September saw the final events of the 2022 CEE Programme on Bridging Old and New Divides: Global Dynamics & Regional Transformations, including the 2022 CEE Conference held in Leipzig, Germany.
The programme, originally planned for 2021, had been delayed due to the pandemic and we were pleased to finally being able to work with our partners at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL), the Research Centre Global Dynamics at Leipzig University and the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities to deliver the CEE programme throughout the year. The programme featured a vibrant online webinar series, an early career online event, a pre-conference early career workshop and finally an international conference held this month in Leipzig, Germany.
The conference held at Leipzig University brought together researchers from all over CEE and we were pleased to be able to provide funding (conference bursaries) that allowed some researchers who otherwise would not be able to join the conference to be there with us.
We had a great time in Leipzig. What a fabulous city! One of our CEE Conference Bursary winners, Sofia Borushkina had this to say:
The RSA CEE 2022 Conference in Leipzig left a lasting impression and a lot of food for thought for me. Not only was I able to present part of my doctoral research to a wider audience, but I was also able to get an overview of the diversity and depth of research topics related to this region.
I would like to specially mention the great post-conference tour that showed the industrial heritage of the region from different angles. In addition to good memories, I brought home a supplemented reading list of books on vertical segregation, housing finance, and spatial transformations written and edited by conference participants. I sincerely hope to attend upcoming RSA events and become part of this brilliant community.
Our delegates enjoyed the conference programme with parallel paper sessions, plenaries and professional development sessions but also walking tours, excursions, welcome and closing receptions, a conference dinner and free public transport rides to explore the city.
The conference was kindly supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the Volkswagen Stiftung.