Workshops, Conferences & Guest Lectures

14-30 May 2025 | ‘HeART of Gaza’ children’s art exhibition @ the HI

Dates: Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th May
Monday 19th - Wednesday 21st May
Monday 26th, Tuesday 27th, Thursday 29th, and Friday 30th May
Time: 9am-5pm
Venue: Humanities Institute (H204 / top floor) 

The UCD Humanities Institute (HI) cordially invites you to the ‘HeART of Gaza’ children’s art exhibition in the HI Seminar Room H204/top floor, from 14-30 May 2025.

‘HeART of Gaza,’ an exhibition of children's art, features about 50 artworks created by children in Gaza, co-curated by Féile Butler (a conservation architect based in the west of Ireland) and Mohamed Timraz (owner of Café Grey based in Gaza).

Co-curator Féile Butler writes: ‘HeART of Gaza’ is an exhibition of art made by young Palestinians, aged 3 to 17, giving a platform to the most voiceless and the most vulnerable. The children ask us to bear witness to their terror, their weariness and loss, but also to their resilience and determination as they cling on to childhood, celebrating friendship and family, hobbies and pets, and birthday cake. An intimate invitation into their inner world, their art reminds us that every child is not a number but a whole universe. 

Attendance is free and open to the public, but please note building access is limited to the dates above.

• Download event poster here

The exhibition is part of the HI’s wider project, ‘From Modern Crisis to Permacrisis and Polycrisis’

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22-24 May 2025 | ‘From Modern Crisis to Permacrisis & Polycrisis: Epistemological Perspectives & Interventions’ Symposium

Dates: 22nd-24th May 2025
Times: DAY 1 2-5:30pm | DAY 2 9am-6:30pm | DAY 3 9:45am-2pm
Venues: DAY 1 MoLI | DAYS 2 & 3 HI Seminar Room (H204 / top floor)

• Attendance on any or all three days of the symposium is free but registration is required; please register using the Eventbrite links below

The UCD Humanities Institute (HI) is delighted to announce our first major event as part of the ‘From Modern Crisis to Permacrisis and Polycrisis: Epistemological Perspectives and Interventions’ project. This interdisciplinary symposium analyzes the profound shift from the modern idea of crises as an exceptional state requiring urgent crisis management towards permacrises and polycrises as the ontological condition of a world at risk in the 21st century.

The three-day symposium will be hosted by the HI from 22-24 May. The first day will take place on Thursday 22nd May at the Museum of Literature, Ireland starting at 2pm. On the second day, Friday 23rd May, the symposium moves to the HI where we are formally launching the ‘HeART of Gaza,’ an exhibition of children’s art co-curated by Féile Butler (an independent architect based in Ireland) and Mohamed Timraz (owner of Café Grey based in Gaza, Palestine). The final day, Saturday 24th May, will also take place at the HI.

Dates | Venues | Times | Eventbrite registration links

• DAY 1 | 22 May 2025 | Museum of Literature Ireland | 2-5:30pm
  (opens in a new window)Eventbrite link DAY 1

• DAY 2 | 23 May 2025 | UCD Humanities Institute | 9am-6:30pm
  (opens in a new window)Eventbrite link DAY 2

• DAY 3 | 24 May 2025 | UCD Humanities Institute | 9:45am-2pm
  (opens in a new window)Eventbrite link DAY 3

Led by the UCD Humanities Institute, the project involves a wide network of national and international partnerships, including the (opens in a new window)Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI), the (opens in a new window)Centre of Excellence in Intercultural Studies (Tallinn University, Estonia), the (opens in a new window)Arsenal Municipal Gallery and (opens in a new window)Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznań, Poland), (opens in a new window)Paris Lodron University, Salzburg (Austria), the (opens in a new window)University of Stavanger (Norway), and the Irish NGO (opens in a new window)Fighting Words, among others.

Thank you to our funders.We are grateful to the UCD Strategic and Major Initiative Scheme for supporting this symposium.

