Scholars are inited to submit paper proposals, focusing on how russia’s war against Ukraine has reshaped working lives, labor, and forms of agency since 2014, particularly after the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Submission deadline: 20 February 2026
Organized by the French-German Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin, the ZOiS and the KIU Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder) – Berlin, the workshop aims to foster dialogue between scholars working in different national, disciplinary, and methodological traditions, and to connect empirical research on Ukraine with broader debates on war, labor, migration, and democracy in Europe. It prioritizes research based on fieldwork (interviews, observations, ethnography), whether qualitative or mixed (including quantitative data). Its overarching objective is to make visible lives, places, and biographies, highlighting how labor, migration, gender, and violence intersect in individual strategies, forms of adaptation, and everyday resistance to war-induced constraints.
Proposals may focus on, but are not limited to, the following topics:
Economic Geography under Fire
How has the war transformed Ukraine’s economic geography, including the relocation of activities from occupied or threatened areas, the emergence of rear-area economies, and the persistence or reinforcement of metropolitan labor markets?
Agricultural Work in a War Zone
How has the inaccessibility and dangerousness of farmland (occupation, mining, front-line proximity) reshaped agricultural labor, seasonal work, and rural livelihoods?
War Injuries, Disability, War-related vulnerabilities: What are the actual employment conditions and future prospects for war veterans with physical and psychological disabilities? For internal displaced workers? How mobilization and migration related to the war have renewed internal demand for paid care work related to the elderly? For work on reconstruction sites?
War-related Migration and Labor Markets
How does pre-war labor migration interact with war-induced migration under EU temporary protection? How do internal labor mobility and forced internal displacement compete or overlap?
How have war and geopolitics reshaped labor migration trajectories previously oriented toward the russian Federation? What professional and geographic reconfigurations have emerged since 2014 and even more since 2022?
Labor Shortages and Recruitment Strategies
How do local actors respond to labor shortages caused by mobilization and emigration? What are the prospects for non-European foreign labor in sectors under pressure (construction, logistics, agriculture, etc.)?
Organised by Centre Marc Bloch (Berlin), ZOiS – Centre for East European and International Studies, KIU – Competence Network Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies Frankfurt (Oder)–Berlin.