iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

We are excited to announce 3 NEW COURSES in our 2026-27 WINTER SEMESTER starting in mid-October. JOIN US in sustaining spaces where learning, solidarity, and critical inquiry can continue despite violence and repression. SIGN UP TODAY! -> offuniversity.org/current-cour...

000

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

We are happy to announce that the contributions to the Cities at War Lecture Series are now available as texts online: off.pubpub.org/citiesatwar offuniversity.org/contribution...

offuniversity.org

Contributions tothe Cities at War Lecture Series

Cities at War Lecture Series: Written versions of the lectures are published online and available through open access.

010

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

"Critical Peace and Civil Society,” led by @dr-ferda-fa.bsky.social is an interactive online lab examining how mid-level actors connect communities and decision-makers in conflict settings. ℹ️ offuniversity.org/current-cour... 🗣️ KURMANCÎ @rosaluxstiftung.bsky.social @humboldtuni.bsky.social

001

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Gender-based violence is structural, political, and contested. This course explores its dynamics in West Asia, from domestic abuse to conflict-related violence, while highlighting activism, survival strategies, and spaces of resistance across the region. ➡️ offuniversity.org/current-cour...

000

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

In our History Textbook Workshop we will have Elena Monke with us this week. She will explore how textbooks are built, using examples from her work in preschool pedagogy and children’s literature. Feel invited to join us 🕓 April 1st, 16:00 CET by signing-up now offuniversity.org/current-cour...

offuniversity.org

History Textbook Workshop

The History Textbook Workshop is an innovative online course designed for participants aged 14 to 25, which investigates the ways in which history textbooks reflect political, cultural, and ideologica...

001

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

What does it mean to live through historical rupture? This course explores war, displacement, and crisis through performance ethnography, using Playback and Documentary Theatre to transform lived experience into collaborative, research-based performance. Register: offuniversity.org/current-cour...

001

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Amid rising authoritarianism, can universities offer refuge and continuity for human rights defenders in exile? Join an interdisciplinary, practitioner-led course examining real-world strategies, networks, and challenges across global contexts. Register here: offuniversity.org/current-cour...

Exile, Activism and the University with Alexander Kalgin, Magnolia, 15.04.2026 - 22.07.2026, 6 ECTS

This course examines the role of universities as spaces of protection for human rights defenders in exile, focusing on how academic institutions can provide protection for activists. Today, authoritarianism is rising globally, and those who dare to contest authoritarian governments are often forced into exile. Traditional measures of human rights protection may not be sufficient. In this context, universities have the capacity to function as semi-safe spaces that offer resources, networks, and communities that allow human rights defenders to sustain their work.

002

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Check our our latest newsletter full of courses in this upcoming Spring Semester 2026: mailchi.mp/a5a93ce4d926...

mailchi.mp

The 2026 Spring Semester at Off University

000

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

We are happy to have Yadviha Lukashyk in our History Textbook Workshop. Her research explores everyday life on the Eastern Front during the First World War through photographic sources. Sign-up here: offuniversity.org/current-cour... #Universitywithoutborders

010

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

At a time of incessant wars, widespread mass displacement and rising authoritarianism, the dissemination of knowledge is under threat. Join us in sustaining spaces where learning, solidarity, and critical inquiry can continue despite violence and repression. offuniversity.org/current-cour...

110

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

We are inviting proposals for an online laboratory on the Memory of the Syrian War to be taught by scholars at risk. Check the details of the application requirements, what you should submit to apply and how here on the call page ℹ️ offuniversity.org/call-for-an-... 📆Deadline: April 13th, 2026

022

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

We are inviting proposals for an online course on War, Memory, and Gender to be taught by scholars at risk. Check the details of the application requirements, what you should submit to apply and how here on the call page ℹ️ offuniversity.org/call-for-cou... 📅 Deadline: April 13th, 2026

Call for Course Proposals on War, Memory, and Gender

012

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

In our History Textbook Workshop we have Daryna Zhyvohliadova with us to explore Ukraine’s history and culture through key artifacts, texts, and artistic works. You are invited to join this Wednesday, March 18th, 4pm CET. Just a quick registration here: offuniversity.org/current-cour...

offuniversity.org

History Textbook Workshop

000

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

There are only few places left in our History Textbook Workshop. Please write to (our proton mail account) mail@offuniversity.org until March 2nd, 2026 if you want to join us next Wednesday!

