PACS - Peace and Conflict Studies Magdeburg

13/04/2026

Our dear students

The thesis registration form is now live for the summer semester 2026. It operates exactly the same as last semester.


Key Information – Summer 2026 Registration Round
Through this tool, you can submit up to three preferences each for your first and second supervisor. While we do our best to match you with your preferred choices, please understand that allocations are based on availability, expertise, and fair workload distribution. If it turns out that none of your preferred supervisors can be assigned, you will have the option to withdraw your application and reapply in the next round.

The deadline for signing up for supervision: April 22nd @ 23:59

Publication of results: TBD

Where to fill out the form: https://cloud.ovgu.de/apps/forms/s/rdnpH95zm9ms6RebsLSWg96J

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Already Have a Supervisor?

Don't worry — you will not lose your current supervisor. This step is only necessary to give us a clear overview of all active and upcoming supervisions.

External Supervision or Partial Supervision at the Chair
If you are supervised by someone outside the Chair of International Relations but still wish to have one supervisor from our Chair, please use the system as well.
You'll be able to note down your external supervisor in the registration form, so we can take that into account when assigning additional supervision.

Please note: The system is currently available only for PACS students seeking supervision through the Chair of International Relations. We plan to expand it to include other chairs and departments in the future.

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Not Writing Yet? No Pressure
If you plan to start working on your thesis in late 2026 or during the Winter Term, there's no need to apply now. A new registration round will open in late 2026, with its own deadlines and announcements. So please only apply when you're ready to begin planning your thesis.


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For full details, please visit:

https://www.pacs.ovgu.de/Study+Programme/Thesis.html

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out at [email protected]. We're here to help guide you through the process and ensure you feel supported at every step.

With best wishes,

Your PACS Team

09/04/2026

Erasmus+ Traineeships Information event
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The Office for Erasmus Traineeships will be hosting two online Info-Event about Erasmus internships abroad, one in German in April and in English in June:

German: 28. April, 16h – 18h, Info and registration: https://www.erasmus-praktika.ovgu.de/Home/Infoveranstaltungen/28_04_2026_+Infoveranstaltung+%28online%29-p-3166.html
English: 2. June, 16h – 18h, Info and registration: https://www.erasmus-praktika.ovgu.de/Home/Infoveranstaltungen/02_06_2026_+Information+event+in+English+%28online%29-p-3168.html

German students and international students enrolled at one of the universities in Saxony-Anhalt (full degree students!) are invited to join us for a Zoom session, in which Angela Wittkamp from the Erasmus Traineeship Office Saxony-Anhalt will provide information on:

09/04/2026

Brown Bottle Talk - Event Series: "Beyond Polarization: A Progressive Agenda for Migration"

With the topic "Beyond Polarization: A Progressive Agenda for Migration," this round will offer policy suggestions in the cases of the USA and Germany and their respective migration/asylum policies. The attached paper will be the point of discussion for the evening. (https://elearning.ovgu.de/mod/resource/view.php?id=651951)

This round of talks will be held by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
https://www.fes.de/

📆 When: April 16th, 2026

⏰Time: from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm (ST).

📍Where: G40 Room 331

You can prepare yourself for the event by reading the paper, however it is still not mandatory to do so

P.S. We will provide beer, soft drinks and some snacks. It is a great possibility to have a chat in an informal setting.

We really look forward to seeing you all there!

23/03/2026

Our professor Kristina Roepstorff and Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert from the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), have published their latest article in the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs

In this article, they approach the question of humanitarian negotiations in a situation where migrants risk their lives in their attempts to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe

Check out the article from here: https://www.manchesterhive.com/view/journals/jha/aop/article-10.7227-JHA.139/article-10.7227-JHA.139.xml?body=%3Cabstract%3E

06/03/2026

A special issue of Frontiers in Poltical Science is looking for students and early‑career researchers to submit abstracts for the upcoming Special Issue "Emotions from Below: Affective Inequalities and the Politics of Protection." This issue explores how emotions shape political struggles over protection, security, and belonging, with a particular focus on marginalized, minoritized, and subaltern perspectives.

Focus of the Special Issue:

The issue examines how affective experiences reveal inequalities embedded in protection regimes and how emotions influence political, social, and institutional dynamics. Contributions may be empirical or theoretical and can come from political science, psychology, sociology, social psychology, feminist studies, postcolonial studies, and related fields.

