Security or Justice? Leuphana Conference Week 2025 with Julian Nida-Rümelin
2025-02-25 In the face of international conflicts and growing fears of loss, Western societies are rethinking their relationship to security and justice. In this situation, the Leuphana University of Lüneburg invites students and interested parties from the region to the 2025 conference week from 26 to 28 February. Julian Nida-Rümelin will open this year's event. To kick off, he will shed light on the tension between security and justice. The renowned philosopher and former Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media is one of the most influential intellectuals in the country. On Wednesday afternoon, he will also discuss his proposal for how a humane migration policy can succeed in times of authoritarian temptations.
For around 1,400 students, the conference week marks the end of their first semester at Leuphana. With notable guests, they discuss the question of how open societies balance the need for stability and freedom without jeopardising emancipatory achievements. Transformation researcher Maja Göpel, for example, assesses the prospects for tomorrow's politics after the German parliamentary elections. She has been invited by CDU thought leader Diana Kinnert, taz journalist Ulrike Herrmann and Katja Kipping, managing director of the Paritätischer Gesamtverband and long-standing chairwoman of DIE LINKE. Author Dinçer Güçyeter will read from his book ‘Unser Deutschlandmärchen’ (Our German Fairy Tale). Iran expert Diba Mirzaei, violence researcher Hanna Pfeifer and political analyst Barbara Mittelhammer will discuss feminist foreign policy and peace processes in the Middle East.
‘With the question ‘Security or Justice?’ the 2025 conference week aims to enrich the public debate,’ says conference director Sven Prien-Ribcke, ’we are interested in what security democracies depend on and how it is compatible with the promise of justice.’
NDR director Joachim Knuth will also be considering how public service media can deal with disinformation. The security situation in Eastern Europe will be explored by SPIEGEL journalist Anastasia Trenkler, writer Artur Weigandt and German-Belarusian activist Katja Rumiantseva, with a view to Russia's war of aggression. Filmmaker Reinhard Kahl meets Stefan Ruppaner, the ‘most courageous’ headmaster in Germany, to explore the teaching practice at the Alemannenschule in Wutöschingen under the title ‘Unterricht ist aller Übel Anfang’ (Teaching is the Beginning of All Evils).
Leuphana College welcomes visitors.
Prospective students who would like to get a taste of studying at Leuphana are also very welcome. On Thursday from 11:00 to 14:00, the student advisory service will also be on site.
An overview of the numerous programme items can be found here: www.leuphana.de/konferenzwoche
Registration is kindly requested: https://www.leuphana.de/college/studienstart/konferenzwoche/anmeldung
NOTE TO EDITORS
We warmly invite you to the conference week starting on 26 February 2025 at the main campus of Leuphana, Universitätsallee 1, 21335 Lüneburg. You can find an overview of the programme highlights here.
Highlights of the conference programme
// Wednesday, 26 February 2025, 3:30 – 4:45 p.m.:
How can humane migration policy succeed in times of authoritarian temptation?
With the philosopher Julian Nida-Rümelin. Host: Sven Prien-Ribcke.
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// Wednesday, 26 February 2025, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.:
Our German Fairy Tale: Reading
With Dinçer Güçyeter
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// Wednesday, 26 February 2025, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.:
‘Teaching is the Beginning of All Evils’
With former headmaster Stefan Ruppaner and filmmaker Reinhard Kahl
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// Thursday, 27 February 2025, 1:00 – 2:30 pm:
Feminist Foreign Policy - Peace Processes in the Middle East
With Diba Mirzaei, Hanna Pfeifer & Barbara Mittelhammer
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Thursday, 27 February 2025, 1:00 – 3:00 pm:
How do we inform ourselves? Democracy and public broadcasting in times of disinformation
With NDR director Joachim Knuth
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Friday, 28 February 2025, 11:45 am – approx. 12:45 pm:
The end of the world. News from the Antarctic
With DIE ZEIT journalist Jean-Uwe Heuser, climate activist Lilith van Amerongen & transformation researcher Maja Göpel
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// Friday, 28 February 2025, 1:00 – 2:30 pm:
After the election: prospects for security and justice
With Katja Kipping, managing director of the Paritätischer Gesamtverband and long-standing chairwoman of DIE LINKE, CDU thought leader Diana Kinnert and taz journalist Ulrike Herrmann. Host: Maja Göpel.
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Background: the conference week and the Leuphana semester
During the conference week, students present the projects they worked on during the first semester. In more than 40 different project seminars, the young academics developed more than 150 programme items together with their teachers. The spectrum ranges from panel discussions and workshops to individual presentations. Renowned guests from the fields of politics, society, business and science engage in dialogue with the students and provide insights into their work.
The conference week marks the end of the Leuphana semester. It follows a special interdisciplinary concept in Germany. The three modules SCIENCE TRANSFORMED: RESPONSIBLE ACTION, SCIENCE PRODUCED: METHODICAL KNOWLEDGE, SCIENCE PROBLEMATISED: CRITICAL THINKING provide students with a cross-disciplinary introduction to science. They gain insights into other subject areas, engage with different perspectives and thus learn the basics of scientific work. The focus of the conference week is on questions of ‘sustainable development’.