IPA2027EUR BUDAPEST

ACTIVITIES & PROGRAM

IPA 2027 Europe brings together the interpretive policy analysis community in Budapest (13–15 January 2027) for three days of plenary sessions, thematic workshops, critical-interpretive research labs, field visits, and an ethnographic walk through the city.

ACTIVITIES & PROGRAM

We are carefully preparing the program to encourage rich exchanges, lasting connections, and new collaborative outputs. We aim to enable a strong connection between the conference and the city of Budapest, the Hungarian context, and the state of the world.

Period	Wednesday 13 January	Thursday 14 January	Friday 15 January
Morning 9:00 – 12:00	Plenary Opening	Site visits (optional - to book upon registration)	Labs Parallel labs
Afternoon 13:00 – 17:00	Workshops Parallel workshop sessions	Workshops Parallel workshop sessions	Workshops Parallel workshops (2hrs) & Closing plenary (2hrs)
Evening 17:00 – 19:00	Welcome reception at DI	Workshop dinners (to be organized by chairs)	End

Get to know our main activities:

1. Opening and closing plenary sessions: bringing together leading scholars from our community and the Hungarian context to set an agenda for our critical-interpretive community during and beyond the conference. We will also connect with colleagues from the Brazilian and Australian editions of the IPA conference to enhance global dialogue and collective learning.

2. Thematic workshop sessions: five parallel workshop sessions will bring together diverse scholars to share their work-in-progress, offer constructive feedback, and develop shared outputs.The number of workshops and participants will be limited in order to ensure meaningful engagement and generate both individual and collective benefits.

3. Critical-interpretive research labs: up to three interactive sessions facilitating honest dialogue and critical reflection on key elements of critical-interpretive research, such as teaching, publishing, and obtaining funding for critical-interpretive research.

4. Field visits: offering the opportunity to engage with local groups and organizations at the forefront of the struggle to advance democracy, equality, justice, and sustainability. Far from ‘academic tourism’, these visits will be structured and facilitated to generate meaningful insights and support for the local groups and organizations.

5. Ethnographic walk through Budapest: inviting participants to explore the intersections between urban politics, democracy, and equality through situated, collective inquiry.

CONFERENCE FEES WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY.

Should you have any questions, please send an e-mail to: Ipaeur2027@gmail.com

Field visits

We are currently organizing a couple of field visits. The following are meant to give you a peak preview of what to look forward to:

Sustainability, Agroecology and Degrowth in Hungary

The site visit, hosted by Cargonomia, a degrowth inspired local food and cargobike logsitics cooperative in Hungary, is officially certified European Solidarity Corps Host and Lead Organisation. They work in close partnership with Hungarian organic farm, Zsamboki Biokert. They will share their experiences and propose questions for discussions based on their 11 years of community-supported agriculture, cargo-bike logistics, agroecology, eco-construction camps, food processing, workshops, traineeships, low-tech experimentation, and many collective adventures. They will also share their experience in facilitating action research and collaborating as civil initiative representatives in research projects.

Urban Marginalisation, Gentrification, and Urban Resistance: Field trip to Józsefváros

Józsefváros, the 8th district of Budapest, is the most in/famous district in Budapest, historically associated with urban poverty and marginalization (dilapidated, low-quality buildings, ethnic segregation, homelessness, and street prostitution), but also with a rich cultural background, creativity (Romani music, galleries, and the political organizing of ethnic minorities and poor people), and, recently, gentrification and various forms of urban resistance: socially and culturally inclusive municipal politics and experimentation with grassroots community organizing, particularly in relation to housing, and cooperatives. The field trip’s main goal is to show how housing problems and solutions intersect with political and social innovation through the work of municipal, civil, and cooperative actors from a multicultural perspective.

Site visit at the Budapest Municipality Social Foundation

The Municipality of Budapest operates in a complex and multi-layered policy environment, alongside 23 district-level municipalities. During the visit, participants will be able to learn about ongoing and past programmes of the Municipality, including its former 'Budapest Helps' programme for Ukrainian refugees, and current ones, such as drug prevention, solidarity fund and future plans for tackling the housing crisis.

The Activist Archive: Dissidence, Human Rights and Social Justice

This visit takes us to the Blinken OSA Archivum, an activist archive that—based on documents in its holdings, acquisition policy and professional conviction—strives to publicly reflect on matters of societal interest, including human rights abuses, social injustice, attacks on democracy and open societies, falsification of history or misappropriation of memory.