✨ Meet the Minds ✨ Elsa Körner is a PhD student at our Chair. Her research focuses on the cooperation between the African Union, European Union, and United Nations in dealing with the conflicts in Sudan and Mali. Stay tuned as we introduce more minds and more member of the Chair ✨

✨ Meet the Minds ✨ Manilee Pañares Pagapulaan is a PhD student at our Chair under KAAD scholarship. She is supervised by Prof. Dr. Solveig Richter. Her research interests include conflict-induced displacement and resilient mechanisms of IDPs in post-conflict societies.

We had a great few days at the AFK Colloquium 2026 in Leipzig! This year, our Chair of had the pleasure of hosting the annual colloquium of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (AFK). A huge thank you to the AFK organizers for the inspiring program and excellent cooperation!

✨ Meet the Minds ✨ Saša Gavrić @sgavric.bsky.social is a part-time PhD student at the Heisenberg Chair of International Relations and Transnational Politics. In his dissertation project, he examines the relationship between ethnically consociational democracies and the representation of women.

Am 03.03. nahmen Solveig Richter und Malin Nissen auf Einladung der Stadt Leipzig an der Verleihung des Robert-Blum-Preises teil. Im Rahmen eines Festaktes ist die erste Europäische Generalstaatsanwältin Laura Codruța Kövesi mit dem Robert-Blum-Preis für Demokratie 2026 ausgezeichnet worden.

✨Meet the Minds ✨ Malin Nissen has been a research associate and doctoral researcher at the Institute of Political Science since October 2024. Prior to this, she completed a Blue Book Traineeship at the European Commission in Brussels. Stay tuned as we introduce more minds of our Chair ✨

📣 Reminder: Join us on 12 March (16–18h) at the Paulinum, Leipzig, for our panel “Peace and Security in Times of Hybrid Threats.” 🗣️Panel: Dr. Astrid Irrgang (ZIF) Prof. Dr. @janinadill.bsky.social (ECLAC) Oberst i.G. Katharina Benford (BAKS) Ulrich Hörning, Mayor of Leipzig German and English!

✨ Meet the Minds ✨ Kamal Chomani is a doctoral researcher at our department, funded by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. His PhD looks into political legitimation mechanisms in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He founded The Amargi in 2025 and serves as its Editor-in-Chief.

✨ Meet the Minds ✨ Tamim Karadamur is a doctoral researcher at our department, funded through a Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung scholarship. He is a member of their international doctoral programme on security and development in the 21st century.

📣 Join us on 12 March (16–18h) at the Paulinum, Leipzig, for our panel “Peace and Security in Times of Hybrid Threats,” held in the context of the AFK Conference. 🗣️Panel: Dr. Astrid Irrgang (ZIF) Prof. Dr. @janinadill.bsky.social (ECLAC) Oberst i.G. Katharina Benford (BAKS) German and English!

✨ Meet the Minds ✨ Sushobhan Parida is a doctoral student at our Chair of International Relations and Transnational Politics. His doctoral work focuses on armed groups, where he studies how people join insurgent groups and the role of personal social networks in facilitating mobilization.

✨ Meet the Minds ✨ Charlotte Meier is a research associate and doctoral candidate at the Chair. She has been engaged in research and teaching. Her entry “Digital activism” was recently published in the Elgar Encyclopedia of Political Communication. 🔗 www.elgaronline.com/display/book...

📘 New publication What does regime change mean in debates over US intervention in Venezuela? Solveig Richter and Jonas Wolff analyze legitimacy, and hopes for democratic change and Europe’s role in the controversy. blog.prif.org/2026/01/22/b... #Venezuela #InternationalRelations

✨ Meet the Minds Julia Leib is a postdoctoral fellow at the Chair of International Relations. Her research focuses on international peacebuilding and conflict management. Her current work builds on Patterns of Sustaining Peace. 🔗 bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/patterns-of-...

One of the final publications of our chair 📘 The Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies: Perspectives from the Global South is now fully open access. Many thanks to all editors and contributing authors 🌍 #OpenAccess #PeaceStudies #ConflictStudies #GlobalSouth #AcademicPublishing

Who’s behind our research? 👀🧠 We’re starting Meet the Minds, a new series introducing the people shaping our work in International Relations. We begin with @solveigrichter.bsky.social recently shortlisted for the Supervisor Award at Universität Leipzig. Stay tuned ✨

Venezuela and Latin America after the US intervention: Forced transitions in the making? 📅 22 Jan 2026 | 15:00–16:30 CET 📍 Leipzig & online With Prof. Dr. Solveig Richter (Universität Leipzig) and Prof. Dr. Ralf J. Leiteritz (Universidad del Rosario). Join us for discussion and exchange.

🔎 Der Mafia auf der Spur Prof. Dr. Solveig Richter im Gespräch mit Axel Hemmerling (MDR Investigativ) zu transnationaler organisierter Kriminalität in Mitteldeutschland. 🗓 21.01.2026 | ⏰ 15–17 Uhr | 📍 S204 👉 www.tagesschau.de/investigativ...

Wie hängen Klimakrise und Konflikte um Ressourcen zusammen? 🌍 Am 08.01.2026 um 17:15 Uhr spricht Prof. Dr. Solveig Richter über Ressourcenkriege und Klimakrise in der Ringvorlesung zu nachhaltiger Entwicklung. 📍 Linnéstraße 5 – offen für alle, die sich für globale Zusammenhänge interessieren.

📚 New publication by our research associate @charlottemeier.bsky.social the Elgar Encyclopedia of Political Communication: Digital Activism explores how digital technologies shape social movement mobilisation. 🔗 www.elgaronline.com/display/book...