Possible Themes:

*Emotional governance in migration, security, and welfare
*Social representations of danger, belonging, insecurity, and protection
*Feeling rules, emotional legitimacy, and institutional practices
*Comparative perspectives on citizens' and non‑citizens' emotional needs for protection
*Media and political discourse shaping emotions of insecurity, pride, and solidarity
*Emotion regulation, trauma, and credibility in institutional settings
*Emotional consequences of protective politics for democracy, participation, and trust

*Important Dates:
Abstract submission deadline: 12 March 2026
Full paper submission deadline: 30 June 2026

Here you can find the details and submission guidelines: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76708/emotions-from-below-affective-inequalities-and-the-politics-of-protection

For questions, please reach out to: [email protected] [email protected]

The offer of protection to citizens and migrants is never a neutral act. It is mediated by normative understandings of citizenship, belonging, and rights, as...

05/02/2026

AFK Colloquium 2026 - Between the 11th and the 13th of March

The annual AFK Colloquia are an important event for German-speaking peace and conflict research and form a foundation of AFK activities. They serve both to promote academic exchange and to communicate peace and conflict research to the public. Each AFK colloquium is organised around a specific theme. The AFK conferences are sponsored by the Deutschen Stiftung Friedensforschung (DSF).
Every two years, the AFK’s Annual General Meeting is also held as part of the colloquium.

The Colloquium 2026 will take place from 11-13 March 2026 in Leipzig

About the Colloquium

Ideas and intersections in peace and conflict studies: the relevance of inter- and transdisciplinary research

Ongoing political, ecological, and social crises highlight the urgent need for peace and conflict research to rethink its concepts, methods, and practical approaches. Increasingly complex global challenges require innovative, inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives that can respond to rapid change, shifting power dynamics, and globalised risks.

This conference explores how ideas, methods, and frameworks in peace and conflict studies can be brought into dialogue across disciplinary boundaries. In particular, it addresses the growing role of natural sciences in security politics—shaped by rearmament, digital warfare, climate change, and dual-use technologies—while emphasizing the responsibility of the social sciences to critically analyse their political and ethical implications.

Against the backdrop of rigid disciplinary structures, especially in Germany, the conference advocates for stronger interdisciplinary collaboration to overcome exclusions in knowledge production and foster more plural, socially relevant research in peace and conflict studie

For participation and more information, click here  https://afk-web.de/en/colloquium/ 

Colloquium The annual AFK Colloquia are an important event for German-speaking peace and conflict research and form a foundation of AFK activities. They serve both to promote academic exchange and to communicate peace and conflict research to the public. Each AFK colloquium is organised around a spe...

05/01/2026

Join us in congratulating our colleague Naweed Ghulami for his article in the Wissenschaft & Frieden Magazine

Naweed analyzes Taliban's strict policies and narratives to understand not only the extent of the oppression against women in Afghanistan but also the rationale behind it

Find the article here:
https://wissenschaft-und-frieden.de/artikel/frauenrechte-unter-den-taliban/

16/12/2025

PACS Scholars to Shape the Future of Humanitarian Studies in Germany

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The Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg is set to play a central role in the newly established Humanitarian Studies Research Network, funded with one million euros by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. Over the next three years, PD Dr. Kristina Roepstorff together with Prof. Dr. Joël Glasman (University of Bayreuth) and Prof. Dr. Dennis Dijkzeul (Ruhr University Bochum) coordinates the network. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, international partnerships, and greater academic visibility, the new network seeks to build a robust foundation for Humanitarian Studies in Germany.

Each partner contributes a distinct research focus. At Magdeburg, a research team examines how humanitarian imaginaries in the Global South are expressed in language, images, and concrete practices, and asks how they legitimise, organise, and challenge global aid relationships. The aim is to provide a better understanding of how crises and aid relationships are discursively and visually constructed, how their causes and appropriate responses are negotiated, how this translates into aid practices, and how these relate to dominant discourses and practices in the humanitarian sector. At Bayreuth, Prof. Glasman investigates the historical formation of social indifference and the erosion of humanitarian knowledge practices. Prof. Dijkzeul’s work at the Institute for International Law of Peace and Security (IFHV) focuses on the vulnerabilities of LGBTIQ+ persons in humanitarian crises.

