Georg Arnhold International Summer Conference, June 2–5, 2025 in Braunschweig, Germany

This year's conference, that was organized together with the Leibniz-ScienceCampus - Postdigital Participation, explored the intersections of the "postdigital condition" and peace/violence, (in)equality and (in)justice in the realm of education, with their significance for pressing contemporary challenges.

As the world grapples, for example, with the urgency of the climate crisis and its sociopolitical ramifications, or the implications of AI and equal access to digital technologies, education emerge as a critical factor in promoting resilience and equity. New media formations allow for innovative ways to facilitate discussions in educational contexts around war, migration, and survival, but they also present challenges to peace and equity, raising questions of accessibility and representation.

Reflecting on the use of digital media such as large language models, social media, digital educational technologies, the conference considered the multiple ways in which they allow learners to engage with questions of peace and justice. By critically examining these and other aspects, the conference aimed to challenge and expand the current paradigms of peace education under the 'postdigital condition', advocating for inclusive best practices that acknowledge the interconnectedness of global challenges.

Program of the GAISC 2025
Conference Report GAISC 2025

Georg Arnhold International Summer Conference, June 10–13, 2024 in Braunschweig, Germany

The aim of this summer conference was to provide a forum for critical reflection on the relationship between education, conflict, war and peace, as well as on the global actors and practitioners who have devised strategies to engage with, support and intervene in education systems in conflict-affected contexts. Participants reflected on the links between international relations, broader geopolitical intervention and education sectors in conflict-affected contexts, and the implications for building sustainable peace and social and ecological justice.

Program of the GAISC 2024
Conference Report GAISC 2024

Georg Arnhold International Summer Conference, June 26–29, 2023 in Braunschweig, Germany

At this year's summer conference, participants convened in Braunschweig to discuss the practical and philosophical challenges to educational justice in the contemporary world, and how this can be achieved and promoted under different conditions.

The conference highlighted particularly the benefits of interdisciplinary approaches to the question of educational justice and new lenses with which to view colonialist dialogue in individual research. The papers demonstrated international diversity and interest in new methodologies and the emerging role of digital technologies in relation to educational justice. Ultimately, the concluding discussion reiterated the need for critical perspectives on peace education and the contextualisation of justice (culturally and religiously), the process of dialogue in data production (and as a means for achieving peace), and not least the definition of educational justice itself.

Program of the GAISC 2023
Conference Report GAISC 2023

Georg Arnhold International Summer Conference, August 29 – September 2, 2022 in Braunschweig, Germany

This year’s Summer Conference explored the particularities and conditions for a critical reassessment of the field of peace education in the context of the decolonization discourse.

The contributions focused on challenges in translating the discourse of decolonization into decolonial practice, especially academic structures of university teaching as well as in academic formation and publication practices, they addressed the challenges and opportunities of different pedagogical approaches, the question of how teaching, scholarship, and academic practices can look like that do not reproduce colonial elements, and contemplated theories of decolonizing knowledge production, alternative philosophical approaches, critical methodologies and methods of decolonial formal and non-formal education, and the perspectives of different actors.

Program of the GAISC 2022

A report on the conference(in German) was published in the journal “Wissenschaft und Frieden” and is available online.
 

Georg Arnhold International Summer Conference, August 23–27, online

At this year's conference, participants discussed philosophical and theoretical questions relating to education for ecological sustainability. Climate change poses a significant challenge to the global community and has far-reaching consequences for ecosystems, economies, and societies. Education plays a crucial role in equipping future generations to address current and future challenges. The conference therefore critically examined the question of how transformative education can be used to achieve peaceful sustainability. In four thematic panels, participants discussed how to lay the foundations for environmental education that raises awareness, how to strengthen skills to prevent emotional overload in the face of the global crisis, and how to create transformative experiences for students.

Program of the GAISC 2021
Conference Report GAISC 2021

Georg Arnhold International Summer Conference, June 22–26, 2020 – Online

This year's conference focused on the interaction between education and the social integration of migrants, refugees and displaced persons, (national) minorities and indigenous societies, taking into account regional differences in education systems, resources and social conditions. In six thematic panels and in-depth discussions, this year's papers explored the challenges and potential of integration through education. Participants discussed the theoretical definition and practical implications of integration and examined historical migration events, their impact on current debates, and their potential for developing teaching methods and materials. They also considered the significance of colonial history for educating refugees and the impact of historical and ongoing segregation on the integration of minorities. The inclusion of local expertise and future prospects for refugees and marginalized minorities were recurring themes at the conference.

Program of the GAISC 2020
Conference Report GAISC 2020

Arnhold Symposium October 24–25, 2019, at Barnard College, Columbia University, in New York City, USA

The symposium focused on refugee education in countries of first asylum in the global South. Both education and sustainable peace are essential in order for the host country to become a place where the refugee can stay permanently. The symposium focused on the importance of education in local and national contexts and discussed the political framework as well as the specific challenges presented by the relationship between the guests and their host countries.

Program of the Arnhold Symposium 2019

6th International Summer School, June 25–29, 2019 in Braunschweig, Germany

Drawing on different regional, theoretical and methodological contexts, the participants of the Summer School examined the role of Global Citizenship Education and Citizenship Education (GCE-CE) in an increasingly polarized social, political and economic world, asking how GCE-CE should be understood in its role of empowering young people to take political action within the state and beyond it. The participants also explored how schools and teachers can integrate GCE-CE into specific contexts, articulate goals and develop relevant practices.

