News

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”.

Staff and students of the University of Tartu can take part in Tartu Maraton events with a 30% discount. This gives university members an affordable opportunity to represent the University of Tartu at sporting events together with colleagues and fellow students.

Edited by Uku Tooming, the new issue of Studia Philosophica Estonica brings together philosophers working on imagination and value cognition, exploring how imagination shapes our evaluative judgments and how, in turn, our values shape what and how we imagine.

On 17 September at 18, the Opera Studio of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre presents Alessandro Scarlatti’s opera L’honestà negli amori (“Honesty in Love Affairs”, 1680), reconstructed by Estonian composer Eduard Tubin, at the University of Tartu’s assembly hall. This is the first time the opera will be performed in Estonia.

UT staff and students are invited to nominate candidates who deserve to be awarded the university’s honorary decoration for their outstanding achievements. Nominations can be submitted until 20 September.

You can now watch TEDx University of Tartu talks on TEDx YouTube channel.

On 19 June, the senate approved the objectives and principles for using artificial intelligence (AI), establishing a comprehensive framework for applying AI in teaching, research and support services at the university. The document defines the role of AI at the university, the objectives pursued through its use, and the principles that university members should observe when using AI.