Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies

Ukraine@viadrina

Profile

Founded in July 2023, the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies (VCPU) merges the Center for Interdisciplinary Polish Studies and the Chair for Entangled History of Ukraine into a new research institution at the European University Viadrina. The VCPU focuses on interdisciplinary research on Polish and Ukrainian history and the present day, as well as on the transfer of science-based and up-to-date knowledge about Poland and Ukraine to the public.

Interdisciplinary conferences, workshops, open lectures, summer academies, research trips as well as university lectures and seminars by the VCPU’s academic staff and international guest researchers, several publication series, an academic blog and a YouTube channel stimulate research on Poland and Ukraine and underline the special role of the Viadrina as a place of European intellectual exchange.

Große Scharrnstraße 59, DE 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
+49 335-5534 2445
vcpu@europa-uni.de
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Visitor address

Große Scharrnstraße 23a
DE 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
Räume 301-311

News

Call for papers

The VCPU Annual Conference "Between Hope and Reality. Modernisation and Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe" will take place on May 22-23, 2025. The conference will focus on current challenges in Polish and Ukrainian studies and is dedicated to the research project “Mod-Block-DDR”. Researchers from various disciplines, including (but not limited to) economic history, the history of science, and sociology, are warmly invited to participate.

Our new blog Entanglements. Polish and Ukrainian Studies

Over a year ago, the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies (VCPU) was launched. Today, we're thrilled to mark our first anniversary with an exciting milestone: the launch of our new academic blog, "Entanglements. Polish and Ukrainian Studies". This blog builds on the experience of the Polish Studies Blog (Pol-Int) and serves to network different research institutions and to transfer knowledge about the region from different disciplines to the general public.

New book published by Falk Flade

"Innovation and planned economy? Technological change in centrally planned economies using the example of the German Democratic Republic and the People's Republic of Poland" is the title of a new publication by our colleague Falk Flade, which has been published in German by Duncker & Humblot Verlag.

Doctoral thesis defended

On December 5, 2024, in Vienna, our former colleague and doctoral student at the VCPU, Johannes Kleinmann, successfully defended his doctoral thesis on “Emancipation through Transformation? Policies and debates on work and gender in Poland (1980-2004)”. The doctoral thesis was written in a cotutelle procedure between the European University Viadrina and the University of Vienna and was jointly supervised by Prof. Dr. Dagmara Jajeśniak-Quast and Prof. Dr. Philipp Ther. Congratulations Johannes!

Events

Jan

Monday 18.15

Jerzy Giedroyc Research Colloquium: Everything goes its way - the Parisian magazine Kultura (1947-2000) as a laboratory of democracy and the free market (in German)

Jan

Thursday 18.00

Osterweiterung of Remembrance – Project Presentation & Discussion (auf Deutsch & українською мовою)

Jan

Monday 18.15

Jerzy Giedroyc Forschungskolloquium: The Enigma of Ukrainian Anarchism: Diverse Images of Nestor Makhno in Literature and Art of the XX-XXI centuries

Feb

Monday 18.15

Jerzy Giedroyc Research Colloquium: Soviet society as a compulsory society (in German)

Research | Teaching | Transfer

Research

The research carried out at the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies is dedicated to Poland and Ukraine in a broad transregional context, considering the close entanglements – commonalities as well as conflicts – in this multi-layered contact zone. Recognizing the cultural and political agency of Poland and Ukraine, we treat our research as an integrative endeavor with a strategic interdisciplinary focus.

Teaching

In line with its research focus, the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies pursues the strategy of integrating Polish, Ukrainian, as well as Central and Eastern European studies into as many courses at the Viadrina as possible. For this reason, courses are generally offered in English and German, together with a number of seminars in Polish and Ukrainian, and are aimed at students from all three faculties at all levels of qualification – BA, MA and PhD.

Transfer

We want to share the results of our enquiries with the public. Scientifically based, trustworthy knowledge and information, especially about the complex situations and conditions in Central and Eastern Europe, are urgently needed in Germany. In order to transfer the findings of the Viadrina Center of Polish and Ukrainian Studies projects into an enlightened public debate, we will further develop our existing formats.