EWIS 2019

6th European Workshops in International Studies 2019

The European Workshops in International Studies (EWIS) will take place at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland from 26-29 June 2019. Launched by EISA in 2013, EWIS have fast established themselves as a vivacious place for the European IR community to engage in sustained, in-depth discussion with a diverse range of peers from various institutions, countries, disciplines and career stages. EWIS has proven to be a popular and productive format, perfect for preparing special issues, edited volumes or exploring new ideas, themes and directions in a vibrant and friendly atmosphere.

In partnership with the Polish Association for International Studies and the City of Kraków, EWIS 2019 will be organised at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków – the oldest higher education institution in Poland (founded in 1364), a key academic hub in Eastern Europe, and an increasingly important centre for IR in Europe more widely. The university is situated in the heart of the city, which allows easy access to the medieval old town’s rich history as well as its youthful and dynamic nightlife. Easily reachable by air and land (Kraków international airport is the second busiest of Poland and well-serviced by major European airlines), Kraków combines a graceful charm of a great historic city and a relaxed vibe of an accessible university town.

The 6th iteration of EWIS in Poland’s cultural capital (and former capital city) marks the 100th anniversary of our discipline from its generally agreed beginnings in 1919 (when the first department and chair in International Politics were founded in Aberystwyth, Wales). Following the 2018 EISA Pan-European Conference (PEC) on International Relations in Prague and trailed by the 2019 EISA PEC in Sofia, Bulgaria, the holding of EWIS 2019 in Kraków also signifies the coming-of-age of Central and East European academia in the radically broadened playing field of the European IR.

What’s in store for IR’s next hundred years? Which forces of world politics currently shape our discipline as it begins its second century? What role do we envision for International Studies in the world where academic freedom in general and social sciences in particular are under distress? To what degree is contemporary IR what we – the scholars of International Studies – make of it? In these tempestuous times, EWIS 2019 provides a necessary moment for reflection under the umbrella theme ‘The Next 100 Years of International Relations’.