The initiative will be developed in close cooperation with key partners in the international humanitarian research community, including the Centre for Humanitarian Action (CHA) in Berlin, the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA), University College Dublin (UCD), the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI) at the University of Manchester, and the Geneva Centre for Humanitarian Studies. These collaborations will firmly anchor the German initiative within the Humanitarian Studies landscape and ensure sustained international exchange.

The Gerda Henkel Foundation, one of Germany’s most respected supporters of the humanities, promotes research that situates contemporary global challenges within broader historical and societal contexts. For nearly five decades, it has supported thousands of projects worldwide, with a strong commitment to topics such as democracy, cultural heritage, and societies in crisis. Its investment in the new network highlights the growing need for independent, critically grounded humanitarian research."

More to come in the future.

03/12/2025

Our professor Kristina Roepstorff has published her latest contribution in Alternatives Humanitaires

Check out the article from here: https://www.alternatives-humanitaires.org/en/2025/11/28/culture-is-a-lens-that-helps-us-understand-not-just-how-we-act-but-how-we-perceive-one-another/

20/11/2025

Dear PACSies,

We are pleased to invite you to the rescheduled Brown Bottle Talk, originally planned for last summer. As some of you may remember, the event was postponed following a difficult time for our community. We are grateful for your understanding and are glad to now invite you to join us for this important discussion.

Brown Bottle Talk – Event Series

Topic: Beyond Catastrophic Narratives: Critical Approaches to Resistance, Biopolitics, and Method in the Anthropocene�

Speakers:

Prof. Julian Reid (University of Lapland) – joining online
Dr. Srishti Malaviya (Visiting Researcher, OvGU)
📆 When: 20th of November
⏰ Time: from 17:00 until 18:30 (ST).
📍 Where: G40 - R414

In the face of climate crisis and escalating global instability, much of contemporary political thought is shaped by catastrophic narratives that frame governance through the lens of impending collapse.

Our first guest speaker, Julian Reid, critiques this catastrophic biopolitics - a framework that treats planetary survival as a management problem centered on 'saving life.' Rather than seeking more expansive or inclusive biopolitical models, Julian Reid proposes an alternative approach that abandons 'life' as the central referent of politics. Drawing on political eschatology, nomadic imagination, and contemporary cinema, his presentation outlines the conditions for a political subject capable of resisting biopolitical reason and its hold on Anthropocene thinking.

Building on this, our second speaker, Srishti Malaviya, invites us to think with nomadic methodologies of resistance - those that do not solidify into clear narratives or enduring movements. What forms of resistance emerge when we let go of the need for meaning, coherence, or institutional recognition? Through this lens, resistance becomes a moment of rupture and reinvention rather than consolidation. Following these moments of nomadic imagination may allow insight into methodologies of resistance that appear outside of institutional framings of resilience.��

You can prepare yourself for the event with: https://www.academia.edu/120147887/Resistance (also attached) - Reading not mandatory!

�As always, we'll provide beer, soft drinks, and snacks, and look forward to a lively discussion in an informal setting.

We very much look forward to seeing you all there!

Best wishes,
Your HiWi Team

24/10/2025

Our Professor Kristina Roepstorff has taken an active role in the organisation of two panels at the recent Conference on Humanitarian Studies, titled “Humanitarianism in Crisis: New Realities in Practices and Knowledges”

The first panel, “Book Launch: An Introduction to Humanitarian Action”, explores a new textbook focused on the workings of the humanitarian sector and current debates around it.

The second panel, “The politics of humanitarian negotiations”, investigates how negotiations in humanitarian contexts are embedded in political, economic and military dynamics.

The Conference on Humanitarian Studies addresses how current global crises—such as wars in Gaza and Ukraine, neglected conflicts in Sudan, Myanmar, and the DRC, and widespread disasters—challenge the foundations of humanitarianism. As political interests, inequality, and isolationist attitudes undermine humanitarian principles, the moral legitimacy of aid is increasingly at risk. The conference explores how humanitarian actors navigate these shifts amid geopolitical tensions, economic disparities, and technological change, including the rise of AI and decolonial perspectives. It calls for rethinking humanitarian action and knowledge production to foster more just, effective, and inclusive responses to an increasingly complex world.

You can find more information here:
• Panel 1: https://conference.ihsa.info/proposed-panels/view/5810/
• Panel 2: https://conference.ihsa.info/proposed-panels/view/5714/
• Conference overview: https://conference.ihsa.info/about/