ValEUs Lecture Series (21): Europe and the Mediterranean Challenge

With the workshop just around the corner, ValEUs invites participants to jump into the upcoming special edition of the ValEUs Lecture Series, Europe and the Mediterranean Challenge, to be held at the University of Florence on May 15, 2026.

This workshop brings together scholars from across Europe the United States, and Turkey to explore the conceptual, artistic, political, transcultural, and (inter)disciplinary challenges the Mediterranean poses to Europe and the European Union.

The event is part of an ongoing ValEUs research collaboration and is co-organized by Sadia Abbas (Rutgers University) and Laura Leonardi (University of Florence).

The workshop will feature keynote speeches and thematic sessions addressing questions of coloniality, migration, climate change, humanitarianism, cosmopolitanism, mobility, and cultural circulation across the Mediterranean region.

The detailed workshop programme is available on the event poster and in the overview below. We invite you to join the livestream at any time.

Date & time: 15/05/2026 | 9:30 AM – 6:15 PM (CET)

Venue: University of Florence, Social Sciences Campus, Building D15, Room 05

Live stream: via Google Meet

Participants include:

Sadia Abbas (Rutgers University)
Marta Cariello (Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”)
Iain Chambers (Università di Napoli L’Orientale)
Belinda Davis (Rutgers University)
Beatrice Falcucci (Università di Firenze)
Ayhan Kaya (Istanbul Bilgi University)
Laura Leonardi (Università di Firenze)
Khaled Mattawa (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Paolo Novak (SOAS University of London)
Silvia Salvatici (Università di Firenze)

10:00–12:00: Keynotes

12:15–1:30 Epistemic Challenges

3:10–4:30 Structures & Histories

4:45–6:15 Cosmopolitan Entanglements

10:00–12:00: Keynotes

12:15–1:30 Epistemic Challenges

3:10–4:30 Structures & Histories

4:45–6:15 Cosmopolitan Entanglements

ValEUs Lecture Series

The ValEUs Project organises a lecture series exploring the contestation of European values in EU foreign policy and its wider implications from a broad perspective. Aimed at scholars, students, civil society actors, and policymakers, this series fosters research exchange and deepens our understanding of contemporary issues and challenges directly impacting and involving the EU. Hosted by partner universities within our consortium, the series invites contributions from diverse voices to enrich the debate.

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 (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.