For three years, the Covid 19 pandemic not only dominated the headlines in the media, but also determined the organisation of the public lecture programme. Now it has abruptly moved into the background. A new event, hardly comprehensible to many of us, is currently keeping the world on tenterhooks: in February of this year, Russia launched a war of aggression against Ukraine that has continued to this day and has brought unbearable suffering to the people of Ukraine; millions of people are on the run, their fate marked by loss and trauma. The entire peace and security order in Europe and the world has been called into question by this war. There is talk of a "turning point in time".
Despite our relatively long periods of planning, the war in Ukraine is already finding its way into our lecture programme - once again demonstrating the foresight of our lecturers, their knowledge and feel for the formative issues of our time. With their lectures, they help us to better understand and classify the events. Christoph Frei's classic public lecture "Focal Points and Basic Problems of International Politics" deals directly with the war in Ukraine. Several events provide relevant contextual knowledge: Bardo Fassbender's lecture examines the right of peoples to self-determination as a possible building block of a future international order; Felix Bosshard's lecture examines the Cold War as the origin of current conditions, crises and conflicts; finally, Yves Partschefeld shows us how the transformation period of the 1990s in Eastern Europe is relevant to today's developments and events, especially with regard to the relationship between the transformation states.
In addition to this focus, the public lecture programme presents itself in its usual thematic range. In line with Hannes Thalmann's images of the SQUARE as a place of reflection and intellectual mirroring, of creative exchange and inclusive and critical thinking, Dominique Künzle devotes herself to critical thinking, not least in its relationship to scientific knowledge and expertise. Especially in our turbulent times, often marked by misinformation and scepticism, this classification seems particularly important. Matthias Schneider and Susanne Täschler also take up a topic of high - especially political - relevance with their focus on the much-cited urban-rural divide. Finally, Monika Kritzmöller dedicates herself to the human body: while current events today call many supposedly self-evident things into question, it forms the "only certainty of our existence". How vulnerable we are in body, mind and soul is currently being demonstrated by an inconceivable war in the heart of Europe, and we are all struggling, in large and small ways, with the question of the appropriate response to this. There are no easy answers. However, we should be guided by one overriding principle for all options for action, be it on a personal, political or economic level: humanity.
Florian Wettstein, in June 2022
The semester pass costs twenty francs and entitles the holder to attend all public lectures throughout the semester. The payment slip, which also serves as a semester pass, is enclosed with the programme booklet. Transfer by e-banking is also possible.
PostFinance account: 90-747-8
BIC/SWIFT-Code: POFICHBEXXX
IBAN: CH21 0900 0000 9000 0747 8
made out to: University of St.Gallen (HSG), Dufourstrasse 50, 9000 St.Gallen
Purpose of payment: Public lectures, 433 310 / S08940002
Please take a receipt of the transfer to the lectures as a semester pass. Thank you very much.
Registration for online lectures runs via the Zoom Events platform.
If you would like to register for an online lecture, please click on this link.
You will be redirected to the Zoom Events platform. Here you will find an overview of the online lectures.
1. log in with your Zoom account. If you do not have a Zoom account, please create one. Registration is free of charge.
2. select the course you want to attend.
3. click on "Register" and tick all the boxes. Confirm your registration for the lecture.
4. you will receive an email with the confirmation and important information.
If you have any further questions, please contact us.
HSG Events Office
Public Lectures
oeffentlichesprogramm(at)unisg.ch
+41 71 224 33 39, Tue and Wed, 9-11 am
Please note that the Public Lectures team does not have access to your account.
During our inaugural and farewell lectures, we welcome or bid farewell to our professors and associate professors.
Those who are appointed as professors or associate professors at the HSG introduce themselves in a public lecture.
Likewise, professors who retire give a public lecture to say goodbye. You are cordially invited to attend these public inaugural and farewell lectures, as well as HSG members.
Like our public lectures, our inaugural and farewell lectures cover a wide range of topics: from economic and legal issues to aspects of cultural policy.
You can find an overview of all inaugural and farewell lectures in the programme booklet.
University of St.Gallen
HSG Events Office
Public Lectures
oeffentlichesprogramm(at)unisg.ch
+41 71 224 33 39, Tue and Wed, 9-11 am
University of St.Gallen
Communications
kommunikation(at)unisg.ch
+41 71 224 22 25