CFP: Beyond Borders: Global Histories of Transboundary Rivers

 Beyond Borders: Global Histories of Transboundary Rivers

International Online Workshop

University of Ostrava, Czech Republic

November 19-20, 2026

 

More than 300 river basins cross international borders, providing freshwater, energy, transportation, food, and ecosystem services for billions of people. Yet transboundary rivers are far more than shared natural resources. They are political, technological, legal, ecological, and diplomatic spaces where states, engineers, scientists, international organizations, and local communities have negotiated competing visions of development, sovereignty, environmental protection, and cooperation.

Although transboundary rivers have attracted growing scholarly attention, research remains fragmented across disciplines. Environmental historians have explored changing human–river relationships; historians of technology have examined hydraulic engineering and infrastructure; historical geographers have analysed river landscapes and territorial change; scholars of Science and Technology Studies (STS) have investigated expertise and knowledge production; political scientists and scholars of international relations have focused on water diplomacy and international institutions; legal scholars have examined international water law; while hydrologists and water-governance researchers have developed sophisticated frameworks for understanding river basin management. Yet these conversations often do not intersect.

This workshop starts from the premise that understanding transboundary rivers requires genuine interdisciplinary dialogue. Rather than treating rivers simply as environmental systems or geopolitical boundaries, we invite participants to explore them as dynamic socio-environmental systems shaped simultaneously by ecology, infrastructure, science, law, diplomacy, economics, and politics.

Building upon the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) project An Environmental History of Transboundary Rivers in Cold War East-Central Europe, the workshop seeks to expand regional scholarship into a broader comparative and global conversation. It aims to establish an international interdisciplinary network dedicated to the historical study of transboundary rivers and to identify new directions for collaborative research at the intersection of environmental history, history of technology, geography, international law, political science, STS, and water governance.

 

We welcome contributions from scholars working in:

Environmental History

History of Technology

History of Science

Historical Geography

Science and Technology Studies (STS)

Water History

Environmental Humanities

Political Ecology

International Relations

International Environmental Law

Environmental Governance

Hydrology and Water Governance

Geography

Anthropology

Sociology

Environmental Planning

 

We welcome proposals on topics including, but not limited to:

Comparative histories of transboundary river basins

International river commissions and basin organizations

Environmental governance across political borders

Water diplomacy and international cooperation

Rivers during the Cold War

Hydraulic engineering, dams, and river regulation

Navigation and inland waterways

Flood protection and disaster management

Pollution, water quality, and environmental monitoring

Fisheries, wetlands, and aquatic ecosystems

Hydrological science, environmental expertise, and knowledge production

International organizations and shared waters

Climate change and the historical governance of river basins

Colonial and postcolonial river governance

Indigenous and local perspectives on transboundary rivers

Comparative and global approaches to river history

Rivers, sovereignty, and international environmental law

Methods and concepts for interdisciplinary river research

Studies covering all world regions and historical periods are welcome.

 

Format:

The workshop will be held in online format.

Rather than focusing exclusively on completed research, we particularly encourage proposals presenting original archival research, conceptual interventions, comparative perspectives, methodological reflections, and work in progress.

The workshop is designed to maximize discussion and exchange across disciplines. Each paper will receive substantial time for discussion, and the programme will conclude with a roundtable on future directions in the interdisciplinary study of transboundary rivers.

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Submission

Please submit:

an abstract of 300–500 words

a short biography (100 words)

to: cesh@osu.cz

Submission deadline: 15 September 2026

Notification of acceptance: 1 October 2026

hybrid event: 10th Anniversary of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

10th Anniversary of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

We warmly invite you to join us in celebrating the Center’s 10th anniversary – a special occasion that marks an impressive success story.

When: Monday 27th of July 2026. Starting at 9.30am (Berlin time zone)

Where: Online via Zoom or in Presence at Paderborn University, L-Builduing Pohlweg 57, 33098 Paderborn

Since its foundation in 2016 by Prof. Dr Ruth E. Hagengruber<https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/ruth_e_hagengruber/> with the support of Svenja Schulze<https://www.svenja-schulze.de/>, then Minister for Science and Innovation of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Center has developed into an internationally recognised illuminating exemplar of research.

