This course is aimed at students who wish to pursue an international career. It offers practical insights into various international professional fields and provides students with professional support, networking opportunities and personalized mentorship to enhance their career planning in an international work environment.

Key components of the course:

a) Profile Building: At the beginning and end of the course, students will have dedicated sessions to define and refine their career goals. These sessions will enable students to reflect on their aspirations, identify their strengths, and further develop their professional profile throughout the semester. By actively engaging in profile building, students can make the most of the practice lectures and mentoring opportunities.

b) Experience reports: The course features social scientists working in international professions who will share their career paths and provide valuable tips. These guest speakers will present various career opportunities in international organizations, foundations, companies, and development cooperation. By attending these practice talks, students will not only gain knowledge and insights but also have the chance to start building an extensive international professional network.

c) Mini-Mentoring: Each participant will have the opportunity to establish a strategically valuable connection with a mentor working in their preferred international professional field. The mentorship includes at least one meeting where students can seek individualized advice and guidance from their mentor. The mentorship agreement serves as evidence of the mentoring relationship and ensures a structured and fruitful experience for all participants.

Human development – in all its dimensions – is closely linked to global and regional population dynamics, including the prevailing regional disparities and inequalities. With a global population of over 8 billion people, the world population continues to grow and is expected to peak in the 2080s at just over 10 billion people. While most of the future growth is expected in the poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa, other regions are facing shrinking and ageing populations. Both rapidly growing young populations and populations with a declining and ageing work force, which are now also a reality in a growing number of middle-income countries, pose different challenges for human development. In recent years, global and regional population dynamics – either a ‘population bomb’ or a ‘population crash’ – are seen as drivers behind the multiple crisis currently evolving.

The seminar will explore the relationship between population and human development, challenging demo-deterministic views, looking at the measurement of human development, discussing rights-based approaches to improving human development and debating the role of human rights and multilateral organizations. While traditional indicators of human development, such as the Human Development Index, are considered too narrow, the seminar will also apply the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework for the social, economic and environmental dimensions of human development.

This course invites exchange students and regular JGU students to actively engage in an intercultural exchange. Participants attend a professional training in intercultural communication where they reflect their cultural backgrounds and learn how it shapes their perceptions in international contexts. At the end, students have not only learned to engage professionally and confidently in intercultural communication but also expanded their international network.

This seminar will explore the digital revolution and the ongoing creation of digital societies. The seminar will examine and reflect on key issues such as artificial intelligence, the quantified self, privacy, disruptive technologies, remote services, the digital divide, and surveillance. The seminar will also discuss leading theoretical approaches such as technological determinism and social constructivism. Thus, contributing to a better understanding of the digitization of society and current and near-future alterations of the human experience. While the course reading will include theoretical and empirical scientific literature, the consumption of news, movies, television shows, books, podcasts, and social media influencers is highly encouraged during the semester.

The seminar will be held by Dr. Olesia Zvezdova and aims at giving an overview of the various psychological aspects of political relations, political leadership, conflict and cooperation, psychological influence implementation and methods of countering it.

For this, participants will have a closer look at and discuss the following topics:
– Politics and mental health issues
– Psychology of leadership
– Psychological issues of conspiracy theories
– Psychological aspects of crisis decision-making, especially in international relations
– Mediation as a modern psychotechnology of conflict resolution
– Psychological warfare
– Psychological influence and propaganda
– Psychological operations in the 21st century: comparative analysis
– Psychological safety in Europe
– Consequences of psychological influence

This course aims to explore the current political developments in Israel. With five national elections in the past six years, with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Gaza, fighting and alliances throughout the Middle East, the Trump White House, weekly political demonstrations in Tel Aviv, influential court rulings and legislation in Jerusalem, tensions with ultra-orthodox Jews, new settlements in the West Bank, fundamental judicial reforms, and an upcoming 2026 national election, it seems Israelis are currently debating their most fundamental beliefs and ideas. In this course, we will explore the system, the players, the issues, and the ongoing events in Israeli politics as they unfold throughout the semester. While the course reading will include theoretical and empirical scientific literature, the consumption of news, movies, television shows, books, podcasts, and social media influencers discussing Israel (including Israeli, German, and international sources) is highly encouraged during the semester.

This Summer School will focus on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, with an emphasis on conflict research and international law. Key topics include responses by international actors, peace processes, dealing with war crimes and reconstruction plans.
The program is aimed not only at students from our partner universities in Finland, France, the UK, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Romania and Spain, but also at students from Ukraine. This special setting enables international academic exchange on a current topic of global political relevance.
The interdisciplinary summer school invites students of all fields of social sciences including political science, psychology, communication science, journalism, sociology or educational science as well as other related disciplines.

This course aims to explore the Israeli society, its origins, diversity, and inner conflicts. Israel, a country of Jews and Arabs, religious and secular, conservatives and liberals, migrants and locals, center and periphery, is a mosaic of cultures, peoples, and ideas, all debating what the country is and should become. In this course, we will examine the Israeli society through a variety of disciplines such as history, politics, sociology, and theology, to better understand the current realities of Israel today. While the course reading will include theoretical and empirical scientific literature, the consumption of Israeli news and\or German\other language news discussing Israel is highly encouraged during the semester.

The destruction of the bipolar system of international relations as a result of the Soviet Union collapse gave a significant impetus to the geopolitical transformation of the post-Soviet space and international security system in general. However, the appearance of fifteen new independent states on the territory of former Soviet Union and seven countries which were part of the Soviet sphere of influence (former Yugoslavia) on the political map of the world was accompanied with a period of political turbulence. Therefore, one of the phenomena of the new regional security system was the emergence of self-proclaimed state entities that declared themselves as sovereign countries, but until now, for more than 30 years, they have not received full international recognition. Possessing the main formal features of the state and comprehensive support of patron states, some of them are still continuing the movement for political recognition. This is a threat to the European security system and international community.

