Topic: international

On 1 October 2025 at 10:15, the Department of Semiotics of the University of Tartu, Jakobi 2, room 306, will host a public lecture by Senior Lecturer and ecosemiotician Xany Jansen van Vuuren from South Africa. Jansen van Vuuren will discuss how animal welfare work functions as interspecies translation. Special attention will be given to equine-based welfare work in South Africa.

University of Tartu semioticians Andreas Ventsel and Mari-Liis Madisson, along with Junior Research Fellow in Information Resilience Diana Poudel, have developed tools for enhancing critical digital literacy in cooperation with international partners. The practical materials are designed for use in higher education, schools, companies and organisations to support navigating the digital landscape and countering the spread of disinformation.

This year the Paulson Lectures in the Study of Religion will be held by Kevin Schilbrack. He is an internationally renown scholar of methodological and theoretical issues in study of religion.

In connection with an upcoming exhibition on Voltaire at the University of Tartu’s Museum of Art, and in collaboration with the Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford, international conference "Voltaire in the Baltic World: Circulations, Receptions, Legacies" will be held on 5-6 March 2026 at the University of Tartu, Estonia. The conference is held in partnership with the Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford.

On 25–26 September 2025, the University of Tartu will host international scholars of ancient philosophy. This year’s Tartu Workshop in Ancient Philosophy focuses on ancient philosophers’ views on women, but other topics will be discussed as well. The workshop is organised by Riin Sirkel, Associate Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Tartu.

Prof Kay O’Halloran (University of Liverpool, UK), one of the world’s leading experts in multimodal analysis, will lead a two-day seminar on August 7–8 at the Department of Semiotics. The seminar is open to all interested participants, and no prior knowledge of semiotics is required.

The conference “Law’s Many Users: Legal Interpretation Within and Beyond Legal Institutions” will take place on 12–14 November 2025 at the University of Tartu. It will focus on how professionals in various roles interpret legal norms within the constraints and affordances of their organisational contexts.

Undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students from universities in the Baltic countries, including the University of Tartu, are invited to an international student conference ”Bridges in the Baltics“, held at the University of Latvia in Riga from 9 to 10 October 2025. Conference abstracts can be sent until 30 June 2025.

The University of Tartu invites international students interested in English-taught curricula to submit their applications in DreamApply.

On 1–2 April 2025, the Philosophy Graduate Workshop in Tartu will be hosted by the Department of Philosophy and the Centre for Ethics at the University of Tartu. The event will bring together experienced philosophers from across Europe.