Through groundbreaking publications, a wide range of high-calibre events, and innovative teaching and research formats, it has had a lasting impact on the visibility of women in the history of philosophy and science and has played a decisive role in reorienting academic discourse.

The anniversary offers an opportunity to look back on this development, to celebrate key milestones and to look ahead together to future projects.

The celebration will take place on July 27, 2026 from 9:30 – 12:00 (CEST) at Paderborn University. The event takes place in hybrid format. To access the zoom link please register at our indico page<https://indico.uni-paderborn.de/event/157/>.

Program:

Monday (July 27)

Room L3 204

9:30 – 12:00

Celebration – 10 Years Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists<https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/event/10th-anniversary-of-the-center-for-the-history-of-women-philosophers-and-scientists/>

Welcome

President of Paderborn University, Prof. Dr. Matthias Bauer

Deputy Mayor of Paderborn, Sabine Kramm

Office Manager for Verena Mertens, Member of the European Parliament for the OWL Constituency, Hartwig Höschen

Managing Director of the Paderborn Economic Development Agency, Jürgen Janke

Birthday Greetings

Dean of Research of Paderborn University, Prof. Dr. Ilka Mindt

Executive Board of the IAPh e.v., Prof. Dr. Ma Theresa Payongayong

Women’s & Gender Research Network NRW, Dr. Corinna Bath

Deutscher Akademikerinnenbund, Prof. Dr. Dorothee Meister

Constitutive Member of ZenMeM, Peter Stadler

10 Years of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

Prof. Dr. Ruth E. Hagengruber, Director

Honours

Deputy Directors 10 Years Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

Project Digital Humanities Cooperation Partners

Music

Charlotte Michels: Deborah Henson-Conant (*1953)

Baroque Flamenco

Awarding Ceremony of the Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize

Laudatio: Prof. Dr. Kateryna Karpenko

Thanks to the Donator: Prof. Dr. Ulrike Detmers

Music

Charlotte Michels: Henriette Renié (1875-1956) Pièce Symphonique

Official Signing of two Memoranda of Understanding

with the University of the Philippines Diliman represented by Chancellor Prof. Atty. Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II, Prof. Ma Theresa T. Payongayong, Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Prof. Ruth Lusterio-Rico, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy Prof. Lilybeth Lumagbas.

with the Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST), Kashmir, India, represented by Vice Chancellor Prof. Shakil Ahmad Romshoo, Assistant Professor Muzaffar Ali Malla, Dean Academic Affairs Prof. Sheikh Aijaz Bashir, and Dean of the School of Humanities & Social Sciences Prof. Afroz Bisati

Dr. Jil Muller

Assistant Professor, Post-doc Researcher

Philosophy Department, Paderborn University:

https://www.uni-paderborn.de/person/91668

Deputy Head and Researcher at the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists:

https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/about/team/

Chair: Prof. Dr. Ruth Hagengruber

Universität Paderborn

Raum TP 8.1.45 // Tel.: 05251 60-5034

Technologie Park 8

33100 Paderborn

Germany

Wojciech Baran: 𝗟𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝘂𝘅 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗶̂𝘁 𝗛𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲 (𝟭𝟰𝟮𝟴–𝟭𝟰𝟯𝟬). 𝗘́𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗲𝘁 𝗲́𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲

 Wojciech Baran: 𝗟𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝘂𝘅 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗶̂𝘁 𝗛𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲 (𝟭𝟰𝟮𝟴–𝟭𝟰𝟯𝟬). 𝗘́𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗲𝘁 𝗲́𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲. Brepols 2026. 

Plus d'Infos: https://bit.ly/4gCFW4K

Cet ouvrage propose un examen approfondi de la pensée théologique à Cracovie au XVe siècle à travers l’étude et l’édition critique des principia aux Sentences de Benoît Hesse de Cracovie (1389–1456), rédigés entre 1428 et 1430 à l’Université de Cracovie. L’analyse s’ouvre sur le rôle central des Sentences de Pierre Lombard dans la formation intellectuelle des facultés de théologie médiévales, avant de retracer la figure et l’œuvre de Benoît Hesse, théologien polonais méconnu. La partie principale de la monographie examine la fonction du principium dans le cadre institutionnel et pédagogique de la faculté de théologie cracovienne, tout en mettant en lumière les orientations doctrinales et les enjeux philosophiques qui se dégagent des textes de Hesse. En complément de cette étude, le volume offre une édition critique des principia, accompagnée d’un apparat des sources, permettant d’accéder à un corpus jusqu’ici difficilement accessible. Ce travail ouvre ainsi une fenêtre sur la culture théologique de Cracovie au XVe siècle, un domaine dont la majorité des recherches demeure encore largement confinée à la langue polonaise.