At a global population of over 8 billion people, the world’s population continues to grow. However, global population growth is expected to peak in the 2080s at just over 10 billion people. In the meantime, most of the growth is likely to occur in the poorest countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, a growing number of countries, including in the global South, will shrink (and age) as fertility falls below replacement levels in ever more countries. Although population growth has traditionally been seen as a major challenge to sustainability, population decline is now also seen as a threat in the most affected countries.

While the currently evolving poly crisis is progressively hampering the realization of the internationally agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the question arises as to how they can still be achieved without further increasing the global ecological footprint, exceeding planetary boundaries beyond the carrying capacity of the earth and depleting its vital ecosystem services. Fighting poverty and hunger, investing in quality of life for those most in need and reducing inequalities are key pillars of sustainable development and remain a path to success. However, traditional growth-based development strategies are increasingly reaching their limits. Considering the challenges of the evolving poly crisis, reaping a post growth-shrinking dividend may offer new opportunities for a sustainable future.

CRiSS is a recurring lecture series of the Faculty 02: Social Sciences, Media and Sport of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and takes place every summer semester.

Members from all disciplines of the faculty – communication studies, educational science, political science, psychology, school science, sociology and sports science – present their current research projects. The lectures will be held in English to allow for international exchange – with international students and researchers.

European Credit Transfer System-points:
Please grade that there are two different options for participating in CRiSS:
1) Lecture, with attendance only, 2 European Credit Transfer System, if your department does not state otherwise
2) Lecture with written exam and tutorial in preparation for the exam, 3 graded European Credit Transfer System

This course aims to examine the fascinating interconnected world of Israeli media and Israeli politics. With five national elections in the past three and a half years, more than a dozen political parties comprising a diversity of left and right, conservative and liberal, Jewish and Arab, religious and secular, it could be argued that Israelis are currently debating their most fundamental beliefs and ideas, or indeed are they? In this course, we will explore the system, the players, the issues, and the ongoing events in Israeli politics as they unfold. Furthermore, we will examine the Israeli media and the role it is playing in the current political upheavals and occurrences. While the course reading will include theoretical and empirical scientific literature, the consumption of Israeli news and/or German/other news discussing Israel is highly encouraged during the semester.

The destruction of the bipolar system of international relations as a result of the Soviet Union collapse gave a significant impetus to the geopolitical transformation of the post-Soviet space and international security system in general. However, the appearance of fifteen new independent states on the territory of former Soviet Union and seven countries which were part of the Soviet sphere of influence (former Yugoslavia) on the political map of the world was accompanied with a period of political turbulence. Therefore, one of the phenomena of the new regional security system was the emergence of self-proclaimed state entities that declared themselves as sovereign countries, but until now, for more than 30 years, they have not received full international recognition. Possessing the main formal features of the state and comprehensive support of “patron states”, some of them are still continuing the movement for political recognition. This is a threat to the European security system and international community.
Main purpose of the discipline is to make a complete picture of the “de facto states” with determination features of their genesis, evolution, modern specifications and forecasting of international recognition in the future.

Israel is a multicultural society diverse through ethnicity, migration, religion, politics, economics, gender, geography, and more. These characteristics are issues for inequality and enmity as well as celebration and cultural enrichment. In this course, we will explore Israeli society, the fundamental issues, the current events, and the historical roots, of a young and vibrant society shaping its present and debating its future. In this journey, we will utilize the mediated sphere (e.g., mainstream, minority, foreign/international, and social networks) reflecting the societal role of media in Israel. While the course reading will include theoretical and empirical scientific literature, the consumption of news, movies, television series, social media influencers, etc. operated/produced by Israelis or discussing Israelis (including German and international sources) is highly encouraged during the semester.

This workshop gives students an insight into Just War Theory and enables them to discuss questions such as “Should Ukraine accept it cannot win and surrender as a matter of moral duty?”, “Do Russian soldiers have an obligation to not fight in an illegal war?” or “What are the moral arguments for and against Western aid to Ukraine?”.

Students will think about legal and political issues that are urgent to them when they think about the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, they get a lecture in Just war theory and discuss current issues on that basis: Ukraine War, torture of terrorists and Real-world applications such as GITMO.
Additionally, participants are invited to bring their own topic-related questions for discussion.

At 8 billion, world population is still growing, albeit at a diminishing pace. Global population growth is projected to peak at 10.4 billion during the 2080s. In the meantime, most growth is expected to take place in the poorest countries, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. Is there a sustainable future for a growing global population?
Fighting poverty and hunger, investing in quality of life for those most in need and reducing inequalities are key pillars of sustainable development. Achieving these goals without further increasing the ecological footprint beyond the earth’s carrying capacity is a joint global responsibility. “Overconsumption” of the rich is a major concern for reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The richest ten percent of the world’s population is responsible for almost half of all CO2 emissions, while the contribution of the poorest half, which is still growing, is negligible at less than ten percent.

This course aims to examine the fascinating interconnected world of Israeli media and Israeli politics. With five national elections in the past three and a half years, more than a dozen political parties comprising a diversity of left and right, conservative and liberal, Jewish and Arab, religious and secular, it could be argued that Israelis are currently debating their most fundamental beliefs and ideas, or indeed are they? In this course, we will explore the system, the players, the issues, and the ongoing events in Israeli politics as they unfold. Furthermore, we will examine the Israeli media and the role it is playing in the current political upheavals and occurrences. While the course reading will include theoretical and empirical scientific literature, the consumption of Israeli news and\or German\other news discussing Israel is highly encouraged during the semester.