Pieces of Resilience: Co-Creating Capacity, Security, and Transformation

IFZO Round 2026 – Two-Day Interdisciplinary Workshop
📍 Greifswald, Germany | 26–27 March 2026
The Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Environmental, Social and Legal Studies (IFZO) invites paper proposals for the IFZO Round 2026, an international, interdisciplinary workshop dedicated to advancing cutting-edge research on resilience at the intersection of environment, climate, security, and governance.
Across the Baltic Sea Region and beyond, resilience has become a lived reality shaped by geopolitical tensions, accelerating climate impacts, ecological degradation, and profound governance challenges. This workshop seeks to move beyond sectoral approaches by exploring resilience as a composite and co-produced process, built from multiple, interconnected “pieces” that only gain strength when viewed together.

Aim of the Workshop
Pieces of Resilience aims to create a high-level forum for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to:

• rethink how resilience is conceptualised, operationalised, and
  governed under conditions of crisis and uncertainty;
• compare regional experiences across Europe, the transatlantic space,
  and the Global South;
• co-create analytical and methodological frameworks that can travel
  across regions, disciplines, and policy domains.

Thematic Scope
We welcome theoretical, empirical, comparative, and methodological contributions addressing (but not limited to) the following themes:

• Environmental, climate, and sustainability governance under crisis conditions
• Soil systems, peatlands, forests, seabeds, and ecological restoration as
  foundations of resilience
• Coastal and marine resilience in the Baltic Sea and comparative regions
• Climate–security–environment nexuses, including defence and strategic planning
• Energy transitions, critical infrastructure, ports, and energy routes
• Legal frameworks for resilience, recovery, and adaptation under deep uncertainty
• Post-conflict and war-related ecological destruction and recovery
• Indigenous, community-based, and place-based knowledge in resilience governance
• Transdisciplinary and co-production methodologies for resilience
  research

Contributions that bridge regions and connect science, law, and policy are
particularly encouraged.

Format & Participation
The workshop is designed as an interactive, discussion-oriented event rather than a traditional conference. The first day of the workshop will be held in hybrid mode, enabling participation both in person and online.
Sessions will prioritise:

• in-depth discussion of pre-circulated papers or extended abstracts;
• cross-disciplinary dialogue;
• collective reflection on policy relevance and methodological innovation.

The workshop brings together participants from:

• academia (environmental sciences, law, geography, governance, security studies, anthropology);
• policy institutions (EU bodies, national and regional ministries, environmental and climate-security agencies);
• regional practitioners and international research networks.

Submission Guidelines
Interested participants are invited to submit:

• An abstract (300–500 words) outlining the research question, approach,
  and relevance to the workshop theme;
• A short biographical note (max. 100 words) including institutional affiliation and career stage.

Submissions should clearly indicate how the proposed contribution engages
with resilience as a multi-layered, transregional, and transdisciplinary concept.
Please submit abstracts by email to michael.kalis@uni-greifswald.de by 26 February 2026.
Further details on practical arrangements will be circulated via IFZO channels.

Key Dates

• Call for Papers opens: January 2026
• Abstract submission deadline: 26 February 2026
• Notification of acceptance: 1 March 2026
• Workshop dates: 26–27 March 2026

Outputs
Selected contributions may be considered for:

• an edited academic volume or special journal issue (with Open-Access option). The organisers are currently in contact with publishers.
• policy-oriented outputs (policy briefs, synthesis papers), depending on participant interest and funding opportunities.

Contact
For informal enquiries, please contact the workshop organisers:
Dr. Michael Kalis michael.kalis@uni-greifswald.de