TABLE DES MATIÈRES

Remerciements

Abréviations

I. Introduction doctrinale

1. Introduction

2. Benoît Hesse de Cracovie – la personne et l’œuvre

2.1. Curriculum vitae

2.2. Les œuvres

Philosophie

Théologie

Œuvres d’attribution incertaine

3. Les principia aux Sentences à l’université de Cracovie

3.1. Rôle du principium à l’université

3.2. Structure du principium de Benoît Hesse

L’invocatio

La recommendatio Sacrae Scripturae

La quaestio et sa structure

La protestatio incluse dans la première question

Le cas exceptionnel du magister concurrens

La gratiarum actio

4. La pensée de Benoît Hesse de Cracovie

4.1. Le statut épistémologique et le rôle de la théologie

Les possibilités de la raison et le rôle de la foi

La vérité de la théologie

La philosophie est-elle utile ?

La valeur scientifique de la théologie

Vision de la théologie dans le creuset du débat

Conclusion : la théologie est science et sagesse

4.2. Création et son commencement

Conception de la création dans le creuset du débat

Conclusion : le monde n’a pas de commencement et n’est pas éternel

4.3. Motif de l’incarnation

Conclusion : propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis et incarnatus est

4.4. Efficacité et nécessité des sacrements

Conclusion : les sacrements portent en eux-mêmes la grâce

5. Les principia aux Sentences de Hesse sont-ils une simple répétition d’opinions déjà connues ?

II. Principes éditoriaux

1. L’attribution des principia

2. Les témoins des textes

3. Les manuscrits

A. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 1518

B. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 1519

C. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 1526

D. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 1531

E. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 2091

S. Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 1538

G. Gniezno, Archiwum Archidiecezjalne, 166

H. Gniezno, Archiwum Archidiecezjalne, 165

4. Discussion stemmatique

4.1. Les groupes de manuscrits

4.1.1. Le groupe A–B–D

4.1.2. Le manuscrit S

4.1.3. Le groupe E–G–H

4.1.4. Le manuscrit C

4.2. Stemmata codicum

4.2.1. Premier principium (témoins A, S)

4.2.2. Deuxième principium (témoins B, C, S)

4.2.3. Troisième principium (témoins D, G, S)

4.2.4. Quatrième principium (témoins E, S, H)

5. Passages problématiques

6. Orthographe, ponctuation et apparats

III. Principia in quattuor libros Sententiarum – Édition critique

Abbreviationes

Principium in I librum Sententiarum

Principium in II librum Sententiarum

Principium in III librum Sententiarum

Principium in IV librum Sententiarum

Fontes

Bibliographie

Manuscrits

Tapuscrits

Éditions des œuvres de Benoît Hesse de Cracovie

Sources avant 1800

Sources après 1800

Indices

Iwona Arabas: Thesaurus mundi naturalis. Gabinet Historii Naturalnej księżnej Anny z Sapiehów Jabłonowskiej [Thesaurus mundi naturalis. The Natural History Collection of Princess Anna Sapieha Jabłonowska].

 Iwona Arabas: Thesaurus mundi naturalis. Gabinet Historii Naturalnej księżnej Anny z Sapiehów Jabłonowskiej [Thesaurus mundi naturalis. The Natural History Collection of Princess Anna Sapieha Jabłonowska]. IHN PAN / Aspra 2026. ISBN 978-83-8209-390-2

Spis tresci: https://www.aspra.pl/products/files/1086_1775531378_ysrm.pdf

Bez jakichkolwiek wątpliwości określenie Thesaurus trzeba jednak odnieść nie tylko do zbiorów [księżnej Anny Jabłonowskiej], ale również do samej książki – jest to bowiem prawdziwy skarbiec wiadomości i danych nierzadko wcześniej nieznanych lub mało znanych. […] to niezwyczajna książka o... niezwykłej kobiecie. […] ze wszech miar godna polecenia nie tylko historykom nauki, ale wszystkim miłośnikom dobrej, zajmującej lektury.