📢 On 4 December 2025, Saša Gavrić @sgavric.bsky.social, a doctoral candidate at Leipzig University under the supervision of Professor Solveig Richter, participated in an event in the German Bundestag in his role as an employee of the OSCE/ODIHR. Find out more: www.uni-leipzig.de/newsdetail?t...

From August 26-29, @charlottemeier.bsky.social participated in the ECPR General Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece. There, she presented a paper co-authored with Sushobhan Parida, entitled “Constructing a Generational ‘We’: Generational Identity Formation in the Fridays for Future Movement.”

This summer, @solveigrichter.bsky.social & @malniss.bsky.social co-taught a seminar at ‪Leipzig University ‬on memory & reconciliation after violence. Together with students from @brandtschool.bsky.social, our students travelled to Bosnia-Herzegovina for an intensive study trip.

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in the KAPAZ Summer School on “Dealing with Hostility in Science Communication” at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (@hiigberlin.bsky.social) in Berlin.

I had the pleasure of having @richardstupart.com join my seminar last week for a guest lecture. He spoke to us about "Injustice, Witnessing and Journalism", helping us understand why journalists feel compelled to report on crises and conflicts and how they manage practical and ethical obligations.

🎓 Panel discussion and student exchange this Thursday! The Unfulfilled Promise of Peace in Colombia? 🗓 26 June | 🕒 13:30–14:30 CEST | 📍 NSG S203 With Prof. Eduardo Pastrana & students of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá and Prof. Dr. Solveig Richter, in cooperation with the DAAD

⏰ Kleiner Reminder für den Gastvortrag morgen Mittag mit Dr. Ralf J. Leiteritz!

Letzte Woche war Andrea Thies, ehemalige Programmkoordinatorin der OSZE-Missionen in Kosovo und Kirgistan sowie Head of Mission Support in EUPOL, Afghanistan, für einen Gastvortrag zum Thema "Einblicke in die Arbeit internationaler Friedensmissionen” bei uns zu Gast.

📣 Und direkt die nächsten Eventankündigung! Gastvortrag am 12. Juni mit Dr. Ralf J. Leiteritz zur Transformation der Weltwirtschaft im 21. Jahrhundert, 11:00 - 13:00 im GWZ 📆

Kleiner Reminder für den morgigen Gastvortrag mit Andrea Thies, ehemalige Programmkoordinatorin der OSZE-Missionen in Kosovo und Kirgistan sowie Head of Mission Support in EUPOL, Afghanistan!

We're so proud of your excellent work Kamal - keep it up!

📢 Gastvortrag am 5. Juni: "Einblicke in die Arbeit internationaler Friedensmissionen" mit Andrea Thies, ehemalige Programmkoordinatorin der OSZE-Missionen in Kosovo und Kirgistan sowie Head of Mission Support in EUPOL, Afghanistan. 🕚 11–13 Uhr | 📍 NSG S202

Taking place today!

The IR Team had a packed March, attending multiple conferences to present exciting research and connect with fellow scholars! 🧵

@solveigrichter.bsky.social gave a keynote on the importance of interdisciplinarity in research to integrate diverse perspectives on nature as part of the panel “Local communities and their importance for protecting biodiversity”, organized by iDiv and CAPAZ. Read the full recap of the panel here 👇

Prof. Solveig Richter (@solveigrichter.bsky.social) hat mit der ZEIT über die eskalierende Gewalt in Kolumbien und den schwächelnden Friedensprozess gesprochen: tinyurl.com/3kxze28c

Our colleague @kamalchomani.bsky.social gave an excellent interview on Öcalan's call for peace and a democratic society in Turkey, analyzing how realistic this call is and what implications it may have. Check out the full interview in @derfreitag.bsky.social: www.freitag.de/autoren/sham...

This International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we celebrate the power of women in political science—researching, analyzing, and shaping the policies that drive our world forward. A special shoutout goes out to the women of our IR team at @unileipzig.bsky.social! Together, we are unstoppable!

What's going on with USAID? Solveig Richter (@solveigrichter.bsky.social) and colleagues analysed the current situation on the PRIF Blog - a very worthwhile read!

The IR team would like to invite you to an online panel discussion on ‘Indigenous peoples and local communities and their importance for protecting biodiversity - Perspectives from COP 16’.

A great opportunity for all IR and poli sci students to learn about possible career paths in the field! You can register for the online career fair here: www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/karriere/...

Season's greetings from the whole IR Team at Leipzig University! "We will live. We will kiss the sun and we will fill the world with vitality and hope. We will win." Narges Mohammadi, Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2023

From 18.11.24 to 22.11.24 Tamim Karadamur (@tamimkara.bsky.social), PhD student at our chair, participated in the Model NATO Germany 2024 at the Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS) in Berlin (@baks.bund.de).

From October 9 to 11, our Chair participated in the Zentrumstage 2024 and conference „Historicities of Peace and Security“ at Marburg University, where some of our team members presented their current research and doctoral projects.

On Nov 29, our research associate Charlotte Meier (@charliemeier.bsky.social) presented her paper on generational populism in the Fridays for Future movement at the ÖGPW annual conference in Vienna, receiving great feedback and connecting with like-minded scholars. We love to see our team in action!

Our colleague Kamal Chomani (@kamalchomani.bsky.social) recently published a book review titled "Between Diplomacy and Non-Diplomacy: Foreign Relations of Kurdistan-Iraq and Palestine" in the Kurdish Studies Journal. You can check out his review here: brill.com/view/journal....

On Dec. 4th, we had the privilege of welcoming Prof. Janina Dill (@janinadill.bsky.social) from the University of Oxford (@ox.ac.uk) for a guest lecture titled "International Law in Gaza: Belligerent Intent and Provisional Measures“, organized by Prof. Solveig Richter (@solveigrichter.bsky.social).