
On October 17-18, co-founders of our Network Liudmyla Pidkuimukha and Nadiya Kiss organised the workshop “Language ideologies in the EU and wider Europe: Reconsidering present and prognosing future,” generously supported and funded by the EUPeace University Alliance Fund. Researchers from the universities within the alliance, namely JLU Giessen and the University of Calabria, developed a workshop program to present their research and curricula and to tackle similarities and peculiarities of their findings and methodological approaches.
Prof. Dr. Alex Krouglov from the University College London gave an impulse keynote lecture, entitled “The European mosaic: Language ideologies in the shadow of war”. The lecture focused on language policy and planning (LPP), briefly outlining the historical context of language ideologies in Europe and examining how they are shaped in present-day Europe, affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The keynote lecture was commented by two discussants that participated online: – Prof. Dr. Natalia Kudriavtseva and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Olha Shevchuk-Kliuzheva.
The afternoon session was devoted to the projects and curricula presentations. Dr. Vanessa Marcella from the University of Calabria presented her research on language ideologies through the language centers’ websites. Prof. Dr. Natalia Kobchenko from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy presented a curriculum of the master program on Ukrainian and English language and communication. Dr. Sergio Pizziconi presented his research on the quantitative measurement of language attitudes in Italy. Dr. Nadiya Kiss reported on researching how displaced Ukrainian scholars, enrolled in various fellowships for refugee academics in Germany and other European countries, are transforming and performing their identities in Western academia, and are uniting their efforts in newly emerged networks. Dr. Liudmyla Pidkuimukha presented her project on language ideologies in Russia and Ukraine and narrated how it could be developed to expand the research area to Estonia and Kazakhstan.
On September 17, the workshop participants met to discuss the possibilities of further cooperation. Besides the already planned follow-up workshop at the University of Calabria (in March or April 2025), the possibility of joint research in the future was elaborated. The participants agreed that it is essential to explore further funding possibilities, both within the EUPeace University Alliance and by other European initiatives. The collaborative trip to Marburg enforced formal and informal cooperation and brought perspectives of uniting minds in further research.