From 27–29 August 2025, our UNESCO Chair team and the University of Warsaw welcomed scholars from across Central and Eastern Europe to the Second Conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies – CEE Chapter. The event gathered researchers from 14 countries to reflect on “Heritage voices in and of Central and Eastern Europe: situated perspectives and their global implications.”
The program combined academic panels with experiential encounters. Keynote speaker Prof. Ewa Klekot (SWPS University) offered a critical rethinking of Polish folk art, while panels addressed heritage politics, memory, international governance, and ecological futures. Participants also explored Warsaw’s intangible heritage through curated museum visits and a culinary workshop led by chef Jarosław Szpakowski, preparing traditional pyzy once sold at the city’s legendary Różycki Bazaar.
The conference was organized by the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies (WNPiSM), the Faculty of Artes Liberales, and the UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage in Public and Global Governance, in cooperation with the State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw and the Warsaw Intangible Cultural Heritage Team. Support came from the University’s Excellence Initiative – Research University (IDUB) program.
This gathering forms part of the University of Warsaw’s preparations to host the Biannual Conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies in 2028, which will bring around 500 scholars from across the globe to Poland.
