The Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (CAS), in partnership with the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), is pleased to announce this year’s Summer Institute for the Study of East Central and Southeastern Europe (SISECSE). CAS and ACLS will convene leading scholars from Eastern Europe and North America for a two-week residency in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria from 3 to 19 June 2026.

In addition to conducting their own research, scholars will have the opportunity to participate in a series of immersive discussions on a broad topic of shared academic interest.

In 2026, the institute’s discussions will explore “Autonomy, Institutions, and Transnational Networks.” Social institutions such as the church, the state, the military, the press, and the academy have had varying degrees of tolerance for the free exploration of new ideas and for societal change, depending on time, place, and culture. Participants in the institute will consider a broad set of related questions: how has creative and intellectual freedom been constrained or tolerated in different East, Central, and Southeastern European contexts and why? In view of the sudden and dramatic shifts in the United States government’s stance on institutional autonomy, what globally significant lessons can be learned from South, East Central, and Southeastern Europe? Recent political changes in the US have prompted reevaluation of the degree of creative and intellectual freedom afforded by different regimes. Taking the shift in the US into account, what can we learn from past efforts to maintain strong transnational networks, and about the role of these transnational networks in supporting intellectual and creative activity?

This program is made possible thanks to a generous donation by Carl and Betty Pforzheimer.