The alarming rise of armed conflicts, illiberal regimes, and extremist movements around the world are pushing back on cosmopolitan values and dreams of developing sustainable societies. The world can be viewed as a single interconnected place, where ideas, products and people travel across national borders at an increasing speed. However, it is also a world that is fragmented and riddled with power struggles and polarized political views. These emerging global challenges demand fresh perspectives from scholars, political actors, and international organizations. Simultaneously, the global decline in demand for social sciences underscores the urgency of critically re-examining contemporary approaches. 

The field of global and transnational sociology is in many ways as fragmented as the world that it examines. On the one hand, this diversity of perspectives is a strength that helps to shed light on global phenomena from various angles. On the other hand, exchanging ideas and insights between different schools of thought is important for creating novel and nuanced viewpoints. 

This conference aims to foster discussion between different theoretical and methodological approaches that strive to make sense of the global developments we are currently witnessing. We hope to bring together scholars to offer new local and transnational insights that highlight the relevance of social scientific research in addressing these challenges.  We are also interested in editing a volume/journal special issue based on selected papers presented at the conference.

We invite contributions across thematic areas and methodological approaches, including but not limited to the following themes:

•  Methodological and theoretical developments in global and transnational sociology

•  Contested status of science and expertise in contemporary societies 

•  Polarization of politics and fragmentation of societies from a global and transnational viewpoint

•  Policy-making in a globalized world

•  The impact of climate change, exogenous shocks, and conflicts on national and international policies

•  International migration and translocal lives, with an emphasis on Europe

•  Decolonial and postcolonial approaches

•  Culture, identity, and cosmopolitanism in a changing world

•  Extremist movements and their transnational mobilization

•  Gender and sexuality from a global perspective 

•  Globalization, localization, and glocalization

The keynote and semi-plenary speakers are esteemed scholars in global and transnational studies:

Alexandros Kentikelenis, Associate Professor of Sociology and Political Economy, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy 

Geoffrey Pleyers, President of the International Sociological Association (ISA) and the FNRS Director of Research and Professor of Sociology, University of Louvain, Belgium

Valerija Barada, Associate Professor, Head of Department of Sociology, University of Zadar, Croatia