CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS for the Conference: Gender, Law, Backlash
January 12, 2026Programme of the CA23149 Training School with the Title “Increasing Resiliance for Young Researchers of Anti-Gender Politics and Mobilizations in CCE and NME Countries”, February 9-10, 2026, Vienna (Austria)
February 12, 2026From January 28-30, 2026, the annual meeting of the CA23149 project took place in Amiens (France) under the title ‘Annual Meeting of the COST Action CA23149 - After 1 Year: Current state and challenges of research on anti-gender movements’. You can find the programme as a PDF file here and below as plain text.
PROGRAMME
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE COST ACTION CA23149
After 1 Year: Current state and challenges of research on anti-gender movements
2 8 - 3 0 J A N UA R Y 2 02 6, A M I E N S, F RA N C E
Wednesday, 28/1/26 P R E - C O N F E R E N C E
14:00-16:00 Core group meeting
16:00 -18:00 Networking session: ALL WELCOME
Thursday, 29/1/26 DA Y 1
9:30 Opening of the Conference & Welcome
9:45-11:15 Keynote lecture: Éric Fassin (Professor of sociology and gender studies, Paris-8 University)
Moderator: Marie Ruiz (Université de Picardie Jules Verne)
11:15 Coffee break
11:30-13:15 WG1 “Revealing the historical, social-political and economic background conditions”
- Funda Hülagü (University of Marburg): The Ideological Work of Anti-Gender Arguments: Religion, Crisis, and the State in Semi-Peripheral Capitalism Tabatadze
- Sandro (Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University): Hybrid Regime Trajectories and Anti-Gender Policy Transfer: Selective Adaptation of Russian and Hungarian Policy Templates in Georgia
- Wilk Marcin (Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences): The Girl as a Moral Figure: Emotional Legacies of Interwar Polish Expert Discourses in Contemporary Anti-Gender Mobilizations
- Matt Whiffen (Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven): Absenting Queer Religious Experiences: Anti-Gender Sentiment and the Politics of LGBTQ+ Oral History Archives in Croatia
Discussant: Annette Henninger (University of Marburg)
Chair: Meltem Ince Yenilmze (Izmir Demokrasi Unversitesi)
13:15-14:30 Lunch break
14:30 -15:15 WG2 “Deciphering the triangle of state, civil society and anti-gender actors”
- Šárka Kolmašová (Metropolitan University Prague), Susana Galán (Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals), Kateřina Krulišová (Nottingham Trent University): Constellations of Anti-Gender Politics across CEE and the NME/SWANA Region
- Timo Koch (City St George University of London): The International Right-Wing Popular Front: Conceptualizing Anti-Gender Networks
- Dobrinka Chankova (Varna Free University), Amal Linda Ferouani (Abou Bakr Belkaid University of Tlemcen): Gender and Anti-Gender Policies in Bulgaria and Algeria
- Duygu Altınoluk (Kilis 7 Aralık University), Ebru Işık (Sinop University): Anti-Gender Movements in Türkiye: Epistemic Governance from National Politics to University Politics
Discussant: Marianna Muravyeva (University of Helsinki)
Chair: Susana Galán (Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals)
15:15 Coffee break
15:30 -17:15 WG3: “Rethinking activism and forms of oppositions with a focus on unexpected allies”
- Shaban Darakchi (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences): Through the "Neoliberal Utopian Gaze": Rethinking Anti-Gender Mobilization and Academic Resistance in Bulgaria
- Draga Gajić (University of Novi Sad & Udruženje za kulturu, afirmaciju i savjetovanj e ''KAS'' Banja Luka): Resistance, collaboration, and new forms of activism in the times of crisis, polarization, and anti-gender rhetoric
- Ceren Lordoglu (Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University): Anti-gender politics impact on urban public space Magdalena Grabowska (Polish Academy of Sciences): Reproductive work, care and political economy. Feminist and queer responses to backlash in Poland
Discussant: Maryna Shevtsova (KU Leuven)
Chair: Veronika Valkovičová (Comenius University Bratislava)
17:15-18:00 Wrap up of Day 1
Friday, 30/1/26 DA Y 2
9:00 -10:45 WG4: “Dissemination and outreach activities"
- Eleni Meletiadou (London metropolitan university): Reclaiming the Narrative: Participatory Communication and Countering Anti-Gender Mobilizations in Higher Education in Albania, Kosovo, and Greece
- Branko Bošković (University of Donj a Gorica): Using social networks as a tool for engagement: How can COST Action „Anti-gender” advance in its achievements?