000

Reposted by Off University

Academy of Social Science @the-academy.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM, HOPE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY 20 February, 16:00-18:00 Lichthof Ost, Humboldt University, Berlin This talk, moderated by Alice von Bieberstein, will introduce the Academy of Social Science, its research communes, and the Journal Democratic Modernity.

122

Reposted by Off University

Academy of Social Science @the-academy.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

JIN JIYAN AZADÎ HÊVÎ JI BO SEDSALA 21'EMÎN 21.02.2026 16.00-18.00 Komel Berlin (Residenzstraße 53-54, 13409 Berlin)

101

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

In the next-to-last session of our lecture series Cities at War, we are welcoming Aimal Formolly speaking on "Spatial Justice and Everyday Resilience: Navigating Post-Conflict Urbanism in Kabul". Join us on January 28th, 4pm CET time: offuniversity.org/current-cour... #universitywithoutborders

This lecture examines the lived experiences of Kabul’s residents amid the enduring legacies of conflict, emphasizing the intersections of spatial justice, social cohesion, and participatory urban planning. By integrating gamified urban design models with ethnographic insights and geospatial analysis, it outlines pathways for strengthening resilience, equity, and collective memory in fragile urban environments.

020

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

We are a partner of the universities in #Rojava. Our thoughts and solidarity are with the students and scholars in the region who are facing escalating violence and deteriorating humanitarian conditions. Please read this statement of solidarity here: drive.google.com/file/d/1aEdK...

010

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Scholars and students at the universities in Rojava are part of our Online Lecture Series Cities at War. Their education is disrupted, they had to flee the approaching violence and now live under deteriorating and dangerous conditions. Stop the War now!

000

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

000

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Join us for Batoul Yassine and Mariam Bazzi's lecture "From Archiving to People-Centred, Heritage-Led Urban Recovery. The Cases of Gaza and Nabatieh" this Wednesday, January 21st at 4pm CET. -> more offuniversity.org/current-cour... #universitywithoutborders Thanks to @urbanstudiesfoundation.org

This lecture advances the argument that urban recovery can start during war in many forms and practices, one of which is the act of archiving. Archiving the city does not only preserve but also enable the emergence of multiple narratives through unarchiving, a process that disrupts and re-organizes the archival collection, leading to the formation of future imaginaries tied to the recovery of sites of urbicide. This proposition is explored through two cases: Gaza, Palestine, and Nabatieh, Southern Lebanon, where a team of the Beirut Urban Lab has engaged in planning amid complex conditions of war.

001

Reposted by Off University

Urban Studies Foundation @urbanstudiesfoundation.org · 07/01/2026

⏰ Reminder: Urban Urgencies funding call now open There’s still time to apply for the Urban Urgencies grant from the Urban Studies Foundation — supporting rapid, collaborative research on pressing urban challenges worldwide. 🗓️ Deadline: 23 March 2026 (23:59 UTC). 🔗 ow.ly/FUIn50XGtgz

079

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

We are happy to welcome Nevin Soyukaya this week in our Lecture Series "Cities at War". She will speak on "Diyarbakır/Suriçi: Conflict and Urbicide as the Erasure of Collective Memory" on January 14th at 4pm CET. register here -> offuniversity.org/current-cour... #universitywithoutborders

Dating back to the 5th millennium B.C., Diyarbakır is one of the rare urban centers where the evolution of urban history and the cumulative layers of the past can be observed in all phases up to the twenty-first century. Between October 2015 and March 2016, however, this deeply layered urban fabric was violently disrupted. Following declarations of self-governance in twenty Kurdish cities, intense armed clashes broke out between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and Turkish state security forces, involving heavy weaponry leading to widespread urban destruction.
This paper examines the dynamics of armed urban conflict and the subsequent practices of urbicide through the case of Diyarbakır’s historic core, Suriçi. It analyzes the socio-spatial consequences of this violence, with particular attention to its erasure of historical layers, transformation of the urban fabric, and displacement of local communities.

