International Final of the SCPP Summer School Series on Social Cohesion and Public Policy

With participants from all Central Asian and South Caucasus countries, as well as from Europe and the U.S., the grand finale of the summer school series “Social Cohesion and Public Policy in Central Asia and the Caucasus: Disentangling the Linkage Through Ideas, Interests, and Institutions”, funded by Volkswagen Foundation, took place in Dortmund and The Hague from 22nd to 26th September 2026. Project director Dr. Nora Becker of the Chair of International Relations and Political Theory at the IfPP (TU Dortmund University) and the three cooperation partners Prof. Dr. Serik Beimenbetov (Kazakh-German University, Kazakhstan), Dr. Shairbek Dzhuraev (Crossroads Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan) and Prof. Dr. Shalva Dzebisashvili (The University of Georgia, Georgia) welcomed  the international and interdisciplinary group at the IBZ at TU Dortmund University: Participants could expect four days filled with fascinating presentations as well as current and in-depth discussions on social cohesion and public policy. Among other things, the focus was on social and international structures and challenges, as well as issues of inclusion and equality. TU Dortmund University’s Vice President for Diversity and International Affairs Prof. Dr. Maximiliane Wilkesmann opened the conference on Wednesday morning, and Elena Resch from the University Alliance Ruhr and executive director of the Liaison Office Eastern Europe/Central Asia warmly welcomed the conference participants to the Ruhr region.

The program also included an exhibition opening and a discussion on transdisciplinary science in a “fishbowl” format. On Thursday afternoon, the group first visited the Coal Mine Industrial Complex “Zeche Zollverein” and then traveled to The Hague in the Netherlands to tour the International Criminal Court and continue the program’s activities.

The summer school was the third in a summer school series funded by Volkswagen Foundation. The first component took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in September 2025, and the second in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in March 2026, hosted by the cooperation partners. The program was centred around three overarching goals: capacity building, networking and a sustainable project design, and the generation of transdisciplinary knowledge. To this end, the summer school series adopted a transdisciplinary research approach, the phases of which were reflected in the three summer schools. With the help of a context- and content-specific methodology, the “3-i” framework – ideas, interests, and institutions –, and various work formats, such as speed dating and poster presentations, but also different discussion, workshop and input formats, capacity building and extensive training were enabled. Moreover, it provided the ground for an in-depth exchange regarding the thematic nexus, the identification of overlaps, and reflection on research questions and problem structure. In addition to the participants selected through a “Call for Participants”, experts of various generations from academia and civil society in Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Europe, and, in some cases, the United States have always taken part. Participants worked together in dynamic team configurations to facilitate exchanges in tandems, groups, and plenary sessions, drawing on a variety of methodological and disciplinary perspectives.
The next step is to publish the results of the summer school series. 

Further information can be found at IfPP (Nora Becker) and scpp.ht.tu-dortmund.de (coming soon).