The third and final school in the series Social Cohesion and Public Policy in Central Asia and the Caucasus takes place at TU Dortmund University from 22 to 27 September 2026, together with the project’s closing conference.
Crossroads Central Asia hosted the first school in Bishkek in September 2025. The second was held in Almaty in March 2026 by Kazakh-German University, and the third is convened by TU Dortmund University with Tbilisi State University and the University of Georgia. The series is supported by VolkswagenStiftung and coordinated by Dr. Nora Becker at TU Dortmund, with Serik Beimenbetov, Shalva Dzebisashvili and Shairbek Dzhuraev.
The Dortmund programme runs across seven panels of participant research, covering social capital and digital trust in post-Soviet Eurasia, informal work and labour migration, gender and inclusion in public policy, donor requirements and civil society, and polarisation in the face of international structures. Keynotes address social cohesion in contemporary societies, international missions and public policy, welfare states and informality, and corporate social responsibility. The programme moves to The Hague mid-week for a visit to the International Criminal Court before returning to Dortmund for the closing discussion.
Dr. Shairbek Juraev chairs the panel on policies and inclusivity in the funding landscape.
A note on what the series produced will follow after the conference.