Cultures of Refuge: International Symposium on Climate, Flight, and Refuge at TU Dortmund University

Academy in Exile will be hosting the international symposium Cultures of Refuge: Climate, Flight, Refuge, supported by TU Dortmund University, the Mellon Foundation, VolkswagenStiftung, and UA Ruhr North America. The symposium will take place from Thursday, 15 October 2026 (2–8pm) to Friday, 16 October 2026 (9–6pm) at the International Meeting Center (IBZ), Emil-Figge-Str. 59, 44227 Dortmund, Germany.
Recognizing that the very concept of ‘refuge’ is undergoing a fundamental change, the symposium will investigate modern sanctuary frameworks and the implications of their transformation. By examining refuge in various contexts and from multidisciplinary perspectives, it will ask to what extent ethical and political obligations to provide refuge still hold in an environmentally degraded and increasingly conflictual, authoritarian world.