Facing Deconstruction: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Identity, Transformations, and Agency
PhD symposium of the IDenti-T Network
University of Göttingen, 12–13 November 2026Venue: Platz der Göttinger Sieben 3, Oeconomicum (OEC) 0.211 and Online via Zoom
What happens to political agency when the categories we act through are no longer stable? How do researchers, political/social movements, and institutions navigate the tension between deconstructing identity and making rights claims, building solidarity, or participating in democratic life? These are the central questions of this symposium — and we invited 15 PhD researchers to bring their own work into this conversation.
The Identi-T network PhD symposium, Facing Deconstruction: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Identity, Transformations, and Agency, is to be held at the University of Göttingen on November 12–13, 2026. The symposium brings together early-career researchers whose work engages with questions of identity, transformation, and agency in an interdisciplinary forum for presenting ongoing research, receiving structured feedback, and building connections across institutional and disciplinary boundaries.
The programme combines short research presentations with roundtable discussions, mentoring sessions, and other dialogical formats. A concise framing programme accompanies the research sessions, including an invited talk on academic freedom in times of transformation and a reflective career conversation on the non-linear realities of academic life.
About the IDenti-T network
IDenti-T is an interdisciplinary Thematic Network within ENLIGHT and comprises researchers from the Universities of the Basque Country, Bordeaux, Galway and Göttingen. IDenti-T stands for “Interdisciplinary Dialoge on evolving identities in Times of Democratic Transformations”.
Read more on IDenti-T on our website.
Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.