• Download the Book of Abstracts & Bios HERE
• Download the symposium programme HERE
• Download the symposium poster HERE

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28 May 2025 | ‘The Future of Cultural Memory: A Dialogue in Times of Disruption’ Roundtable

Date: Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Time: 4.30pm
Venue: Humanities Institute (H204 / top floor) 

• PLEASE NOTE: Registration is free but essential | Spaces allocated on first come/first served basis | Please register on Eventbrite (opens in a new window)HERE
• The roundtable will be followed by a wine reception | 6-6.30pm

The UCD Humanities Institute is delighted to host a roundtable discussion with two world-renowned public intellectuals: Aleida Assmann (Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c., Emerita Professor of English Literature, | University of Konstanz) and Susan Neiman (Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c., Director, Einstein Forum | Berlin) have made significant public interventions in the ongoing debate on democracy and its institutions, misinformation, anti-Semitism, the war in Gaza, the rise of the far right and the need for a cultural memory that is responsive to global polycrises.

The evidence that we are living in a world of seismic disruption is overwhelming: the unravelling of postwar liberal order and of the transatlantic alliance; the unprecedented decision by the new US government to vote with Russia against a Ukrainian and European backed UN Resolution condemning Russia's war against Ukraine; Trump’s threats to take control of the Panama Canal, Greenland, Gaza and Canada; the unleashing of trade wars; the global erosion of democracy; the rise of the far right in Germany, Europe and globally; the crisis of trust in democratic institutions; malign disinformation campaigns by hostile actors – these are just some examples of cascading and connected crises that threaten the postwar liberal order. In this tumultuous context championing a critical cultural memory based on diversity, equality and inclusion is ever more important. We will discuss the need for critical cultural memory in response to revisionist agendas, while also exploring new approaches that reflect the diverse make-up of contemporary societies.  

Aleida Assmann is emerita Professor of English Literature at the University of Konstanz.  Her research on cultural memory, its forms and functions has been path-breaking, as manifest in her global recognition. Related areas of her research are: the history of media, the history and theory of reading. In 2014, she received the Heineken Prize for History by the (opens in a new window)Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017, she was awarded the (opens in a new window)Balzan Prize for Collective Memory together with her late husband, the Egyptologist Jan Assmann. In 2018, Aleida and Jan were awarded the prestigious (opens in a new window)Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels, honouring their work for "sustainable peace". Since 2020, Assmann has been a member of the order (opens in a new window)Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts. In 2021 she was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. Her work has been translated into many languages. Publications in English include: Memory in a Global Age. Discourses, Practices and Trajectories (ed. with Sebastian Conrad, 2010), Cultural Memory and Western Civilization: Functions, Media, Archives (2012), Shadows of Trauma. Memory and the Politics of Postwar Identity (2016). Is the Time Out of Joint? On the Rise and Fall of the Modern Time Regime (2020).

Susan Neiman is a US American philosopher, cultural commentator, essayist and public intellectual.  She has written extensively on the juncture between moral philosophy, metaphysics, and politics, both for scholarly audiences and the general public. She currently lives in Germany, where she is the Director of the Einstein Forum. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Neiman studied philosophy at Harvard, completing her Ph.D. under John Rawls and Stanley Cavell.  She also studied at the Freie Universität Berlin, and was professor of philosophy at Yale and Tel Aviv University. Her books, translated into many languages, include Slow Fire: Jewish Notes from Berlin (1992, new ed. 2010); The Unity of Reason: Rereading Kant (1994), Evil in Modern Thought (2002); Fremde sehen anders (2005); Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-up Idealists (2008); Why Grow Up? (2016); Widerstand der Vernunft. Ein Manifest in postfaktischen Zeiten (2017); Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil (2019); and Left is not Woke (2024).  She has also published over one hundred essays in many newspapers, magazines and journals. She is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

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Date: Thursday, 2 October 2025
Time: 2.30-4pm
Venue: Humanities Institute (H204 / top floor)

In a time of noise and multi-tasking activities, it has become particularly difficult to sit down with a book and focus on our reading. This might be a problem, considering that reading is such a fundamental part of our career as graduate students, early-career academics, and academics. For this reason, every two months, on a Thursday from 2.30 to 4 pm, the UCD Humanities Institute offers a safe and quiet space to read together… in silence! The aim is to share our love for reading and for our research without feeling the pressure to talk about it. There is only one rule: bring your book or e-book along (it doesn’t matter which one) and enjoy with your fellow readers!