CEU Podcasts

In this episode, we have a special guest Professor Achim Kemmerling and we talk about what it means to protect knowledge when mobility is not an option. Professor Achim Kemmerling leads Research-at-Risk, an initiative at the Brandt School that reimagines how universities in safer contexts can support scholars working under authoritarian regimes or in resource-poor environments. From Myanmar to Afg...

In this interview, Lena Sadovski talks about her current research into the community of New Christian merchants trading between Apulia in southern Italy, and Spalato, modern day Split, in Dalmatia in the 15th and 16th century. Lena explains who the New Christians were, and why they moved between Apulia and Spalato. She shows how, and why this route of international trade was so important for Spala...

Wars don’t just destroy institutions, they reconfigure what counts as knowledge. In this episode, Elena Trifan speaks with Nadiya Kiss, Dina Gusejnova, and Andrea Pető about how the war in Ukraine has transformed academic hierarchies, disciplines, and solidarities across Europe. From the sudden visibility of Ukrainian studies to the rise of securitized and market-driven universities, Epistemic Fro...

In this interview, Katalin Szende, Professor of Medieval Studies at the Central European University, and founding member and current President of MECERN, talks about her on-going research into Fair Relations: Business, Church and Power in the 11th – 13th Century.  Her focus is on the cathedral cities of the three major polities of the period and region, Bohemia, Poland and Hungary, their differenc...

In this episode of Protecting Academia at Risk, we ask a pressing question: why don’t we seem to learn from the past? The host is Elena Trifan and together with Andrea Pető, Dina Gusejnova, Nadiya Kiss, Bernhard Kleeberg and Alina Dragolea, we explore how anti-gender discourses became state policies, why mistrust and crises undermine our ability to recognize patterns, how hubris and neoliberal ref...

In this interview, Gregor Rohmann, Professor for Regional Cultural History, University of Rostock, talks about his research into Pirates and Privateers – a Linguistic Conundrum of the 15th Century Baltic. Gregor considers how pirates, and the concepts and semantics related to piracy emerged in the Baltic. He links the emergence of specific actors who engaged in armed violence at sea to the need fo...

This episode of Protecting Academia at Risk marks the beginning of a new series that examines how the global landscape of higher education and academic freedom has shifted since our previous recordings. The discussion engages with the implications of Trump’s Project 2025, the growing politicization of knowledge production, and the emergence of new geographies of risk — including within the United...

A podcast on the protection of academic freedom by the OPEN Cost Action (www.opencostaction.eu)Description:Around the world—and particularly across Europe—higher education institutions are confronting escalating political, cultural, and ideological challenges that threaten their core values and independence. Academics—among the most directly impacted—often find themselves without the institutional...

In this interview, Karen Stark discusses her on-going research into the cult of the Virgin Mary in late medieval Hungary.  Originally an archaeologist, Karen retains a great interest in material culture and place-making, and she uses this lens to analyse the Marian cult. Following King Stephen I dedicating the Hungarian kingdom to the Virgin, Karen notes how later kings venerated, and promoted the...

A "Média és valóság viszonya a 21. században" című kurzusunk utolsó alkalmának felvétele 2025 május 21-én. Kurzusvezető: Balázs Zsuzsanna - újságíróA kerekasztal résztvevői: Bánszegi Rebeka, a 24.hu közéleti-politikai újságírójaKálmán Attila, az Investigate Europe oknyomozó újságírójaTőke János, a Szabad Magyar Szó szerkesztőjeTeczár Szilárd, a Lakmusz főszerkesztőjeAz újságírói kerekasztal eredet...

The Collaborative Seminar Cultures of Hate and Oppression was coordinated to address the complexities of these topics that are of urgent global importance in our era of continuing discrimination, forced migration, socially sanctioned violence, and war.

The Collaborative Seminar Cultures of Hate and Oppression was coordinated to address the complexities of these topics that are of urgent global importance in our era of continuing discrimination, forced migration, socially sanctioned violence, and war. This podcast gives insights into the work of the students.

In this interview, Jakob Zsambok of The Complexity Science Hub in Vienna, talks about the Seshat and Cliopatria databases, what they contain, their data sources and confirmation, and how they are accessed, used and enhanced by historical researchers. Seshat: Global History Databank, founded in 2011, aims to bring together the most current and comprehensive body of knowledge about human history in...

