This Uppsala Forum and ENLIGHT initiation workshop will be held at the Institute of Russian and Eurasian Studies (IRES), Uppsala University. Its aim is to become the inaugural event for establishing a network to facilitate regular joint educational and research activities on Belarus among the involved universities. A relatively large country in Eastern Europe, Belarus is profoundly affected by the intricacies of security and confrontations at various levels, including domestic, regional, across broader Europe, across the entire continent and globally. These complex social and security situations impact not only Belarus but also neighboring countries and broader Europe. Therefore, it is essential to develop effective interdisciplinary tools to understand the complexities of Belarus and its society. Equally crucial is expanding our knowledge on it through research networks and university curricula.

The workshop brings together experienced scholars, early-career researchers (PhD candidates and postdocs) and students from five ENLIGHT universities. It will connect Uppsala University with Ghent University (Ghent Institute for International and European Studies), University of Göttingen (Centre for Modern East Asian Studies, Seminar for Slavic Philology), University of Groningen (Department of European Languages and Cultures) and University of Tartu (Institute of Cultural Research).