- Nuket Elpeze Ergec (Cukurova University): Digital Stories as a Feminist Method: Give Voice to My Voice workshop
- Pavla Dolezalova (NIMH): Propagandistic Attacks and Negative Framing of Transgender People in Czech Media Discourse: Impacts on Mental Health and Social Cohesion
Discussant: Kristine Margvelashvili (Ilia State University)
Chair: Tanja Vuckovic Juros (University of Zagreb)
10:45 Coffee break
11:00-12:00 Panel Discussion: Funding Opportunities for Young Scholars and the COST Action CA23149 Sustainability
Chair: Marie Ruiz
12:00-13:30 Coffee break / Early Career Scholars Poster Session & Discussions
- Ljiljana Kolarski (University of Belgrade): Resisting the Backlash: Feminist and LGBTQ+
Responses in Serbia - Kateřina Krulišová (NTU), Šárka Kolmašová (MUP): Misogyny Copy-Paste: Glocalised
Aesthetics of V4 Anti-Gender Movements - Victoria Lisnic (Moldova State University): Anti-Gender and Anti-Feminist Speeches in
Elections: Regional Trends in Romania and Moldova - Kristine Margvelashvili (Ilia State University): Anti-Gender Actors and Their Politics in
Orthodox Europe: The Case of Georgia - Vanja Petrović (University of Belgrade): Contemporary Pronatalist Policies and Anti- gender Discourses in Serbia
- Julia Walczak (University of Silesia): Legitimizing Anti-Gender Rhetoric through the
Communist Memory Script - Adrianna Zabrzewska (Edinburgh Napier University): Vulnerability and Reason:
Discursive Strategies in Anti-Gender Movements
13:30 -14:00 Lunch break
14:00-16:00 Young scholars session: Paper presentations & discussions
- Julia Walczak (University of Silesia): Legitimizing Anti-Gender Rhetoric Through the
Communist Memory Script - Ljiljana Kolarski (University of Belgrade): Resisting the Backlash: Feminist and LGBTQ+
Responses in Serbia - Vanja Petrović (University of Belgrade): Contemporary Pronatalist Policies and Anti-
Gender Discourses in Serbia - Kristine Margvelashvili (Ilia State University): Anti-Gender Actors and Their Politics in
Orthodox Europe: The Case of Georgia
Chair: Mare Ushovska (International Balkan University)
16:00 Coffee Break
16:15-17:00 Panel Discussion: WG2 Literature Review on Anti-gender politics in CEE and NME countries
Šárka Kolmašová, Susana Galán, Ljilj ana Kolarski, and Julia Walczak
CONFERENCE CLOSURE
PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
Šárka Kolmašová , Metropolitan University Prague, Czech Republic
Susana Galán, Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals, Spain
Veronika Valkovičová, Comenius University Bratislava, Slovakia
Magdalena Grabowska, Polish Academy of Sciences
Tanja Vučković Juroš, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Kristine Margvelashvili, Ilia State University, Georgia
Heidi Hein-Kircher, Martin-Opitz-Bibliothek, Germany
LOCAL ORGANIZER Marie Ruiz, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France
Big thanks to Marie Ruiz and the Université de Picardie Jules Verne-Team for making this conference possible!