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Welcome Ceremony for new Graduate School members

The Graduate School and the Honours Masters Programme East European Studies welcome new members in Regensburg

14.12.2015

The welcome ceremony of the new PhD candidates and Postdocs of the Graduate School of East and Southeast European Studies and the new students of the Honours Masters Programme East European Studies took place on December 3, 2015 in Regensburg. More than 50 members of both institutions gathered in the guesthouse of the University of Regensburg, an authentic medieval building in the historic centre of the city.

In his capacity as Dean of the Faculty of Linguistics, Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of Regensburg, Prof. Dr. Volker Depkat welcomed the guests and lauded the successful cooperation between the University of Regensburg and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in both the MA East European Studies and the Graduate School. Both institutions are very well received by the international scientific community. He, therefore, congratulated the new students for becoming part of such reputable programmes.

The two speakers of the Graduate School, Prof. Dr. Martin Schulze Wessel and Prof. Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer, presented the Graduate School and the Honours Master Programme. They emphasised the excellent cooperation and the internationality of the programmes and pointed out to the wide range of research topics here at the Graduate School. Congratulating the master students and the PhD candidates who had successfully completed a highly competitive application process, Professor Schulze Wessel encouraged the newcomers to see this time as a gift. He said: “these are perhaps the only years in your life, during which time you can engage intensively and in-depth with a research topic.”

During the event, the teaching staff outlined the diversity of the disciplines and research perspectives of the Graduate school and the Master Programme. PD Dr. Natali Stegmann and Prof. Dr. Julia Herzberg gave insight into the work of the Department of East and Southeast European History at the University of Regensburg and the University of Munich respectively. Prof. Dr. Ger Duijzings presented the profile of his professorship in Social Anthropology with a focus on Southeast and East Europe at the University of Regensburg. The Chair for Russian / Asian Studies at LMU Munich was represented by Dr. Tatiana Linkhoeva whereas the Chair of European History of the 19th Century and 20th Century, Prof. Dr. Rainer Liedtke and the Regensburg Professor for American Studies, Prof. Dr. Volker Depkat emphasised the necessity to connect research and teaching of East and Southeast Europe with other area studies. Prof. Dr. Martin Schulze Wessel and Petar Kehayov, PhD introduced the Slavistics Department whereas Dr. Miriam Frey presented the Department of International and Monetary Economics at the University of Regensburg. Prof. Dr. Rainer Arnold, holder of the Jean Monnet Chair "Legal Relations of the European Union with Eastern and South-Eastern Europe" in Regensburg, represented the Law Department.

The Graduate School of Eastern and Southeastern European Studies welcomed four new PhD students in the winter semester 2015/16. Boris Ganichev has become part of the team in Munich, and the title of his thesis is "Imperial Russia’s customs department after the Great Reforms: a pivot between center, periphery and population." Also in Munich, Marina Klyshko will research on the topic: "The political imaginary Eurasian fiction spaces: China in the post-Soviet discourse of Russia" whereas Ruslan Mitrofanov on "The Institutionalisation of Psychiatry in the Russian Empire: the Case of the Kazan District Hospital as a Transnational Study." Bajro Muric’s thesis is "Exploring Family Language Policy, Linguistic Repertoire and Identity Construction of the Bosnian Immigrant Population in Germany, Austria and Switzerland." He has joined the team in Regensburg.

The new post-docs who joined the Graduate School in the course of 2015, Dr. Mykola Borovyk, Dr. Čarna Brković, Dr. Irina Morozova and Dr. Jasper Trautsch also presented their projects during the ceremony.

Judith Brehmer, Matthias Cichon, Oleg Friesen, Rita Gagica, Ivana Jerkovic, Blerina Kelmendi, David Khunchukashvili, Natalja Kliewer, Aleksandra-Maja Lisov, Michael Nusser, Carolin Piorun, Bojana Rikić, Pavle Sachenbacher, Freya Tasch, Philipp Türmer, Beate Winterer and Olga Zoll started the MA Honours Programme in October 2015.

During the welcome ceremony Prof. Dr. Susan Zimmermann (Budapest) gave a presentation on "The Politics of Gendered Globalising Labour Policy: International Labour Standards and the Global South, 1919-1939". She particularly focused on the work of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and its efforts to propagate the inclusion of gender specific regulations in labour law during the interwar years.