After four years of researching the dynamics of conflict and cooperation, the first funding period of the BMFTR-funded KonKoop research network is coming to an end. Our closing conference will showcase what our researchers have achieved during that time. There will also be space for critical reflections on the work of the two labs that support our research activities: the Multi-Perspective Visualisation Laboratory for Peace and Conflict Cartography and the Multi-Method Data Laboratory for Conflict and Cooperation in Eastern Europe.  

The five conference panels are organised around the questions and issues that have preoccupied us to date:  

• Water and the dynamics of conflict and cooperation between local communities and state actors in Central Asia and (South) Eastern Europe 

• The role of contested symbols and narratives in political discourse and memory politics, with examples from Eastern and Southeastern Europe 

• Russia’s new position in the world after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 

• The political economy of conflict dynamics, with insights from our research on de-facto states 

• The practical and epistemological challenges of transforming complex social phenomena into data, with reference to the work of the two crosscutting labs and the visualisation approaches used in KonKoop projects.  

As well as marking the end of our first funding period, the conference will be a fitting segue into the next one. Together with our many partners, we will use the opportunity to discuss how best to secure our results – especially with a view to the methodological and practical advice we can give to future endeavours in Peace and Conflict Studies in Eastern Europe and beyond.