Program of the Summer School 2019

Arnhold Symposium, December 06–08, 2018, with the swisspeace foundation, in Basel, Switzerland

While the world we live in is undergoing rapid and major global and social change, education theories and practices are advancing more slowly. New challenges and demands, such as refugee and migrant integration, human rights and gender power struggles, require creative alternative practices and frameworks that allow personal and collective narratives to reach classrooms and academic research. With a focus on emancipatory, feminist-critical pedagogies, the symposium provided a platform for education experts to reflect upon, rethink and reinvent educational practices and methods related to human rights.

Program of the Arnhold Symposium 2018

5th International Summer School, July 23–27, 2018 with Ufuq in Braunschweig, Germany

The Summer School’s thematic focus on the prevention of extremism through education (PVE-E) reflects the increasing importance being attributed to education in response to the global problem of extremist violence. Across the world PVE-E is accepted as an important mechanism through which to defend peace and human rights and this is reflected in national and international action plans, curricula and educational materials being developed and implemented by numerous researchers, education experts, and governmental and non-governmental organizations. Within this very broad field, the Summer School focused on discussions and suggestions related to curricula and reforms, educational media, formal and non-formal education activities, and the work of various stakeholders such as teachers, NGOs, governments and international organizations.

Program of the Summer School 2018

Arnhold Symposium, October 16–18, 2017, with UNICEF Innocenti, in Florence, Italy

The symposium focused on approaches and methods that could support teachers and trainers working in the context of highly escalated conflicts, everyday violence or in societies transitioning from war to peace. The aim was to support these education experts in their work and thus to strengthen the contribution made by this particular sector of education in emergencies to sustainable and positive peace.

Program of the Arnhold Symposium 2017

4th International Summer School, July 23–27, 2017 in Braunschweig, Germany

The field of education in emergencies is still a developing academic discipline. In this evolving field, academics are not alone in struggling to understand the social space of an emergency and how best to conduct their research in a constantly changing, challenging and often insecure environment: In complex emergencies, the entire education system might be destroyed, teacher training inadequate, and access to educational materials impossible. As a contribution to this young field of research and practice, the participants discussed theories and methods, specific curricula and educational media, as well as the role and training of teachers at all levels of education in formal and non-formal contexts.

Program of the Summer School 2017

Arnhold Symposium July 05-06, 2016, with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, in Berlin, Germany

In this bilingual symposium (English and Russian), international experts from various academic disciplines discussed the conflict potential of education narratives and perspectives for change.

Program of the Arnhold Symposium 2016

3rd International Summer School, July 25–30,2016, with Teachers College, Columbia University, in Braunschweig, Germany

Human Rights Education has been linked to education for sustainable peace and, more recently, has been incorporated into the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 and its Global Citizenship Education initiative. Recognizing this bridge between the concepts of HRE and education for sustainable peace, participants reflected upon lessons that have been learned and upon innovative ways to educate children and young people about human rights and, through the application of such methods, foster their capacity for critical thinking and support their social and political empowerment in order to increase the social cohesion of the societies they live in.

Program of the Summer School 2016

Arnhold Symposium, September 29–30, 2015 at the German Center for Research and Innovation and the New School for Social Research in New York City, USA

The effects of armed conflicts, such as the destruction of school infrastructure, on the education sector are well documented. However, the effects of education on armed conflict are less well understood. The symposium took this as its starting point when examining the complex relationships between formal education, fragile statehood and armed conflict. In their contributions, participants explored how education may contribute to creating or reproducing unjust and structurally violent political systems, but also how education can help to create more just and peaceful social and economic conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Program of the Arnhold Symposium 2015

2nd International Summer School, June 22–27, 2015, with the Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), in Braunschweig Germany

The question of how the topics of justice and peacebuilding can be introduced to children and young people through curricula, educational media and extracurricular activities was the main focus for the participants of this Summer School. In their contributions the participants employed a variety of perspectives and different methodological approaches to examine how principles of justice and peace-building can be introduced and implemented in educational materials and curricula in post-conflict and transitional societies.

Program of the Summer School 2015

Georg Arnhold Symposium, July 30–31, 2014 at the GEI in Braunschweig, Germany

Social media is changing the way people, especially young people, perceive, communicate and interact. The Arnhold Symposium held at the GEI was dedicated to the potential of social media to be an educational space in which conditions for the development of sustainable peace can be created by promoting and enabling social engagement and civic participation. The symposium brought together academics, politicians and decision-makers, representatives of civil society and students to reflect upon and develop concepts for the exploration of new educational spaces.

Program of the Arnhold Symposium 2014

1st International Summer School, July 24–29, 2014 in Braunschweig, Germany

The challenges and potential of history education in divided post-war societies were the main focus of the first GEI Summer School. The contributions of the participants explored the question of how schools around the world deal with the issues of war and peace and in particular how they deal with a violent past. They discussed the effects of experiences of war and transition periods and how these are remembered, negotiated and articulated by policy makers, teachers and students in conflict and post-war societies.
Arnhold Symposium

Program of the Summer School 2014