OUR YEAR 2023 - WE WISH YOU HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

The past 12 months have passed by in a flash. There has been a lot going on at the professorship again this year. 2023 was a very research-intensive year for us with several research trips and conferences. At the same time, changes in staff and the restructuring of the Bachelor's degree programme in Political Science also brought a fresh breeze to teaching. There were some highlights in 2023 that we look back on fondly!

At the beginning of the year, our doctoral students and research associates, Maria Weickardt Soares and Sofie Roehrig, travelled to the University of Warwick in England for a six-month study and work visit. As both work in the trinational research project FRAMENET, they were able to work directly with some of their colleagues on site and continue their academic, professional and personal development.

Prof Dr Anna Holzscheiter really enjoyed the fact that there were finally so many opportunities to meet in person again this year, for "real" conferences without Zoom, for the parties that accompany these conferences, for so many small conversations and get-togethers in our offices and corridors in the Gerber Building.

In March, the annual conference of the International Studies Association (ISA), one of the largest interdisciplinary conferences on international, transnational and global studies, took place in Montreal, Canada. Prof Dr Anna Holzscheiter and Maria Weickardt Soares were there to discuss their research from our two major research projects FRAMENET and on the representation of young people in international politics with an expert audience. Unfortunately, a strike at Berlin Airport prevented Dr Laura Pantzerhielm from attending at the last minute.

In Dresden, the discussion series "When everything is at stake - political protest between effectiveness and hate" took place in early summer in collaboration with the Heinrich Böll Foundation Saxony and the Staatsschauspiel Dresden. It was great to be able to combine the local with the international and to contribute our academic perspective to the discussion about different forms of political protest and civil disobedience in our democracy.

In the summer, Elias Wittenstein travelled to Belgrade/Novi Sad to take part in the Annual Summer School on National Minorities organised by the European Centre for Minorities Issues (ECMI). As part of a diverse group of 21 participants from 14 different countries (Egypt, Germany, Syria, Romania, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, the Netherlands, China, Norway, France, Georgia, Italy and Latvia), he spent nine days intensively analysing topics relating to ethnic conflicts and reconciliation. He particularly enjoyed the exchange of knowledge and networking with the other participants.

Another highlight for us was the Pan-European Conference on International Relations, which took place in Potsdam this year. Prof Anna Holzscheiter, Dr Laura Pantzerhielm, Maria Weickardt Soares, Sofie Roehrig and Felix Stadelmann from our team were able to attend and present the results and interim results of our research. For the first time, there was an extra section on "Youth in Global Politics: Governance, Representation, Transformations", which Anna Holzscheiter chaired together with Prof Dr Jonathan Josefsson (Linköping University Sweden).

The two have been working together for years on a joint research project on the representation of young people in international politics and were able to bring together international academics with their own section at the conference to discuss the role of young people in international politics on various panels. As a thank you for the section chairs, the conference organisers organised an evening boat trip in Potsdam - another highlight.

Shortly afterwards, Anna Holzscheiter, Maria Weickardt Soares and Sofie Roerig travelled by night train from Berlin to London for a FRAMENET workshop. We are definitely a tried and tested team when it comes to unexpected turbulence on business trips. Despite a terrible train journey in a completely battered night train cabin at 6 degrees Celsius because the heating had broken down, Maria arrived in London in good spirits. Despite the turbulence, the workshop with the project team from England and Canada was a success.

At the end of the summer semester, we unfortunately had to say goodbye to our long-standing colleague Laura Pantzerhielm. Anna Holzscheiter has worked with Laura for many years (even before her time at the TUD), which makes it particularly sad to say goodbye. It is great that Laura has been offered a well-deserved assistant professorship in Sweden - but we say goodbye to her with a smile and a tear in our eye. Fortunately, she will continue to be involved in the "Youth Representation" project for a while.

But we also have a new colleague: Dr Jochen Kleinschmidt joined us in November. The nameplate on his new office was a definite highlight for him on his first day at work (see picture).

This marks the end of an eventful year. None of this would have been possible without such a marvellous team and the support of Andrea Kaskel and our student assistants, who provide the professorship with unwavering support in teaching and research - thank you for that. We look forward to the coming year and wish you happy holidays, a happy new year and, above all, good health for the coming year!