https://worksup.com/app#id=INTEGRATION .

The seminar of the conference will take place in Narva from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 and will be also available online: https://ut-ee.zoom.us/j/96753407588?pwd=aUZjd0NpVDNPT1FlMkFQVmVSaVF3QT09 .

The 2021 conference is the eighth in the series. The event is being run by the Integration Foundation in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture.

Attendance is upon presentation of a COVID certificate, it is mandatory to wear a mask at the event.