001

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

The first session in the Cities at War Lecture Series in 2026 will be given by Viktoriia Grivina on #Kharkiv is a Dream. Planning a Future During War". Join her timely talk on Wednesday, 07.01.2026 at 4 pm CET. offuniversity.org/current-cour... @urbanstudiesfoundation.org #universitywithoutborders

In 2022, Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine withstood months of relentless Russian artillery strikes that razed entire residential districts of the city, with its population dropping from 1.6 million to 800 000. A short Ukrainian counteroffensive in summer 2022 eliminated the fears of occupation. People started to return, and grand plans involving foreign architectural bureaus for rebuilding have appeared. But are we allowed to think of the future when Kharkiv continues to be attacked by drones, guided bombs, and missiles every day? During this lecture, I invite you to dream and think of the future of a war city with me.

101

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Enthusiastic about history and between 14 and 25? Join our History Textbook Workshop to learn how and by whom history is written, engage with history textbooks from different parts of the world and understande the uses of history in political narratives. ℹ️ offuniversity.org/call-for-par...

offuniversity.org

You Can Rewrite History!

You Can Rewrite History! Learn How! Apply to participate in the History Textbook Workshop

022

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

This week we have Sarah Husein with a talk on "Water Practices in Conflict-Torn Damascus: Distressing Memories to Overlook or Coping Strategies for Climate Resilience" in our Cities at War Lecture Series. Join us December 17th, 4 pm CET. Everyone is welcome: moodle.offuniversity.org/course/view....

This lecture examines how decades of conflict have profoundly affected the daily lives of Damascus's inhabitants by limiting access to running water. The massive destruction of infrastructure during the armed conflict has exacerbated a water scarcity already evident at the turn of the century, forcing residents to reinvent everyday practices around water use. Drawing on NGOs reports, media accounts and testimonies of residents’ coping strategies, this lecture reflects on how memories of these coping strategies can inform future approaches to water management, both at individual and political levels, in a city marked by chronic scarcity and still bearing the scars of war.

010

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

We are looking forward to Naman Agrawal's lecture Beyond the Golden Walls: Memory, Survival, and Everyday Life in Jaisalmer’s Borderlands" in our Cities at War Lectures Series on 📅 10.12.2025 🕓 16:00 CET Join us here: offuniversity.org/current-cour... @urbanstudiesfoundation.org

The lecture examines how militarization, tourism, and cycles of violence shape everyday life in Jaisalmer, a city on India’s western frontier. By focusing on the strategies of adaptation and resilience employed by local communities facing displacement, heritage commodification, and the blurring of war–peace boundaries, it highlights the agency of ordinary people in sustaining memory and cultural continuity. Drawing on ethnographic insights, the session situates Jaisalmer within comparative discussions on cities negotiating survival amidst conflict and globalization.

010

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

We are looking forward to Shada Bokir's lecture "The Other War: Economic Occupation and Civic Resistance in Hadhramout" in our Cities at War Lectures Series on 📅 03.12.2025 🕓 16:00 CET Join us here: offuniversity.org/current-cour...

This lecture explores how the eastern Yemeni region of Hadhramout has become a frontline of a different kind of war, not through military confrontation, but through resource extraction, infrastructural collapse, and sustained foreign intervention. Deeply entangled in geopolitical competition and economic exploitation, Hadhramout has since 2021 experienced waves of protest fueled by electricity blackouts, inflation, and the collapse of public services. This unrest has unfolded in a region that is among the most resource-rich in Yemen, yet these benefits rarely reach the population.

020

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

This week in our lecture series "Cities at War": Emotional Landscapes of Ukrainian Cities in Times of War by Olena Kononenko and Oleksandra Nenko. 📆 26.11.2025  ⏰16:00 CET -> offuniversity.org/current-cour...

War leaves deep and visible scars on the urban landscape, but it also profoundly transforms how residents emotionally perceive their city. In this lecture, we will explore the concept of the emotional landscape and emotional places in wartime cities, and present the types of emotional places identified in contemporary Kyiv and Kharkiv.

