Summer school and conference: Literacies for Social Participation

University of Hamburg (Image credit: UHH/Ohme)

The Literacy in Diversity Settings Research Center (LiDS) at the University of Hamburg will host a summer school and conference devoted to “Literacies for Social Participation” in July this year.

The summer school dates are July 20-31, and the conference dates are July 27-28. The summer school includes the conference but the conference can be attended separately.

Readers are cordially invited to attend and/or alert their students and colleagues to these exciting events (for details how to apply, scroll down to the end of this post)

About the Summer School “Literacies for Social Participation” (July 20-31, 2026)

Literacy is an individual competence that is critical for social participation. It is key to education, employment, health, rights and well-being. Yet, this key is not a singular entity, not least in contemporary differentiated societies marked by migration; it is complex as it involves multiple languages, registers, modalities, as well as different technologies and formats. In a highly mobile and interconnected world, migration and digitalization have collided to fundamentally transform what it means to be literate.
These emerging complex multilingual, multilectal, and multimodal literacies may be poorly matched to the literacy requirements of institutions with a monolingual habitus (Gogolin, 1994), where literacy practices in one dominant, standard language prevail. The resulting communication gaps can threaten access, equity, inclusion, and cost-effectiveness, and hence constitute a real barrier to social justice (Piller, 2016).

As all contemporary societies are affected by migration and digitalization, with individuals facing the barriers and opportunities associated with multilingualism, this summer school offers an internationally oriented curriculum to outstanding masters and doctoral students.

The core learning aims are:

1) to enhance knowledge on literacy and learner diversity;
2) to trace tendencies that go beyond one national, regional or local context;
3) to examine literacy development across the life-course;
4) to critically discuss the implications of research findings for policy and practice.

The learning goals will be achieved across five core modules with required readings:

1) Literacy across the lifespan;
2) Institutional settings;
3) Research methods in social literacies;
4) Academic skills;
5) Independent course work.

About the conference “Literacies for Social Participation” (July 27-28, 2026)

Are you a PhD student researching in the field of multilingual literacy development and social participation? If so, you are cordially invited to submit an abstract to participate in the doctoral symposium Literacies for Social Participation at the University of Hamburg on 27-28 July 2026. Successful applicants will present their research to an international audience of their peers and receive in-depth feedback from renowned experts in the field, including:

• Prof Dr Dr h.c. mult. Ingrid Gogolin, University of Hamburg
• Prof Yanli Meng, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Humboldt-Professor Ingrid Piller, University of Hamburg and Macquarie University
• Prof Yixi (Isabella) Qiu, Tongji University
• Prof Vera Williams Tetteh, University of Ghana and Macquarie University
• Prof Yufang Ruan, Zhejiang University

The doctoral symposium is a constituent event within the Hamburg International Summer School, Literacies for Social Participation, which runs from 20-31 July 2026. We invite you to also apply to participate in the summer school, however this is not a requirement to present at the doctoral symposium. The summer school and the doctoral symposium provide an exceptional combination of high-level academic engagement and networking opportunities related to linguistic diversity and social participation. Participants will have the opportunity to both showcase their expertise and deepen their knowledge of cutting-edge research in the field.

How to apply

• Find out how to apply to attend the summer school here. (Application deadline: April 06, 2026)
• Find out how to apply to present at the doctoral conference here. (Application deadline: April 06, 2026)

Attendance at the summer school and conference is free thanks to sponsorship from the Alexander-von-Humboldt-Foundation and the University of Hamburg.