International Forum for the Exchange of Ideas
More than 80 researchers from over a dozen countries around the world will take part in the conference, including participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Japan, Kosovo, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Germany, Romania and Serbia. The symposium is a joint project of leading Polish academic centres: the University of Lodz, Jagiellonian University, the University of Warsaw, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The event is another initiative of the Lodz research centre and scholars associated with the University of Lodz Science and Research Centre “The Balkans at the Turn of the 20th/21st Century”, which for years has successfully integrated the academic community by creating a space for international dialogue and cooperation.
Rich Programme of Discussions
The thematic scope of the symposium covers a very broad spectrum of issues: from security and geopolitics, through history, culture and memory politics, to the analysis of contemporary phenomena such as social movements, authoritarianism, populism and minority rights. The two-day programme includes numerous expert panels, including those dedicated to the political, economic and social challenges of the contemporary Balkans; memory politics, identity narratives and religion in the development of the region; as well as the determinants of diplomacy, and integration and crisis processes in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The official opening of the conference will take place on 22 June 2026 at 10:00 a.m.
The symposium is held under the honorary patronage of the Ministry of National Defence and the Balkan History Association.
Media patronage is provided by: TVP3 Łódź, TVP Info, Obserwator Międzynarodowy and the Defence24 portal.
Source and photos: University of Lodz Science and Research Centre “The Balkans at the Turn of the 20th/21st Century”
