INFRAGLOB team member Eric Cezne (PhD Candidate, University of Groningen) was awarded a grant by the European International Studies Association (EISA) to lead an early career researchers workshop on the role of infrastructures in global politics. Organized in cooperation with Julie Marie Hansen from the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), the workshop ‘Exploring IR through Infrastructures: materiality as global politics’ took place in Prague, Czech Republic, on September 11, 2018, during the EISA’s Pan-European Conference.
The purpose of the workshop was to create a platform for effective exchange of knowledge and experiences among junior scholars. By taking the role of rising powers in infrastructure development, the geopolitics of energy infrastructures, and ICT infrastructures as heuristic points of departure, the workshop was aimed at critically inquiring about the ways in which the material is woven into global politics. Participants explored research synergies through paper presentations, discussions, and roundtables; sought to establish a network of junior scholars working on this topic; and gauged common interest in planning a joint-publication output.