Programme

For a more detailed view of the course of the days, select 'Schedule' from the menu.
Keynote session 1: Challenges to European democracy and integration

Room: Language Center Festive Hall

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 9.00-10.30

Chair: Johanna Kantola (University of Helsinki)

Speakers: 

  • Natasha Wunsch (Professor of European Studies at the University of Fribourg): “European integration in the shadow of democratic backsliding” Abstract
  • Elżbieta Korolczuk (Södertörn University & University of Warsaw): “Right-wing populism and (anti)gender politics in Europe” Abstract
Keynote session 2: European Parliament in turbulent times

Room: Language Center Festive Hall

Time: Friday, May 26th, 9.30-11

Chair: Anna Elomäki (Tampere University)

Speakers:

  • Nathalie Brack (UL Brussels): “The challenge of the Populist Radical Right in the European Parliament” Abstract
  • Johanna Kantola (University of Helsinki): “Gender, power, and democracy in European Parliament's political groups” Abstract
Plenary Panels

1. Critical perspectives on the informal in parliamentary politics

Room: Language Center Festive Hall

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 11.00-12.30

Chair: Johanna Kantola (University of Helsinki)

Panelists: 

  • Jennifer Piscopo (Occidental College): “Gender and Informal Networks: Lessons from Women’s Strategies for Power and Change in the Americas” Abstract
  • Georgina Waylen (University of Manchester): “Analysing Legislatures using a Feminist institutionalist lens: what insights can the European Parliament offer?” Abstract
  • Laura Landorff (Lund University): “Intergroups in the European Parliament: Exclusive Arenas for Informal Civil Society Deliberation?” Abstract

2. Governance and knowledge for equality and democracy 

Room: Language Center Festive Hall

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 15.30- 17.00

Chair: Barbara Gaweda (University of Helsinki)

Panelists:

  • Ben Crum (VU Amsterdam): “Democratizing Economic Governance in the European Union” Abstract
  • Stefanie Wöhl (University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna): “Gendered International Political Economy Perspectives on Economic Governance in the European Union – Taking Social Reproduction serious” Abstract
  • Paul Copeland (Queen Mary University of London): ​​“A step-change in EU anti-poverty policy? Evaluating recent developments” Abstract
  • Anna Elomäki (Tampere University): “Transformative or ambiguous actor? Where does the European Parliament stand in terms of EU socio-economic governance” Abstract

3. Parliamentary and legislative ethnography: Gender, democracy, and practice

Room: Language Center Festive Hall

Time: Friday, May 26th, 11.30-13

Chair: Petra Ahrens (Tampere University)

Panelists:

  • Nadia Brown (Georgetown University): “Doing Ethnographic Research as a Black Woman on Black Women Political Elites” Abstract
  • Jonathan Chibois (Laboratory of Political Anthropology, EHESS, CNRS): "Doing fieldwork in centres of power: the case of deliberative assemblies” Abstract
  • Cherry Miller (University of Glasgow): “From Westminster to Brussels: Putting the ‘Parliament’ in Parliamentary Ethnography” Abstract
  • Sandrine Roginsky (Catholic University Louvain): “A decade of ethnography of the European Parliament: an evolution in the forms of legitimacy construction?” Abstract

 

4. Equality policies in the European Union

Room: Language Center Festive Hall

Time: Friday, May 26th, 14.00-15.30

Chair: Valentine Berthet (University of Helsinki)

Panelists:

  • Iyiola Solanke (University of Leeds): “Protection from Intersectional Discrimination in EU Law - time for effective action?” Abstract
  • Petra Ahrens (Tampere University): “Gender mainstreaming in the EU policy framework and strategies in the European Parliament” Abstract
  • Amandine Le Bellec (Sciences Po Paris): “Shifting equality policies from the margins. The Common European Asylum System and the making of LGBTI rights in the EU” Abstract
  • Serena D’Agostino (VU Brussels): “Intersectionality Mainstreaming in EU Equality Policies: Reflections on the Promises and Perils of a Novel Approach” Abstract

 
Parallel Panels

1. Democratic backsliding and anti-gender politics in Europe 

Room: Language Center Festive Hall

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 13.30-15.00

Chair: Mieke Verloo (Radboud University)

Panelists:

