Max Weber Programme

01/09/2026

We are ready and excited to start a new academic year! 🎓✨

A warm welcome to our new MWP Fellows, and a big welcome back to our 2-year MWP Fellows after a well-deserved and recharging summer break. 🌞

We are looking forward to a year filled with new ideas, inspiring encounters, learning, and memorable experiences together.

As we continue to grow our MWP community online, LinkedIn is becoming our main channel for sharing news, updates and stories from the MWP programme and community. So, if you’d like to stay up to date with what’s happening, make sure to follow us on LinkedIn -> EUI Max Weber Programme https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/eui-max-weber-programme/! 💙

Let’s make this academic year a great one! 🚀

14/06/2026

14/06/2026

Congratulations to EUI Max Weber Fellow Dr. Thomas McGee, who has been awarded the Harold Luntz Graduate Research Thesis Prize for 2025 by Melbourne Law School.

Thomas received the prize for his PhD thesis, “Syria’s changing statelessness landscape: 2011 as critical juncture”.

His research examines the evolving landscape of statelessness in Syria, contributing to a deeper understanding of legal status, displacement, and citizenship in contexts of conflict and political transformation.

Warm congratulations to Thomas on this recognition. 👏

14/06/2026

📝 In the latest piece, Andrea Vaccaro, Max Weber Programme Fellow, and Rachel Gisselquist (University of Birmingham), explore how eroding global health cooperation affects responses to health crises such as the recent Ebola and Hantavirus outbreaks.

🌍 While some experts argue that funding cuts and weaker cooperation could encourage countries to become more self-reliant, the evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic suggests the opposite. Building resilient health systems requires strong state institutions, public trust in authorities, and sustained international cooperation. Together, these factors enable countries to respond more effectively to crises than they could in isolation.

🗣️ Dismantling global health cooperation and reducing aid will not advance any of these factors. Rather, they are likely to erode preparedness for health crises.

Read the full story here 👉 https://loom.ly/SQdiUYo

02/06/2026

In this EUIResearch interview, Max Weber Fellow Mohammad Eslami discusses how regional actors, nonstate groups, and global powers shape conflict in Iran and t

04/02/2026

📣 The call for applications for the Max Weber Postdoctoral Fellowship 2026-27 WITH EXTERNAL FUNDING is open!

➡️ Could you secure a scholarship from a recognised National or International Research Funding Council or Charity to join the vibrant Max Weber community at the European University Institute? Please check if you are eligible and submit your application for an externally funded fellowship!

➡️ Do you know suitable candidates who might be interested? Please share the word!

🔤 All information and link to the application form 👉 https://www.eui.eu/apply?id=max-weber-fellowships

📆 Deadline for application: 31 March 2026 at 14:00 CEST

The Max Weber Programme MWP at the European University Institute EUI is a unique postdoctoral programme in the historical, humanities and social sciences It i

04/02/2026

Unpacking Ukrainian art under socialist realism 🇺🇦

In this interview, Max Weber Fellow Polina Baitsym explores the Ukrainian take on post-WWII socialist realism: a space for artistic citizenship, where artists and critics engaged in dialogue while negotiating and resisting Soviet control.

🖼️ From mosaics used to bypass censorship to the often overlooked role of art historians, Ukrainian artists navigated a complex cultural landscape, blending ideological compliance with creative subversion.

👉 Read the full interview: https://loom.ly/Z5c_n-E
@ Photo courtesy of Yevgen Nikiforov.

04/02/2026

At one of the EU’s least discussed borders, people seeking asylum face practices that raise serious humanitarian and legal questions.

In this interview, Max Weber Programme Fellow Maciej Grześkowiak shares insights from his fieldwork and legal research at the Belarus-Poland border, and reflects on what this situation reveals about the state of EU asylum law.

👉 Read more: https://loom.ly/uqDUU9E

20/12/2025

Long before the age of social media, feminist networks were built through letters, travel, and shared living spaces. ✉️ History shows that women crossed borders, hosted one another in their homes, and turned the everyday challenges of their professional and personal lives into key political debates.

In this interview, Max Weber Programme Fellow Elisa Heinrich dives deep into these vibrant communities across German-speaking Europe. 📚 She also explores another important thread of activism: women’s disability rights movements from the early 1980s to today, which continue to challenge norms of ability, gender, and sexuality.

💬 Read the full story: https://loom.ly/nn9Z72Q