Processes of globalisation affect many different aspects of our lives. The Leibniz ScienceCampus “Eastern Europe – Global Area (EEGA)” focuses on Eastern Europe’s diverse, tension-filled, and sometimes paradoxical exposition to globalisation projects “from within” and “from outside”.

Together with partners from the region, the EEGA explores processes such as migration and mobility, economic networks and political integration, as well as intercultural perspectives and identities. At the heart of this research is the question as to how Eastern European societies are positioning themselves in and towards global processes and conflicts. Of particular interest here are the dynamics of global integration and the perspectives of those stakeholders championing these developments.

The aim of the EEGA is to break down regionally compartmentalised approaches and to promote an informed understanding of this world region in its diverse traditions and positions, developments and dynamics. EEGA is committed to disseminate this paradigm not only amongst a new generation of international researchers, but also within the German media and wider public discourse. It does so by supporting postdocs, contributing to PhD-training, developing an emphasis in a Master’s degree course on Eastern Europe in a global perspective and seeking targeted dialogue with journalists.

In the second funding period of the EEGA Campus, a newly established research area is concerned with populist movements and regimes. Here, the researchers expect synergy effects with the newly founded Social Cohesion Research Centre, a research association of eleven institutions in ten German states, which was founded in 2019. At the Leipzig location, an interdisciplinary research group is dealing with the manifold manifestations of populism from the 19th century to the present.

Currently, nine institutions are cooperating in the EEGA Campus:

• University of Leipzig
• University of Halle-Wittenberg
• Jena University
• Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL), Leipzig
• Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), Halle (Saale)
• Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO), Leipzig
• Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture - Simon Dubnow (DI), Leipzig
• Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy (IMW), Leipzig
• Max Planck Institute for Social Anthroplogy, Halle (Saale)