ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΕΙΣ ΜΕΤΑΠΤΥΧΙΑΚΩΝ

Dear colleagues and students,

We warmly invite applications for the international summer workshop The Ethics of Storytelling, taking place 20–23 July 2026 at the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.

At a moment when storytelling shapes politics, professional practice, digital culture, and everyday life, this workshop addresses the growing importance of ethically addressing storytelling in these various contexts.  Bringing together leading scholars in applied narratology and narrative ethics, the workshop explores how stories persuade, mobilize, include and exclude, stabilize identities, and influence ethical judgment across domains such as healthcare, consultancy, environmental advocacy, education, and social media. 

Participants will engage in an intensive four-day program that combines conceptual reflection with hands-on methodological training, aimed at developing critically informed and socially responsible approaches to storytelling in an age of misinformation, AI-generated narratives, and narrative commodification.

The workshop features four one-day masterclasses led by international experts:

• Prof. Mari Hatavara (Tampere University)

• Dr. Deborah de Muijnck (JLU Giessen)

• Prof. Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar (University of Groningen)

• Prof. Wojciech Małecki (University of Wrocław)

The keynote lecture will be delivered by:

• Prof. Rita Charon, M.D. (Columbia University): The Ethicality of Storytelling: Privacy, Confidentiality, and “Ownership” of Patients’ Stories

We welcome applications from MA and PhD students, early career researchers, established scholars, and professionals interested in ethical narrative practices across disciplines and sectors.

Application deadline: 3 March 2026
Applicants should submit a short bio (approx. 150 words) and a motivation abstract (approx. 250 words) to phdnet@gcsc.uni-giessen.de
Notification of acceptance: April 2026

Participation fees:

• External participants: 250 EUR

• Reduced fee (100 EUR waiver) for members of the GCSC, European PhDnet, ESSCS, and partner universities (Tampere, Giessen, Columbia, Groningen, Wrocław)

Please see the attached PDF for the full Call for Participation. We would be grateful if you could circulate this invitation within your networks.

We look forward to welcoming an international cohort of participants for four days of intensive exchange and collaborative thinking about the ethics of storytelling.

Best regards,

Dr. Deborah Aline de Muijnck | Postdoctoral Researcher

Academic Coordinator Internationalization / European PhDnet “Literary and Cultural Studies”
International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC)

Justus-Liebig-University
Otto-Behaghel-Str. 12
D-35394 Giessen
 
+49 641 99 30021

http://gcsc.uni-giessen.de/

Latest Publications:

• ‘Narrative, Culture, and Identity’. Routledge Companion to Literature and Cognitive Studies, edited by Jan Alber and Ralf Schneider, Routledge, 2025.
• Pandemic Storytelling. Brill, 2025.
• ‘Affective Engagement, Deep Time, and Applied Reading: A Qualitative Study on the Impact of Contemporary Aboriginal Short Stories on Environmental Awareness’. Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory, vol. 11, no. 1, Jul. 2025. 
• ‘Salutogenesis and Young Adult Fiction. Establishing Cognitive and Affective Balance in Contemporary Sick-Lit’. Yearbook of Research in English and American Literature, edited by Magdalena Pfalzgraf et al., vol. 2025, Narr, 2025, pp. 223–44. REAL 39.
• ‘Narratives for Ecological and Sustainable Transition(s): Transdisciplinary Trajectories across Theory and Praxis’. Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory, 11 Special Issue, no. 1, July 2025, p. 223, https://doi.org/DOI:%2520https://doi.org/10.24193/mjcst.2025.19.01.

Coordinator European PhDnet Literary and Cultural Studies | Lecturer English and Anglophone Literature and Cultural Studies | Profile and Publications | NEST Research Network

CfP The Ethics of Storytelling