prof. dr hab. Ludwik Frey

Upór Autorki w poszukiwaniu dokumentacji transakcji z 1801 i 1802 r. zaowocował odnalezieniem stosownych dokumentów oraz, jak się wydaje, odnalezieniem części kolekcji numizmatów. Dokumenty te zostały, ze stosownym komentarzem, przedstawione w monografii, czyniąc z niej rozprawę o wielkiej wartości z zakresu rodzimego muzealnictwa oraz naukowych relacji [badaczy]. […] Zasadniczy cel monografii to jednoznaczne ustalenie motywacji utworzenia gabinetu historii naturalnej na wzór podobnych na Zachodzie oraz chęć podarowania [zbiorów] Rzeczypospolitej, osiągnięty został w wysokim stopniu precyzji.

prof. dr hab. Zbigniew J. Wójcik

Driburger Kreis - conference for early career historians of science in Prague

 Driburger Kreis

This year’s Driburger Kreis will be hosted in Prague, Czech Republic, from Monday, September 7 to Wednesday, September 9, 2026. We will host a networking event on Monday in the late afternoon and organise some get-togethers in the evenings. You will find the details of the programme below, as well as information on accommodation and financial support.

Participation is free (but only open to guests between a Bachelor’s degree and  pre-habilitation). Please register for participation by filling in the form at this page (https://www.driburgerkreis.de/tagung-2026-prag/) by August 25. This also applies to presenters.

Programm

Montag, 7. September 2026

17:00–18:30 Uhr Netzwerktreffen

Dienstag, 8. September 2026

09:00–09:30 Uhr Einführung

09:30–10:00 Uhr Das leere Fenster: Unsichtbarmachungen und Pestimaginationen in der visuellen Kultur des 16. Jahrhunderts (Jenny Merker)

10:00–10:20 Uhr Kaffeepause

10:20–10:50 Uhr Movement Made Visible. Max Wolf, Carl Pulfrich and the Photographic Observation of Minor Planets (Lena Kasten)

10:50–11:20 Uhr Making Outer Space “cheap”? OTRAG, Satellite Infrastructures and private Enterprise (Florian Fockelmann)

11:20–11:50 Uhr Unsichtbare Physikerinnen und Astronominnen? Übersichtswerke der Physik- und Astronomiegeschichtsschreibung in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts (Colleen Seidel)

11:50–12:20 Uhr Teepause

12:20–12:50 Uhr Parallele Personae: der Wissenschaftler und seine Ehefrau (Pauline Gerards)

12:50–13:20 Uhr Unseen within the Invisible: Women at Physicists’ Kruzhok, Saint Petersburg, 1907–1912 (Anastasia Auman)

13:20–14:40 Uhr Mittagspause

14:40–15:10 Uhr Representation of Spiritism and Metapsychology in Czech Scientific Discourse Around 1920 (Nikola Plíšková)

15:10–15:40 Uhr Strahlenforschung zwischen wissenschaftlicher Medizin und okkulten Wissensräumen in der BRD 1950–1980 (Marcel Philipp Smolinski)

15:40–16:00 Uhr Teepause

16:00–16:30 Uhr Das ‚verhaltensauffällige‘ Kind – (un)sichtbare, interdisziplinäre Praxis zwischen deutscher Pädiatrie und Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie in Kinderkrankenhäusern der 1920er-Jahre (Natalie Rath)

16:30–17:00 Uhr „Für eine freudige Mutterschaft!“ Die Visualisierung von Wehenschmerz als Versuch biopolitischer Kontrolle in der stalinistischen Sowjetunion (Lisa Füchte)

17:00–17:30 Uhr No Vision, no Pain? – A Cultural Study on Endometriosis (Sophie Wagner)

Mittwoch, 9. September 2026

09:00–09:30 Uhr Epistemische Unsichtbarkeit der Depression und klassifikatorische Vereinheitlichungsversuche. Eine kleine Kulturgeschichte der Depressionsdiagnosen in der DDR (Jonas Mileta)

09:30–10:00 Uhr Zur historiographischen Erfassung unsichtbarer Glücksspieler:innen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Sophia Gröschel)