What happens when universities shift from being spaces of critical thinking and public knowledge to institutions shaped by market logic? In this episode, we explore the transformation of higher education under neoliberalism—how academia has moved away from its traditional role and into a system driven by efficiency metrics, privatization, and corporate partnerships. Andrea Pető, Dina Gusejnova, El...

In this interview, Grzegorz Pac, Professor at the Faculty of History of the University of Warsaw, discusses his on-going research into the cult of saints and canonisation in Medieval Poland.  Through a case study of the canonisation of St Stanislaus of Krakow, Grzegorz focusses on how a saint, particularly a popular and highly venerated saint, could confer symbolic capital onto a specific church,...

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2dB0O0F14zW7Vyxrfcml2N?si=Q5lHLPM3Sr-861hbLZyASgA mintegy 700 ezer Szovjetunióba vitt hadifogoly és civil internált sorsa abszolút tabu volt a szocializmus évtizedei alatt. A rendszerváltás után azonban berobbant a memoár irodalom, és megalakultak a fogságba esett magyarok és elhurcoltak emlékét őrző szervezetek is. A szovjet fogság története mára a második világhá...

In this episode, we explore the often-overlooked struggles of at-risk scholars, focusing on the absence of Belarus in discussions on academic freedom, the gendered dimensions of displacement, and the systemic exclusions within global academia. Tania Artemovich discusses how Belarusian scholars have been marginalized in protection programs, despite facing decades of repression, while also addressin...

In this episode of Protecting Academia at Risk, we explore the urgent challenges facing universities today, from the rise of right-wing movements in Europe to the ongoing struggles of displaced and at-risk scholars. Together with Andrea Pető, Dina Gusejnova, Bernhard Kleeberg, Tania Arcimovich, Nadiya Kiss, and Elena Trifan, we discuss how universities can reclaim their role as spaces of free thou...

A pesti gettót hozták létre utoljára a II. világháború alatt. Ebben az előadásban a gettó rövid történetéről, illetve a gettólakók által átélt érzelmekről van szó: milyen fontosabb eseményekhez, helyszínekhez kapcsolódóan számoltak be érzéseikről a túlélők? Hogyan írták le azokat? Milyen szerepük volt az érzelmeknek a gettólakók életében?

In this interview, Merike Kurisoo, Director, Niguliste Museum, Tallinn, discusses her work on the Rode Altarpiece and how it enables ‘time travel’ to the 1480s. The Niguliste Museum (branch of the Art Museum of Estonia) is based in the medieval St Nicholas ( Niguliste ) Church in central Tallinn.  One of the most important items in its collection is the massive and stunning beautiful altarpiece by...

In this episode of Protecting Academia at Risk, we explore the evolving landscape of risk in academia. Instead of framing risk only as a threat to individual academics facing persecution, this conversation expands the lens to examine systemic risks to academic institutions, knowledge production, and academic freedom. How do shifting political landscapes, neoliberal policies, and illiberal interven...

In this episode, Elena Trifan, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Erfurt, delves into her research on at-risk academics within the Romanian higher education system. With a background in anthropology and sociology, Elena offers a unique lens shaped by her academic journey and personal connection as a first-generation scholar. Her research explores Romania’s position as a peripheral EU count...

In this interview, Jessica Knowles discusses her current research into the apocalyptic stained-glass window in St Martha’s pilgrim hospice church in Nuremberg, comparing it to apocalyptic windows in All Saints, North Street in York, northern England. Jessica is considering St Martha’s window in its fullest context of the late-fourteenth century.  Therefore, this includes not only the images and th...

In this episode, we are joined by our colleague, Dr. Nadiya Kiss, a social linguist from Ukraine and co-founder of the Vision Ukraine – Education, Language, Migration research network. Drawing from her extensive work on language policy and activism, Nadiya explores the pivotal role of language in migration and identity formation, especially in the context of forced displacement. She discusses the...

 In this interview, Maria Theisen talks about her work on the Making of the Wenceslas Bible.  This great bible was written in German in the late fourteenth century, and although it was never completed, it still contains 2,000 folios and over 650 illuminations.  Maria sets the creation of the bible into the context of the times, particularly the reforms within the church and the power struggles bet...