News

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On Thursday, 29 October, the University of Tartu will conduct a crisis exercise simulating a cyber incident affecting the normal work, study and communication arrangements of the university’s staff and students. As part of the exercise, there will be interruptions to MS Teams and Outlook services during the working day.

In October, a step challenge takes place at the University of Tartu. We invite members of the university community to be more active, log their steps using the StepUp app, and take part in a friendly competition. The six most active participants will receive prize packages, and additional prizes will be drawn among everyone who records at least 200,000 steps during the month.

There can never be too much dancing and laughter. We look forward to celebrating the 107th anniversary of the beginning of Estonian-language higher education on 1 December 2026!

Hamza Naseer, a doctoral student and junior researcher in philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics, won third place in the English-language round of the University of Tartu Three-Minute Thesis Competition. His presentation, “Seeing the Unseen”, explored the role of memory in perception and cognition.

21. oktoobril toimus doktorantide kolme minuti loengute konkurss.

The new double issue of Sign Systems Studies (Vol. 54, Nos. 1–2) was recently published. The special issue “Learning in Transformation” was guest edited by Maarja Ojamaa and Tiit Remm.

A health sciences student from Germany explores personal identity at UniTartu Summer School, discovering philosophy, Estonian culture and new friendships beyond her usual field of study.

The journal De Ethica has published a Call for Papers for a 2027 special issue, “Crisis & Recovery: Ethics in Interdisciplinary Dialogue”, guest edited by Thomas-Andreas Põder and Johann-Christian Põder.

On 2 October, as part of its 25th anniversary celebrations, the Centre for Ethics of the University of Tartu invites everyone interested to the public international conference “Ethics in a Changing World: New Directions in Ethics, Education and the Age of Artificial Intelligence”.

A working group at the University of Tartu Centre for Ethics, has completed an independent analysis, commissioned by the AI Leap Foundation, of the risks associated with the AI Leap educational programme and its AI-based learning application. The analysis describes the risks involved in using AI in education and assesses how AI Leap, the state, schools, research institutions and technology providers can mitigate them.

On 5 October at 14:15 Eleni Alexandri will defend her doctoral thesis “The Phenomenon of K-Pop: A Place of Reality and Fiction” for obtaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Semiotics and Culture Studies).

From the beginning of this academic year, free menstrual pad dispensers have been installed in the university study buildings to ensure that hygiene products are always available when needed. A total of 39 dispensers have been placed in the buildings.

What does literature know, and how does it know it?

A recently completed study on conspiracy theories, the most extensive one ever conducted in Europe, found that narratives circulating across national borders adapt to local history, cultural memory and social tensions. A book presenting the study’s findings has now been published, co-edited by Mari-Liis Madisson, Associate Professor of Semiotics at the University of Tartu.

On 1–2 October 2026, the Centre for Ethics of the University of Tartu will celebrate its 25th anniversary. This quarter-century milestone provides an opportunity to bring together the Centre’s friends, partners, and experts from Estonia and abroad to reflect on the questions and issues shaping the role of ethics today and in the future.

From 20 to 23 August 2026, the University of Tartu hosted the 62nd Annual Conference of Societas Ethica, the European Society for Research in Ethics, under the title “Crisis & Recovery – Ethics in Interdisciplinary Dialogue”.