Amid a shifting intellectual and political landscape, the 19th Max Weber Programme June Conference convened at the EUI on 11-13 June 2025, under the theme 'Knowledge and Power: Truth, Trust, Legitimacy, and Resistance.' The conference provided a forum for critical engagement with the contemporary challenges facing academia.
The choice for this year's theme came from the EUI's evolving institutional vision and a broader reflection on the public role of universities. Co-organiser Joyce De Coninck (LAW) explained: "We are trying to respond to the EUI’s new president's vision — an invitation to be more conscious of what we put out there as academics, and what is considered good academic scholarship. We are facing this whole charge against universities, discrediting the work that academics are doing, while trying to politicise it. And with that in mind, we wanted to see: How do we deal with that type of challenge to our scholarship, and how can we be more critical about it?".
De Conick is part of this year's organising committee along with Fellows Ashley Mantha-Hollands (RSC), Biljana Kotevska (RSC), Claire Debucquois (LAW), Lucia Leontiev (LAW), Qin (Sky) Ma (LAW), and Vanessa Endrejat (RSC). Reflecting on the collaborative nature of the fellowship year, she added: "We found ourselves grappling with remarkably similar questions, shaped by our respective disciplines. The conversations that emerged challenged us to reconceive our academic truth, that’s why I think the Max Weber Programme fellowship is fantastic: it forces you to really reconsider your own drawbacks, your own limitations in your scholarship."
With 18 panels and a poster session, the conference not only reaffirmed the interdisciplinary that has always marked the MWP spirit, but also fostered dialogue, intellectual exchange, and renewed ties among the fellows.
"It was a really great event, full of insightful presentations. I attended the first session about capitalism, and what I really admire is the idea of combining different views on the same topic from such wide disciplinary approaches," remarked Lucia Leontiev, a member of the organising committee. "We had a lawyer, a historian, and an anthropologist who spoke about capitalism from different perspectives. I found this very enriching," she affirmed.
"I feel inspired by the presentations! What stands out at the EUI is the truly interdisciplinary approach and the fresh, out-of-the-box insights shared by the other presenters. One of the real highlights of this conference, though, is the informal conversations. They’re incredibly valuable," shared Ivan Romashchenko (LAW).
A notable innovation this year was the inclusion of a film pre-screening and Q&A session, curated by MWP Fellow Paulus Wagner in collaboration with director Barbara Wolfram. The session explored the creative and intellectual potential of translating academic research into cinematic form. In addition, two other events were open to the public: an open lecture by Professor Anna Grzymala-Busse (Standford University) and a keynote conversation featuring Honoris Causa Professors Francesca Trivellato and Melinda Mills.
"I took part in the film pre-screening, and it was amazing!" Ivan noted. Reflecting on the conference, he added: "There were several presenters working on numeric quantification in different areas. I come from a legal background, but it’s something we can see in many, many fields. Most of the topics in the poster session, for example, focused on the use of digital technologies. In my case, I talked about verification of shareholders in general meetings of companies. That’s something quite narrow, but I enjoyed exploring it."
Another noteworthy reflection came from Alexander Mesarovich (STG) who shared: "I was a speaker in the first panel, and we had people talking about how to quantify populism using machine learning algorithms, as well as historical discussions about political decision-making in the Habsburg Civil War." His remarks highlighted the diversity of topics explored and the enduring relevance of scholarly exchange with the academic community.
During the 2024-2025 academic year, the Max Weber Programme hosted 65 fellows from 29 countries.
The Max Weber Programme is the largest international postdoctoral programme in the social sciences and humanities in Europe. It is known for pioneering the idea of a taught postdoctoral programme in the social and historical sciences—a distinct model that combines support for research with teaching, academic communication, and other career development skills. It fosters multidisciplinary research collaboration across departments and between established and early career researchers within the EUI.