Second RegPol2 School in Leipzig, Germany

Organized by the RegPol2 consortium, another doctoral school took place from October, 26 to October, 30 2015 in Leipzig. The school focused on topics linked to peripheralization, which were discussed as a basic for scientific research in general and the dissertation projects of the international project participants in particular. In the course of the meeting, different lectures, discussions and workshops were held, in which all participants had the opportunity to listen to research presentations. Similarly, the 13 PhD students and 3 Postdocs had the opportunity to introduce their research on polarization and peripheralization in post-socialist countries, focusing on their theoretical approach and the first results of their exploratory field work. The Early Stage Researchers participating in the project could also take part in rhetorical training and within participatory formats such as the “World Café” discuss the current topics and challenges of their research with their colleagues. As a result of the project, several articles have been published, which introduced different aspects of regional development in terms of center-periphery relations – not only from theoretical perspective but also from the analysis of peripheralization processes in different countries. On order to gain local knowledge on countryside development, at the last day of the meeting an excursion took place to the “Eastelbia” region in the northeast of Saxony. There, not only practices of rural life, but also the concrete results of the LEADER program in the region were introduced and discussed.