Skytte news

On February 27, the e-classes offered by the online course “EU-Russia Relations: Between the Vilnius and Riga Eastern Partnership Summits” have officially started. More than 500 students from all around the world have registered to attend the six-week course, along with a number of learners from University of Tartu.

Senior BA, MA and PhD Students from Russia, Poland, Germany, France, USA and Taiwan are participating in the winter school Biopower and Semiotics of the Body” organized by the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies. The school was opened on February 19 by Prof Andrey Makarychev (University of Tartu) and the programme continues with lectures by Dr Maxim Waldstein (University of Amsterdam), Jakko Turunen (Sodertorns University), Abel Polese (Universities of Tallinn and Dublin) and Prof Sergei Medvedev (Higher School of Economics, Moscow).

On Tuesday, 28 February, Professor Li Bennich-Björkman from Uppsala University will give a public lecture at the University of Tartu titled "Just do it! Reforming Away Corruption in Georgia and Estonia".

On Friday, February 10th, our students from the International Relations and Regional Studies MA programme visited the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the first session in the new Series in Master Class Trainings took place. The Master Class Trainings are a new series of events organised for students with the aim to offer them more practical insights into international politics and to meet with the officials, analysts and experts practising in the field.

On Friday, January 13th, the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies received visitors from the Department for European Affairs of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to hear academic reports on current affairs. The visit by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials was related to their team building event. As a part of their programme in Tartu, they wished to gain an overview of some of the recent developments in foreign politics from an academic point of view, and to exchange thoughts in these matters.

On Thursday, 16 February, Dr Maria Mälksoo from the University of Kent Brussels School of International Studies is giving a public lecture at the University of Tartu titled ‘The Problem of Ontological Security: Linking Russia’s Transitional Justice and Foreign Policies’. The lecture takes place at 16.15 at Lossi 36-214.

CfP

On 15 February, Ryhor Nizhnikau is defending his doctoral dissertation on "Externally induced institutional change in the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood: migration and environment reforms in Ukraine and Moldova in 2010–2015". The public defence takes place at 16.00 at the Senate Hall of the University of Tartu (Ülikooli 18-204). The supervisor of his dissertation is Prof Viacheslav Morozov and the opponent is Dr Antoaneta Dimitrova (University of Leiden).

On 7 and 8 April, the 3rd Eastern Platform – Tartu Seminar will take place at the University of Tartu. The two-day seminar aims to analyse the multiple crises affecting Europe and to explore possible mid- and short-term developments and their impact on EU-Russia and West-Russia relations.

From 28 December to 10 January, students from UT’s partner university participated in the continuing education programme “Russia and Estonia in the European Dimension” which gave them an overview of Estonian-Russian relations, history, cooperation and future perspectives. Particular attention was paid to security in the region.

The past Friday, November 25, was a very intense and exciting day for our students enrolled in the “European Studies” (ES) and “European Union-Russia studies” (EURUS) master’s programmes. More than fifty of them – from five different ES and EURUS courses - had the chance to get in touch with policy-making and policy-makers in Tallinn, meeting with first-class national stakeholders and practically experiencing key aspects of the European decision-making process dealing with the ongoing refugee crisis, one of today’s biggest challenges for the European Union.

Jean Monnet Network „Developing European Studies in the Caucasus” (DESCnet) Call for participation: Winter School Stavropol 2017 „European Integration and Anti-Corruption Studies in the Caucasus” 27 February – 4 March 2017, Stavropol (Russian Federation)

Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies is honoured to host two distinguished guest lectures on 1-2 December 2016. The lectures discuss key security issues in the current political environment, both for Europe as well as for Estonia. With the lectures, the Skytte Institute aims to contribute to the public debate about security.

The University of Tartu announces an opening for the position of: Professor of Asian Politics

On Friday, November 11, H.E Mr Richard Kadlčák is visiting the University of Tartu and meeting with students and staff at 10.00 at the Social Sciences building, Lossi 36 room 214. Ambassador Kadlčák will give a presentation on the topic of "The EU integration from the Czech/Central European perspective", which is followed by open Q&A session.

On Tuesday, 15 November, Dr Tom Casier from the University of Kent Brussels School of International Studies is giving a public lecture titled “The humiliation motif in Russian foreign policy”.

The University of Tartu Institute of Social Studies in cooperation with the UT Centre of Information Society organise the high-level interdisciplinary seminar “Age of information (overload)” on 4 November at 10:00. The seminar is free for everyone interested. At the seminar different aspects of the age of information are analysed and the topics of risks and opportunities involved in an information society are discussed. The speakers in the event are excellent and inspiring researchers who study the information society and its phenomena (e.g. social media).

On October 24-25, a group of scholars from Russia, Ukraine, and the United States came to Tartu for an interdisciplinary discussion of political, social, cultural, and economic trends in the region 25 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

On October 29-30, Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies hosted the first international autumn school in Kääriku, bringing together more than 50 students, lecturers and guests. The school combined lectures with informal activities, providing for socialization and networking among students and teaching staff.

On October 29-30, Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies hosted the first international autumn school in Kääriku, bringing together more than 50 students, lecturers and guests. The school combined lectures with informal activities, providing for socialization and networking among students and teaching staff.