Research seminar on social sciences in and on war
Organised jointly by IRECA, CERCEC, IUFU and CCFEF, a seminar devoted to social science research on war and wartime was held at the University of Warsaw (ul. Dobra 55) from 17 to 19 March 2026. It brought together 28 participants – undergraduates, PhD students and supervisors – from various disciplines within the humanities and social sciences, whose research focuses – amongst other things – on issues of memory, justice, art and visual media, migration, humanitarian engagement and video games in times of war.
The aim of this three-day workshop was to create a forum designed to promote academic collaboration between students and PhD candidates working on issues relating to war in Eastern Europe. Participants from Ukrainian, French and, more broadly, European academic institutions (Lithuania, Germany, Poland and Portugal) developed an explicitly multidisciplinary approach to analyse not only how war is addressed by the social sciences, but also the impact of conflicts on the very practice of research.
The first day began with a round-table discussion during which each participant presented their research topic (Master’s dissertations or doctoral theses). This session also gave participants the opportunity to get to know one another by sharing an anecdote or a physical object related to the seminar’s theme. The second part of the day consisted of presentations delivered by the academic supervisors, which enabled the students to develop their practical knowledge on topics such as the collection, preservation and use of qualitative data, in particular the collection and organisation of archives and the conducting of interviews in a war context.
The second day saw the students play a more active role. Divided into four groups according to their research topics and supervised by experienced researchers, the students discussed, formulated research questions and presented the results of their reflections on the following topics: daily life, institutions, social ties, and representations of the self and the other in times of war. The second day concluded with a guided tour of Warsaw focusing on the city’s reconstruction after the Second World War, led by Błażej Brzostek, a professor of history at the University of Warsaw.
The third and final day was devoted to the presentation and discussion of the students’ visual work, notably historical documentaries based on archive material and artistic creations offering an interpretation of the war. Finally, the concluding part of the discussion provided an opportunity to explore prospects for cooperation and led to an exchange of contact details amongst the young researchers. Among the initiatives discussed were the formation of research partnerships or groups, designed to foster cooperation, including through the exchange of best practice, advice, and the mutual peer review of dissertations or theses.