Beyond Digital Awe. European Jewish Studies and the challenge of Digital Humanities
On 17–18 November 2025 Vilnius University will hold the conference 'Beyond Digital Awe. European Jewish Studies and the challenge of Digital Humanities'.
This two-day in-person event will explore the evolving relationship between Jewish Studies and Digital Humanities, focusing on three key aspects of digital research. Experimenting: development of new methods and application of methods borrowed from other disciplines; sharing: connecting researchers, data and methodologies; and engaging: the role of digital humanities in engaging citizens and history consumers. While the conference focuses is European Jewish history and linguistics, it also covers broader perspectives and comparative cases involving other religious or cultural communities.
The full conference programme is available to download here.
One of the conference's goals is to promote networking and information sharing. A Data Forum has been established to enable participants to share samples of their data and facilitate discussion and cooperation before and during the conference. For more information, please contact Tomasz M. Jankowski ().
The conference is organised by the Centre for Eastern European Jewish History Research at the Faculty of History, Vilnius University, in cooperation with the Taube Center for Jewish Studies at University of Wrocław, Poland, and financial support from the European Association of Jewish Studies.
Over the past century, economic and diplomatic sanctions have become key instruments of international pressure. From the League of Nations' response to the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in 1935 to the sanctions regimes imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Baltic and Scandinavian regions have played various roles as actors, arenas, and observers in global sanctions regimes. However, the longue durée of sanctions in this geopolitical space remains understudied, and this seminar will seek to examine the history, implementation, impact, and perception of sanctions in the Mediterranean, Baltic, and Scandinavian regions from the interwar period to the present day. We invite proposals for papers that examine sanctions as instruments of foreign policy, ideological expression, or economic strategy, taking into account their intended and unintended consequences in political, social, and cultural terms.
PAScapes invites to a public lecture by Johannes Neurath (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Museo Nacional de Antropología) titled "Wixárika Walking in the Footsteps of the Ancestors as Ecology“.
Date: September 25–26, 2025 
In spring 1925 the Yidisher visnshaftlekher institut (Yiddish Scientific Institute), known as YIVO, was established in Vilnius. At this time Yiddish was the native language of approximately 11 million people, and Jewish Vilna was world renowned as a center of Yiddish culture. In Eastern Europe, secular Jewish Diaspora Nationalists promoted their own national life in the countries of their residence, creating a new movement that gave rise to a network of innovative cultural institutions. These culminated in the creation of YIVO, which became the center of a global network of scholars and support groups. The efforts to rescue a portion of the institute’s collections during the Holocaust and transfer them to New York was no less of a monumental achievement. While YIVO continues its work today in New York, it remains a symbol of the rich heritage of the Vilna Jewish community.
The Centre for the Study of East European Jewish History at the Vilnius University Department of History, together with The Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Yeshiva University, Department of Jewish Studies at Wroclaw University, Department of Russian and Slavic Studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Lviv Catholic University invites to the series of Graduate and PhD students’ online Seminars dedicated to Jewish history, culture, heritage and memory in Eastern Europe.
The development of Digital Humanities (DH) is a key trend in modern research. Recognizing its importance, the Faculties of Philology and History at Vilnius University (VU) have submitted a joint project to the LMT competition to upgrade research infrastructure in near future establish a DH laboratory for the two faculties. As a result, new DH tools have been introduced at VU, allowing scholars to analyze historical sources and other materials using modern methods.
A recent study published in Nature: Scientific Reports delves into the adaptive agricultural practices of pre-industrial communities in north-eastern Europe over the past two millennia. The research highlights how significant climatic shifts, coupled with socioeconomic factors, influenced the selection and cultivation of buffer crops to mitigate the risks associated with primary staple crop failures.
Date: 31 January 2025, 3 pm.
The Centre for the Study of East European Jewish History at the Vilnius University Department of History, together with The Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Yeshiva University, Department of Jewish Studies at Wroclaw University, Department of Russian and Slavic Studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Lviv Catholic University invites MA students currently working on their theses and PhD students to apply and participate in an international online seminar in the field of East European Jewish history and culture. The seminar is open to papers on various topics, chronology, methodology, and approaches in humanities, arts, and social sciences.
On 5 November, 5 pm, the Faculty of History will host a discussion with Dr. Epp Annus (Tallinn University, Ohio State University). The event invites to discuss the arrival of new Anthropocene and eco-social ideas in the field of history and other humanities and social sciences.
The Centre for the Study of East European Jewish History at the Vilnius University Department of History together with The Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Yeshiva University, Department of Jewish Studies at Wroclaw University, Department of Russian and Slavic Studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Lviv Catholic University invites to the series of Graduate and PhD students’ online Seminars dedicated to Jewish history, culture, heritage and memory in Eastern Europe.
On 23-27 September, (Post)Authoritarian Landscapes Research Centre (PAScapes) organised an international summer school "Cultural landscapes: Concrete heritage" for PhD students interested in concrete heritage.
The Faculty of History at Vilnius University introduces ‘Heritage Mondays’ public lecture series initiative and is pleased to invite you to a public lecture by Prof. Dr. Yonca Erkan from the University of Antwerp on September 9th at 17:00. The lecture is titled “The Role of Management Plans: Practices and Lessons in Cultural Heritage Conservation”.
The recent release of Season 2 of “House of the Dragon” has brought us back to the medieval fantasy realm of George Martin’s “Game of Thrones”. Although the series is based on fictional books, the author drew extensively from real medieval history, including the Hundred Years’ War, the Wars of the Roses, and the Crusades. Medieval Lithuania was also not without its share of intriguing moments, one of which was the mysterious death of Karigaila, the brother of Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło) and cousin to Vytautas: he was beheaded in 1390 while defending Vilnius Castle against the Crusaders. Dr Antanas Petrilionis, researcher at the Faculty of History of Vilnius University (VU), has tried to unravel the threads of this murderous story dating back over six centuries.
From 1–5 July, for the second time, Vilnius University (VU) will host the summer school on the “Competition Among Great Powers, and the National State of Lithuania in the First Half of the 20th Century” organised jointly by the VU Faculty of History, the Baltic Geopolitics Network of the Centre for Geopolitics of the University of Cambridge, and the Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania.
Are you already wondering what's next? Graduation can evoke many emotions, from relief and joy to confusion and anxiety.