EISA President´s Message

Dear EISA (past, current and future) members and friends,

 

I hope this message finds you, your families and friends well.

 

Many of us have had to adjust to working from home, putting teaching online and developing alternative forms of interaction with our students and colleagues. After some time on lockdown, many of us will also miss direct contact with students and colleagues – and the privilege of going to conferences.

 

Having had to defer the physical gatherings of our main events - the European Workshops in International Studies (EWIS), the Pan-European Conference (PEC), and the Exploratory Workshops in Rapallo – this year, we are therefore busy organizing these events for the coming years.

 

In 2021, EWIS will take place in Thessaloniki, PEC in Malta, and the Exploratory Workshops, as usual, in Rapallo. For the most part, the programmes of the 2020 events will also be moved to 2021. In 2022, EWIS will be held in Brussels and PEC in Athens. And in 2023 we are going to host our very own Potsdam Conference – holding PEC at that beautiful historic site. Such long-term planning would not be possible without the amazing flexibility and cooperation of our local hosts in Thessaloniki, Brussels, Malta, Athens and Potsdam: Thank You!

 

In the meantime, however, we have to make sure that we are not losing touch with our research and that we are not forgetting the importance of engagement and exchange with others for the development of our own thinking and writing. EISA is therefore going to organize a range of online activities until we can meet again in person next year. We are still working out the full details (and will liaise with specific stakeholders) – so watch this space for updates and announcements – but events will include:

  • A small number of webinars on broad themes of interest to the entire discipline
  • Professional skills workshops on methodology, writing, publishing and open access
  • The opportunity for sections to offer roundtables, webinars or workshops
  • Early Career Workshops.

 

While committed to our academic mandate, we are also aware of increased workloads and online fatigue. We therefore aim for a schedule that is academically and professionally productive but at the same time minimally taxing on our members. We hope that these resources will allow you to keep up with your intellectual interests, offer a glimpse of the the rich variety of work in our field, and a taste of sections and topics for next year’s conference program.

 

Membership will not be required for participation in online EISA events. However, we invite all organizers and participants to give some consideration to what organizations and institutions they would like to see standing once the crisis is over, and your continuing membership contributions will help our community survive and flourish in a post-Corona future. To help with the long-term sustainability of your professional association, please renew your EISA membership or rejoin. We will meet again - but we depend on our members' support.

 

You will, hopefully, find lots of interest in our online programme and I am really looking forward to seeing you again in person next year in Thessaloniki, Malta, and Rapallo.

 

Best wishes,

Beate Jahn