19th Slovenian Social Science Conference ‘Dialogues on Social Transformations in a Divided and Diverging World’
Monday 8 – Tuesday 9 June 2026, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Registration closes 10 May 2026
Managing social transformations towards a more socially and environmentally sustainable future has become even more challenging in a world increasingly characterised by:
- social and political fragmentation and polarisation with people divided not only in terms of values and attitudes but also in terms of basic perception of what is true and what is false,
- divergence between the goals of social and environmental sustainability and their increasingly systematic undermining by several major centres of power and wealth, contributing to further environmental degradation, extreme social inequalities and various aspects of social exclusion,
- rapid digitalisation with the major emphasis on artificial intelligence that can provide unprecedented prosperity but also unprecedented social risks,
- a clear trend of autocratisation, decline in political transparency and human rights,
- further shift away from a rules-based global order to might makes right principles, where using force is becoming increasingly normalised.
There is a major lack of leadership in tackling these issues. Instead of unrealistically searching for any single national or global authority to impose proper solutions, a well-informed and broadly inclusive dialogues are required – involving civil society, political decision makers, business leaders – with the potential of social sciences to provide major inputs to such dialogues in terms of reliable expertise based on rigorous research methods.
In this context, the conference will include the keynote speech on Crisis of Liberalism: Toward Dialogical Liberal Project by:
Professor Sari Hanafi,
From American University of Beirut and
former President of the International Sociological Association (2018-2023).
Organising institutions:
- Slovenian National Committee of the UNESCO Management of Social Transformations Programme (MOST)
- Faculty of Information Studies in Novo Mesto.
- Slovenian Social Science Association, member of the International Sociological Association
Important Deadlines:
- Deadline for submitting paper proposals (max. 400 words) – March 31, 2026
- Notification of paper acceptance – April 15, 2026
- Deadline for registration – May 10, 2026
Conference Fees: The participation is free.
Find more information and book your free place here: https://www.fis.unm.si/19th-slovenian-social-science-conference/?lang=en