10:00–10:30 Uhr Making Visible the Political Dimension of Knowledge Production: A Case Study of Neuroscientific Knowledge Production in the 1990s Decade of the Brain (Wessel de Cock)

10:30–10:50 Uhr Kaffeepause

10:50–11:20 Uhr Die Sichtbarmachung unsichtbarer Wirbel: Peter G. Taits Beitrag zur Knotenklassifikation im 19. Jahrhundert (Stefan Walberer)

11:20–11:50 Uhr A Culture of Knowledge Consumed on Paper: Natural Philosophy in the Journal des Luxus und der Moden (Jitse Taveirne)

11:50–12:20 Uhr Invisible, stinky, salty. On the History of Knowledge of Fish Consumption (Paula Pessoa Hanitzsch)

12:20–13:50 Uhr Mittagspause

13:50–14:20 Uhr Bringing Hidden Sources to Light: Aloys Sprenger, Translations and Science in Colonial India (Paul Schillinger)

14:20–14:50 Uhr Scientific Practice and Institutional Prestige. Anthropological Studies of Germano Correia in Portuguese India (Szymon Głąb)

14:50–15:20 Uhr Unsichtbare Natur. Tiere und biopolitische Diskurse in völkischen und nationalsozialistischen Raumkonstruktionen zwischen 1918–1938 (Maximilian Preuß)

15:20–15:40 Uhr Teepause

15:40–16:10 Uhr Verdinglichte Entwicklungen (Leonard Damhorst)

16:10–16:40 Uhr The New Man at Work: Socialist Psy-disciplines and Labour in Cuba and Czechoslovakia (Alicia Cabaleiro García)

16:40–17:40 Uhr Abschlussdiskussion und Organisatorisches

Kontakt

info@driburgerkreis.de

Andrii Portnov: Omeljan Pritsak and the Intellectual Origins of the Ukrainian "Harvard Miracle"

Andrii Portnov: Omeljan Pritsak and the Intellectual Origins of the Ukrainian "Harvard Miracle". Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute 2026. ISBN 9780674304222

Omeljan Pritsak and the Intellectual Origins of the Ukrainian “Harvard Miracle” is the first English-language intellectual biography of Omeljan Pritsak, the co-founder of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and the first professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard. Andrii Portnov places Pritsak’s life and legacy in the context of Ukrainian and world historiography and illuminates the development of his scholarly interests, which emerged in interwar Poland and developed through the Sovietization of Western Ukraine and the perturbations of World War II. His scholarship ranged from German Oriental Studies in the 1940s and 1950s to North American Slavic studies to the international studies of the origins of Rus´. Pritsak’s trajectory unfolds as he faces the challenges of establishing the field of Ukrainian studies in North America while engaging with influential scholars such as Dmytro Čyževskyj, Roman Jakobson, Ivan Krypiakevych, Oleksandr Ohloblyn, and Natalia Polonska-Vasylenko.

Based on unique materials Portnov uncovered in several German archives, this concise study serves as an invitation to reassess the intellectual history of Ukrainian history. Containing unique, previously unpublished photographs from Pritsak’s personal collection at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, this book sheds light on the life and work of the enigmatic figure of Omeljan Pritsak―one of the most prominent, controversial, and multifaceted historians of Ukraine, Central Europe, and the Turko-Osmanic and Mongol worlds.

Susanne Frank Galina Babak (eds.) Tschižewskij, Чижевський, Чижевский, Chyzhevs’kyi, Čyževskyj. The Multiple Receptions of a Ukrainian Scholar in European Contexts.

 Susanne Frank Galina Babak (eds.) Tschižewskij, Чижевський, Чижевский, Chyzhevs’kyi, Čyževskyj. The Multiple Receptions of a Ukrainian Scholar in European Contexts. Siedlce: Instytut Kultury Regionalnej i Badań Literackich im. Franciszka Karpińskiego 2026. ISBN 9788368206425

More: https://ikribl.com/2026/05/14/z-nowosci-wydawniczych-ikribl-8/

Table of contents: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SeXQiYLa7szoB0sCg_BzNIkLf1cPQjJB/view?usp=sharing ; https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bv_RUqBPNTJm6Wrd8q5EvUmmEghSc7C9/view?usp=sharing