010

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

In our panel "Common Struggles, Unequal Terms." @ygmarshall.bsky.social, Aslı Vatansever and Felicia Kompio discussed the latest developments in US academia and what they mean for precariousness, abuse of power and academic freedom in Germany. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY00...

youtube.com

Common Struggles, Unequal Terms. Towards Fair Working Conditions for All Scholars

YouTube video by Off University

020

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Good news: We have extended the deadline for ten days until November 28th, 2025.

010

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Join us this week for "Justice in Post-War Reconstruction: The Social Sustainability of Neighbourhoods" by Zena Asswad in our Cities at War Lectures Series on 19.11.2025 at 16:00 CET. #universitywithoutborders @urbanstudiesfoundation.org

The lecture highlights the social and emportional dimensions of reconstruction, emphasising that buidling must extend beyond physical infrastrcuture to restore community, identity, and justice. It reflects the tension between sustainability discourses and political agendas and advocates for socially rooted approaches that honour local memory and participation. This hightlights how terms like "modernisation" and "sustainability" can be weaponized to justify displacement and homogenisation, particularly in the case of Aleppo.

020

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Join us this week for "Urban Ruins and Resettlement: Governing Cities in Post-Conflict Ethiopia" by Wudu Muluneh Yimer in our Cities at War Lectures Series on 12.11.2025 at 16:00 CET.

This lecture examines post-conflict urban reconstruction in Ethiopia, focusing on cities in the Amhara region affected by displacement, infrastructural ruination, and contested planning. It explores how residents reclaim space, preserve memory, and secure tenure while local authorities navigate reconstruction under political and economic constraints, highlighting the interplay between everyday life, governance, and urban memory.

000

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

The @neweuropeu.bsky.social and @offuniversity.bsky.social invite applications from colleagues to form a team delivering a 12-week online course titled “History Textbook Workshop”. Deadline: November 16th offuniversity.org/call-for-two... offuniversity.org/call-fo-expe... @universitywithoutborders

010

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Join the third session of our Cities at War Lecture Series: "Teaching 300 Metres Beyond the Border" by Luqman Guldivê this Wednesday at 5 pm CET. You can visit our website offuniversity.org/current-cour... for more information and registration. #universitywithoutborders

Teaching 300 Metres Beyond the Border by Luqman Guldivê - Cities at War Lectures Series - 3

During the 1990s, paramilitary operations systematically eliminated the artisans and emerging middle class in the town of Nisêbin just a few hundred meters north of Qamislo, across the border. The renewed destruction in late 2015 erased urban space, left inhabitants with deeply fragmented memories and a dislocated sense of place. The subsequent reconstruction further severed these connections, erasing the sites of collective memory once embedded in the urban fabric. As an educator at the University of Rojava, Luqman Guldiv narrates the emotional and intellectual challenges of working within sight of a place so violently transformed.

010

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Join the third session of our Cities at War Lecture Series: "Kobanê — Between The Ashes of War and The Dawn of Reconstruction" by Aras Hiso this Wednesday at 4pm CET. You can visit our website offuniversity.org/current-cour... for more information and registration.

Kobanê — Between The Ashes of War and The Dawn of Reconstruction by Aras Hiso - Cities at War Lectures Series - 3, 05.11.2025, 16:00 CET

After the liberation of Kobanê in 2015, the residents of Kobane undertook the task of rebuilding their city despite ongoing warfare and the constraints of a severe embargo. As part of this reconstruction, they made the decision to establish the city’s first university now serving over 1000 students. What motivated the founding of the university? How was the city rebuilt? And how does the ever-present threat of renewed violence continue to shape the reconstruction? Aras Hiso, who experienced this period first as a student and now as a faculty member at the University of Kobanê, offers a first-hand account.

030

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Join the second session of our lecture series "Cities at War" with Anood Ali who will speak on "Architecture as Resistance: The Reconstruction of Gaza's Urban Fabric After The Ongoing Genocide" this Wednesday, 4 pm CET. offuniversity.org/current-cour...