  • Cristina Chiva (University of Salford Manchester): ‘The future of Europe has come under attack’: Gender and the European integration of core state powers 
  • Adam Holesch (Institut Barcelona Estudis Internacionalis) and Piotr Zagorski (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid): EU's Global Influence: Responding to Russian Aggression, Upholding Democratic Values, and Addressing Populist Radical Right Challenges
  • Emanuela Lombardo and Lucrecia Rubio Grundell (Universidad Complutense de Madrid): Dealing with opposition against gender equality and LGBT rights in the EU:  The defense of equality as a fundamental EU value 
  • Vivi Säiläkivi (University of Helsinki): Passions in Parliament: A Proposal for a Broader View on (International) Political Agency and Its Failure 

 

2. Democratic impacts of the EU before and after accession  

Room: sh106

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 13.30-15.00

Chair: Katarzyna Wojnicka (University of Gothenburg)

Panelists:

  • Tiffany G. Williams (University of Jena): Building EU-ropean resilience, pacing EU-ropean integration: Strategic foresight for partner and candidate country reforms 
  • Davit Totadze (Human Rights Research Center): Political Clientelism Inside and Outside of the European Union: Cases of Poland and Georgia
  • Eli Gateva (University of Oxford): Democracy promotion and safeguarding after accession: Does the EU matter?
  • Didem Unal Abaday (University of Helsinki): Varieties of anti-gender alliances and democratic backsliding in Turkey: Fault lines around opposition to “gender ideology” and their political implication

 

3. Exploring the polarized public attitudes towards gender equality  

Room: sh207

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 13.30-15.00

Chair: Valentine Berthet (University of Helsinki)

Panelists:

  • Melanie Dietz (Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main) The (Re-) Politicisation of Gender Equality: The Role of Social Threat and Political Ideology
  • Maarja Lühiste (Newcastle University): Do citizens' attitudes on gender equality affect candidate selection in list-PR systems? Evidence from European Parliament Elections 
  • Mariia Tepliakova (University of Salzburg): Gender Equality Attitudes in the EU: Assessing the Effect of the EU Policymaking 

 

4. Gender equality politics and far-right politics - side-by-side in the European Parliament  

Room: sh304

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 13.30-15.00

Chair: Gabriele Abels (Universität Tübingen)

Panelists:

  • Lise Esther Herman (University of Exeter), Joseph Lacey (University College Dublin), and Julian Hoerner (University of Birmingham): Debating “Democratic Backsliding” in the European Parliament: A Discourse Analytical Approach 
  • Eleonora Stolt (Stockholm University): Releasing women from “over-protection” – the appropriation of feminist rhetoric in European right-wing politics 
  • Elena Frech (Universität Bamberg) and Sophie Kopsch (Université de Namur): Parent & Parliamentarian: The European Parliament as a Workplace for Parents

5. Women in Politics: activism, participation, intersectionality, and leadership

Room: sh307

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 13.30-15.00

Chair: Nadia Brown (Georgetown University)

Panelists:

  • Marina Muñoz Puig (Universitat Pompeu Fabra): Gender, social movements, and informal rules: where are the women in movement?
  • Pamela Pansardi and Elena Icardi (University of Pavia): Assessing obstacles and inequalities in gender political leadership and careers in the Italian case
  • Costanza Hermanin (European University Institute): Gendered leadership and sustainability 
  • Henriette Mueller (New York University Abu Dhabi) and Ingeborg Tömmel (University of Osnabrück): Pathways to Leadership: Women’s Careers Across the EU Institutions

 

6. Gender Equality and EU external relations 

Room: sh319

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 13.30-15.00

Chairs: Hanna Tuominen (University of Helsinki) and Marjaana Jauhola (Tampere University)

Panelists:

  • Marjaana Jauhola (Tampere University): Disaster recovery as intersectional slow violence? Examining ECHO temporary shelter aid in the aftermath of the 2001 Kachchh earthquake and communal violence in Gujarat, India
  • Hanna Tuominen (University of Helsinki): The EU’s role in the protection of Women Human Rights Defenders. Examining the cases of Iran and Afghanistan
  • Katariina Mustasilta and Tyyne Karjalainen (FIIA): Speaking the language of (masculine) power - European Peace Facility, shifting frames, and implications for EU external action 
  • Marissa Weigle (TU Dresden / College of Europe): Global Gender Actor EU: Differing Interpretations or Consistent Narrative? 

