Deadline for applications: 30 April 2026

The International Academic Week is the Southeast Europe Association’s (Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft – SOG) annual key event that brings together early-career researchers (MA / PhD/ Post-Doc levels) and experienced scholars from across Europe and beyond to present and discuss their research on the region. As always, it will take place in cooperation with the Akademie für Politische Bildung at the beautiful Lake Starnberg in Tutzing from 5-9 October 2026.

This year’s conference is hosted by Dr. Judith Möllers and Prof. Dr. Daniel Müller (both Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies/IAMO).

Theme and Scope
Across Southeast Europe, land remains a central arena in which historical legacies, economic interests, social hierarchies, and cultural meanings converge. Property regimes in Southeast Europe have undergone repeated transformations, from post-imperial land reforms and socialist collectivisation to restitution and post-socialist restructuring. These layered histories continue to structure contemporary land ownership patterns, land markets, governance arrangements, and land use practices. The consequences are far-reaching: persistent inequality, fragmented or concentrated ownership, out-migration, contested identities, and uneven socio-ecological change.

This conference is a forum for research that assesses the current state of knowledge on land, property relations, and rural inequality in Southeast Europe. It brings together senior and junior scholars from across disciplines to examine how land ownership, access, and property relations interact with power structures, institutional frameworks, belonging, and everyday practices.

Target Audience
This call is directed at junior researchers working on the conference topic. We invite analytically grounded contributions from the social sciences and humanities that address land ownership, property relations, governance, identity, and socio-ecological change in Southeast Europe. Interdisciplinary openness is encouraged; disciplinary affiliation is less important than the clarity and relevance of the research contribution. The conference language is English.

Please check our website for more information on panels, types of contributions and futher information on the application procedure.