000

Reposted by Off University

Julia Hauser @juliahauser.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Unser offener Brief, in dem wir fordern, Privatdozent*innen in Reformen der Personalstruktur an Universitäten einzubinden, kann noch bis Montag unterzeichnet werden. Bitte unterstützt unser Anliegen! #IchBinHanna #PDprekär #StableJobsBetterScience #AcademicPrecarity

04927

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Aksana Ulanovich and Andrii Kostyriev’s course will uncover the techniques, tactics, and means by which media shape – and are shaped by – democratic and authoritarian contexts through discussion, debate, and collaborative research. offuniversity.org/current-cour... #universitywithoutborders

Media Communication in the 21st Century with Aksana Ulanovich and Adrii Kostyriev, Wednesdays 2pm hosted at the Geschister Scholl Institute fot Political Science at LMU, co-sponsored by New University IN Exile Consortium

000

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

We are proud to present three new online courses starting in mid-October. All our courses are free to join, free of charge and free in content! Sign up today! offuniversity.org/current-cour... #universitywithoutborders @unimarburg.bsky.social @humboldtuni.bsky.social @urbanstudiesfoundation.org

021

Reposted by Off University

Urban Studies Foundation @urbanstudiesfoundation.org · 26/09/2025

🌍 Exciting opportunity! Register for "Cities at War" – Online Lecture Series 🔸 By scholars from war-torn cities 📅 Fully online | Free & open to all 👉 ow.ly/6eiM50X2pZz Organised by #USF, BeirutUrbanLab, DKVD, Rojava Univ, Off Univ, Humboldt Uni Berlin #CitiesAtWar #UrbanStudies #ConflictCities

021

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Join babykilla @iambabykilla.bsky.social in their workshop, “Drag As A Liberating Teaching Methodology”, on Sept. 20, 16:30 (CEST) and explore how performance and play can create inclusive, critical, and joyful learning environments. More info about Off Fest📍https://offuniversity.org/off-fest-2025/

020

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Together with Asli Vatansever, @ygmarshall.bsky.social and Felicia Kompio @gewberlin.bsky.social, we will discuss what MAGA does to academic freedom in the US and what that means for working conditions in Germany for all scholars. Join us on Sept. 20 at 7pm online or @Engelnest in Berlin.

Common Struggles, Unequal terms. Towards Fair working Conditions for all Scholars. Panelists Asli Vatansever, Felicia Kompio, Yannick Giovanni Marshall

International at-risk academics working in German academia and organisations campaigning for better working conditions will critically discuss the latest developments for US academia and what they mean for existing challenges such as precariousness, abuse of power and the state of academic freedom.

131

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

On September 20, Off Fest will open with a workshop led by @dr-ferda-fa.bsky.social on the experience of the Critical Peace Network. For more information, visit our website 📍 offuniversity.org/off-fest-2025/ Don’t forget to register to help us with the planning📝 nc.offuniversity.org/index.php/ap...

010

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Join us on September 20–21, 2025, for our yearly meeting and the 2nd Off Festival. The festival will include workshops, a panel discussion, art performances, film screening and discussion, music, dancing, and shared meals. For more information, visit our website 👉 offuniversity.org/off-fest-2025/

031

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Our newsletter for the Summer 2025 is out. Enjoy reading! mailchi.mp/5a695c4cd605...

mailchi.mp

Summer Newsletter - Yaz Haber Bülteni - Sommernewsletter

000

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Off University is inviting proposals for contributions to our online lecture series "Cities at War". Until 3 August 2025, scholars from war-torn cities who are unable to continue their work due to the conditions of war can apply for a teaching and writing stipend. offuniversity.org/call-cities-...

offuniversity.org

Call for Contibutions

Call for Contributions to the Online Lecture Series “Cities at War” for the 2025-26 Winter Semester

101

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

We are honored to be among the recipients of the @urbanstudiesfoundation.org 2025 Seminar Series Award with out lecture series "Cities at War", together with the Beirut Urban Lab, the Institute of Social Sciences @humboldtuni.bsky.social, the University of Rojava and Diyarbakır Association (DKVD).

021

Reposted by Off University

@petoandrea @petoandrea.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

Discussing self-censorship as a survival strategy and academic performance evalutation as a threat to academic freedom. EPOKA University 📕📙📖📗📘⤵️

021