IPS Belgium Seminar Series 2026: Programme
We are pleased to announce the programme of the IPS Belgium Seminar Series 2026! The series will run from January to June 2026, taking place fully online, on the third/fourth Friday of the month, from 4 pm to 5.15 pm (CET).
In each seminar, one participant introduces their work-in-progress (thesis chapter, book chapter, journal manuscript) to the group and invites a senior academic as discussant. The work-in-progress is also discussed by a junior scholar among the seminar participants. The discussion is followed by questions and answers with the group.
All participants are expected to make every effort to attend the seminars and are expected to have read the papers in advance. Presenters are encouraged to invite their supervisors and colleagues interested in their work.
Programme
January 23: Zeger VERLEYE (UAntwerp, Utrecht University), “Is There No Shame Anymore? The Normalisation of Shamelessness and its Effects for World Politics”
Discussants: TBA & Gaelle LE PAVIC (UGent), Sofia GAVRILOVA (IfL – Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography)
February 20: Manon-Julie BOREL (University of Bern), “Worlding in Suspension: Everyday Geopolitics at the Closed Armenian Border with Turkey”
Discussants: Sven Daniel WOLFE (University of Neuchâtel) & Sophie GROSEN ELLERMANN (University of Copenhagen)
March 27: Sophie GROSEN ELLERMANN (University of Copenhagen), “Reproductive Imaginaries in Times of Climate Crisis"
Discussants: TBA & Zeger VERLEYE (UAntwerp, Utrecht University)
April 17: Elias BRUGIDOU (Sciences Po Paris), “The Seers and the Guards: Imag(in)ing Future Wars and Securitizing Present Threats in the West"
Discussants: Julien POMARÈDE (ULiège) & Manon-Julie BOREL (University of Bern)
May 22: Gaelle LE PAVIC (UGent) & Sofia GAVRILOVA (IfL - Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography), “Securitising the space at the Margins: the European Union’s role in Georgia’s contested borderlands with Abkhazia and South Ossetia”
Discussants: TBA (ULB) & Ipek Nil OZAT (Bilkent University)
June 19: Ipek Nil OZAT (Bilkent University), “Spatialising Security in the Fergana Valley”
Discussants: TBA & Elias Brugidou (Sciences Po Paris)
Full papers will be sent to registered participants one week ahead of each session. To receive the registration link or for more information, please contact ipsseminar.belgium@gmail.com
Organizing committee
Fer Avar (UAntwerp)
Morgane Ghys (ULB)
Marie Kwon (ULiège, ENS-PSL)
Laura Luciani (UGent, VUB)
Alexander Schlepper (UAntwerp)
Zeger Verleye (UAntwerp, Utrecht University)