12 October 2023

4.00 – 4.15 p.m.: opening remarks by
Frank Grüner (Bielefeld University)
Gelinada Grinchenko (University of Wuppertal)
Yaroslav Zhuravlov (NASU Institute of History of Ukraine, Kyiv & Bielefeld University)

4.15 – 6.30 p.m.: evening lectures by
Guido Hausmann (Regensburg University)
and
Valeria Korablyova (Charles University, Prague): “Russia's War as an Epistemological Challenge: "Banal Imperialism(s)" in the (Inter-)Disciplinary Knowledge-Production”

chair: Gabriele Freitag (German Association for East European Studies)

7 p.m.: dinner

13 October 2023

9.00 – 10.45 a.m.: panel 1. Interdisciplinary Encounters and Entanglements: Academic Perspectives

Both peace and conflict studies and East European studies are interdisciplinary fields. Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine has created a substantial overlap between them. Yet the relationship between these two fields of expertise is much longer. How has it changed over time in German academia? Which gaps and deficits in interdisciplinary dialogue can be identified? To what extent does the absence of peace and conflict studies as an established field of scholarly knowledge in Ukraine shape the German-Ukrainian encounters?

Panel debate with:
Yevhen Mahda (Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute & Institute of World Policy, Kyiv)
Svitlana Potapenko (Goethe University Frankfurt)
Julia Eichenberg (University of Bamberg and University of Bayreuth)
Andreas Zick (Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, Bielefeld)

chair: Kornelia Kończal (Bielefeld University)

10.45 – 11.15 a.m.: coffee break

11.15 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.: panel 2. Rethinking Ukraine’s Past for a Common European Future

Most conceptions of Europe have been thought of primarily from a Western European perspective, which can essentially be explained by the logic of the European Union’s genesis. Central and Eastern European perspectives have been added in the course of the EU's eastward enlargement, but they have been less able to determine Europe's current constitution and policies. The panel will discuss to what extent the historical experiences of Ukraine and its neighboring states since World War I need to be incorporated into the future shaping of a European community of values and security.

Panel debate with:
Jurko Prochasko (NASU Ivan Franko Institute, Lviv)
Gwendolyn Sasse (Centre for East European and International Studies, Berlin)
Kateryna Kobchenko (Austrian-Ukrainian Historians’ Commission & University of Münster)
Benjamin Schenk (Ukrainian Research in Switzerland - URIS, University of Basel)

chair: Ricarda Vulpius (University of Münster)

1.00 – 2.00 p.m.: lunch break

2:00 – 3.45 p.m.: panel 3. Ukraine in German public debate from 2014 to the present

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has raised a great deal of public attention towards the past and present of this country. However, German public debates about Ukraine have not been not free from misunderstandings and misconceptions. To what extent have experts co-created the public exchange about Ukrainian affairs – as compared to 2014? Whose voices were (not) listened to and why? How has the very notion of an expert changed since 24 February 2022?

Panel debate with:
Franziska Davies (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)
Nataliya Butych (Leibniz University Hannover)
Anna Veronika Wendland (University of Giessen & Herder-Institut, Marburg)
Steffen Dobbert (DIE ZEIT)

chair: Fabian Baumann (University of Heidelberg)

3.45 – 4.15 p.m.: coffee break

4.15 – 6.00 p.m. panel 4. Rebuilding Ukraine: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Peacebuilding and Reconstruction

Rebuilding (post-war-) Ukraine will become a major task, first of all for Ukrainian society and politics, but also for international donors, in particular for the EU and its member states. Rebuilding implies a number of dimensions, including political, security, socio-economic and socio-psychological issues. It is also closely linked to peacebuilding and questions of transitional justice. How can the scholarly community contribute to this process? What are past experiences regarding war-torn societies which need to be taken into account for Ukraine? Which key concerns should be considered and what are the priorities? To what extent do perspectives and approaches differ across disciplines and how could a joined approach and research agenda look like?

Panel debate with:
Julian Bergmann (German Institute of Development and Sustainability)
Olena Kovalenko (Ukrainian Institute, Kyiv)
Viktoria Sereda (Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin)
Tetiana Vodotyka (Kyiv School of Economics)

chair: Ulrich Schneckener (Osnabrück University)

6.00 – 6.15 p.m.: short break

6.15 – 6.45 p.m.: Q & A with Oleksandra Matviichuk (Center for Civil Liberties, Kyiv) (tbc)

chair: Kornelia Kończal (Bielefeld University)

6.56 – 7.00 p.m.: concluding remarks by
Gelinada Grinchenko (University of Wuppertal)
Frank Grüner (Bielefeld University)
Ulrich Schneckener (Osnabrück University)
Nataliia Sinkevych (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)

dinner

Symposium Committee
Franziska Davies (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)
Gelinada Grinchenko (University of Wuppertal)
Frank Grüner (Bielefeld University)
Kornelia Kończal (Bielefeld University)
Nataliia Sinkevych (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)
Yaroslav Zhuravlov (NASU Institute of History of Ukraine, Kyiv & Bielefeld University)

In cooperation with
the German-Ukrainian Historians’ Commission
the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, Bielefeld
the German Association for East European Studies