 

7. Gender equality in Ukraine in the context of the European integration

Room: sh204

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 17.00-18.30

Chair: Liliia Antoniuk (University of Helsinki)

Panelists:

  • Galyna Kotliuk (independent researcher): Decolonizing gender: EU integration and gender transformations in Ukraine 
  • Olena Strelnyk (independent; Technical University of Munich): Women’s rights and gender equality in war-time Ukraine: between the challenges of the war and European integration 
  • Hanna Hrytsenko (independent; Institute of Gender Programs): The role of women in the military in an overall movement toward gender equality in Ukraine (2014-2023)
  • Liudmyla Yuzva (independent; Sociological group ‘Rating’): Ukrainian media coverage of the war in Ukraine in terms of gender equality and European integration

 

8. Anti-discrimination, EU law and informal politics: where do we stand on minority rights?  

Room: sh106

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 17.00-18.30

Chair: Päivi Leino-Sandberg (University of Helsinki)

Panelists:

  • Davide Gnes (University of Amsterdam) and Milka Sormunen (University of Helsinki): Pursuing political gains or protecting its turf? Explaining the European Parliament’s reluctance to counter informalisation of EU readmission policy
  • Arpita Chakraborty (Pathway Fellow, Irish Research Council): Lives Made’: Diasporic South Asian Women, Domestic Abuse, and Systemic Challenges 
  • Claire Burchett (King's College London): Exclusion with a friendly face: anti-antisemitism and the populist radical right on social media

 

9. LGBTQI rights in European politics 

Room: sh207

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 17.00-18.30

Chair: Amandine Le Bellec (Sciences Po Paris)

Panelists:

  • Katinka Linnamäki (University of Helsinki): Not in Front of the Child: Illiberal Familism and the Hungarian anti-LGBTQ+ “Child Protective Law”
  • Charlotte Galpin (University of Birmingham): Cisnormative Britain and ‘Perverse Europe’? European courts, trans rights and narratives of national identity from EEC accession to Brexit
  • Daniela Alaattinoglu (University of Turku): Rights as Legal and Socio-cultural Instruments: Trans Rights Mobilisation in Sweden, Norway and Finland 
  • Laura Eigenmann (Freie Universität Berlin): The Co-evolution of the EU’s human rights identity and its LGBTI policy 

 

10. Different facets of policy change in the EU 

Room: sh304

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 17.00-18.30

Chair: Paul Copeland (Queen Mary University of London)

Panelists:

  • Alba María Kugelmeier López (Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg): EU Gender Policy in 2020: A New Dawn or Have We Reached a Ceiling? 
  • Olga Jurasz (The Open University, UK): Digital rights, online violence against women and strive for equality: a challenge for digital Europe? 
  • Kathrin Zippel (Freie Universität Berlin): Top-Down and Bottom-Up: Scaling up University-level Intersectional Change Projects and Policy 

 

11. Re-democratisation: social movements and feminist resistance 

Room: sh307

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 17.00-18.30

Chair: Emanuela Lombardo (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Panelists:

  • Büke Boşnak (Istanbul Bilgi University): Feminist Resistances in Turkey: The Case of the Istanbul Convention 
  • Mojca Pajnik (University of Ljubljana): Feminist activism against democracy back-lash: experiences from post-socialist Slovenia
  • Sinem Bal (Boğaziçi University): European Network of Migrant Women: An Alternative Counter-Hegemonic Alliance for Democracy?
  • Katarzyna Wojnicka (University of Gothenburg): Fathers’ rights movements in the EU: mobilisation for or against gender equality?

 

12. European institutions, party politics and legitimacy

Room: sh319

Time: Thursday, May 25th, 17.00-18.30

Chair: Tyyne Karjalainen (FIIA)

Panelists:

  • Manuel Mueller (FIIA): European Parliament proposals for treaty change over the last 10 years 
  • Sanna Salo and Tuomas Iso-Markku (FIIA): Strategies of centre-right parties in response to the populist radical right
  • Marco Siddi (FIIA): European ‘Conservatives’ and Equality: The Case of Brothers of Italy 
  • Niklas Helwig (FIIA): Strategic autonomy and Russia's invasion of Ukraine: EU capacity and legitimacy 

 

13. Rethinking the EU governance and budgets in the Eurozone 

Room: sh106

Time: Friday, May 25th, 16.00-17.30

Chair: Anna Elomäki (Tampere University)

