Baltic University Programme in May and June – Conferences and a PhD Summer School

Below you can find information about upcoming Baltic University Programme events taking place in April and May, with registration opening soon!

Social Innovations for Sustainable Regional Development

This conference, held since 2004, has consistently fostered an environment of intellectual growth and collaboration. Each year, the event brings together scientists, researchers, and practitioners from various countries in the field of regional studies, offering new theoretical insights and applying them practically through relevant case studies. The event takes place on 7-8 May 2026 at Klaipeda University.

This year’s conference is connected to both Klaipeda University (KU) and The Baltic University Programme (BUP), celebrating their 35th anniversaries. Therefore, the BUP National Centre in Lithuania, at KU, will host one of the conference panels that is connected to the BUP theme ‘Sustainable Tourism’.

These are the conference panels:

• Smart, Social and Sustainable Tourism for Regional Competitiveness
• Social Innovations in Management and Economics 
• Education and Creation of Innovation in Childhood 
• Changes of Social Qualities and Spatial Inequalities in Sustainable Regional Development 
• Public Administration in the Age of Uncertainties 
• Public Health and Interdisciplinary Research

The conference will also feature a roundtable discussion, open to all participants, entitled ‘Sustainability of European University Alliances: From Ambition to Long-Term Impact’. This roundtable will bring together senior leaders and key architects of European University Alliances to share first-hand experience, strategic reflections, and forward-looking visions on alliance sustainability.

Those colleagues who wish to attend can choose to do so with an oral presentation, a paper and/or a poster. All participation for this conference is on-site. The conference fee is 30 EUR, which includes access to all sessions, keynote speeches, round-table discussions, networking events, coffee breaks, dinner, and a cultural excursion.

The registration deadline for the conference is 1 April 2026. 

All information about the event is available on the conference event page on the KU website.

Kaunas University of Technology shares a call for registrations to the

International PhD Summer School

This event provides the opportunity for intellectually curious doctoral students to explore new knowledge, to expand cultural awareness and to exchange experiences. 

The summer school will be held on 1-5 June 2026. It focuses on the development of key competences required for achieving the best results in the successful defense of the doctoral dissertation and identifying further research directions.

The event:

• equips participants with essential skills that are necessary in all fields of science;
• provides participants valuable networking opportunity with participants from other countries;
• creates and shares a friendly social environment;
• awards participants with a certificate of attendance.

The registration deadline is 27 May 2026.

Read more about the summer school on the Kaunas University of Technology website.

Wisdom Days: Science for Sustainability Transformations

The conference invites together multi-, trans-, and interdisciplinary scholarship that seeks to create knowledge, understanding, or solutions related to sustainability transformations. The event will take place on 6-8 May 2026.

The multidisciplinary conference will foster scientific discussions on topics related to sustainability transformations and planetary well-being. International keynote speakers will share insights, and participants will have plenty of opportunities to share their own. Facilitating new connections and co-creating knowledge in a respectful environment are at the heart of the event.

The main theme is sustainability transformations, with the following sub-themes:

• Transformations (Understanding and advancing sustainability transitions).
• Production/consumption systems and the economy
• Diversity in world and worldviews (Biodiversity and multispecies relations).
• Sustainable and planetary well-being.
• Action, arts, and agency (Co-creating sustainability).
• Nature Positive Universities.

The registration deadline is 20 March 2026. 

Read more about the conference on the University of Jyväskylä website.