Panelists:

  • Laura Nordström (University of Helsinki): Power of expertise in crisis: the influence of experts in eurozone crisis
  • Matilde Ceron (European University Institute): Gender mainstreaming in the post-pandemic reconstruction in the EU:  a comparative assessment of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans 
  • Elena Zacharenko (Tampere University): Social reproduction as ‘non-work’ and the failure of EU gender equality policies 

 

14. Radical right and populist parties in European politics

Room: sh204

Time: Friday, May 25th, 16.00-17.30

Chair: Katinka Linnamäki (University of Helsinki)

Panelists:

  • Marcella Mazio (University of Trento): How do populist radical right female leaders frame gendered discourses? Giorgia Meloni: “I am a woman, I am a mother, I am a Christian” 
  • Angela Bourne (Roskilde University): Democratic Defence as 'Normal Politics': What are effective responses to populist parties in Europe?
  • Alexander Alekseev (University of Helsinki): Democracy in Europe in Populist Radical Right Discourses: The Case of the Polish Law and Justice
  • Francesco Campo and Angela Bourne (Roskilde University): Mincing their words? On the moderation of populist style in Spain and Italy

 

15. Navigating EU integration processes and identity in Western Balkans 

Room: sh207

Time: Friday, May 25th, 16.00-17.30

Chair: Emma Hakala (FIIA)

Panelists:

  • Jeta Abazi Gashi (University of Leipzig): Kosovo’s Young Europeans: Understanding Constructions of Self and European Other through Photo-Elicitation.
  • Juliana Gjinko (Tirana University): The Impact of EU Conditionality on Albanian Politics. 
  • Jan Niemiec (Jagiellonian University Kraków): Challenging the EU: Turkish foreign policy towards the Western Balkans.
  • Meljana Bregu (University of Tirana): The impact transformative power of the EU in the Western Balkans. 

 

16. Feminist representation and leadership in parliaments  

Room: sh304

Time: Friday, May 25th, 16.00-17.30

Chair: Jennifer Piscopo (Occidental College)

Panelists:

  • Karen Celis (VU Brussel) and Sarah Childs (University of Edinburgh): Making Parliaments Feminist. Designing for voice and listening.
  • Orly Siow (Newcastle University): Is (Good) Representation Possible? Minoritized Women and the Westminster Parliament.
  • William Daniel (University of Nottingham): Deep and Wide: Quota Implementation and the Candidate Pool in European Elections. 
  • Josefina Erikson and Cecilia Josefsson (Uppsala University): The Emergence and Sustainability of Norms on Gender Balanced Leadership in Swedish Politics.

 

17. Human rights violations, emotions and norms diffusion in Europe 

Room: sh307

Time: Friday, May 25th, 16.00-17.30

Chair: Serena D’Agostino (VU Brussels)

Panelists:

  • Barbara Grabowska-Moroz (CEU Democracy Institute; University of Wrocław) and Zeynep Kivilcim (Bard College Berlin): Istanbul Convention, feminist legal activism, and the democratic backsliding in Hungary, Poland, and Turkey. 
  • Kerstin Hamann (University of Central Florida) and Jennifer Hudson (University of Central Florida): Intersecting Age and Gender: International Norms Diffusion, Women’s Representation, and Child Marriage in Europe.
  • Hannah Manzur (City University of London): Bordering gendered violence: Inequalities in violence trends at the intersection of gender, migrant-status and ethnicity during the UK’s Austerity and Hostile Environment regimes. 

 

18. Gender (In)equality and Abortion Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

Room: sh319

Time: Friday, May 25th, 16.00-17.30

Chair: Elżbieta Korolczuk (Södertörn University & University of Warsaw)

Panelists:

  • Elena Brodeala (University of Zurich & Sciences Po): Gender “Backlash” and Abortion Politics in Post-Communist Romania.
  • Barbara Grabowska-Moroz (CEU Democracy Institute & University of Wrocław): Abortion in Poland: When Abusive Constitutionalism Meets Women's Rights. 
  • Jakub Hudský (University of Wrocław): Populism and Reproductive Politics: the case of Czechia, Hungary, and Poland. 
  • Kriszta Kovács (WZB Berlin Social Science Center): How to Protect Women's Rights in an Autocracy?