[Skip to content](https://visibleukraine.org/call/invisible-university-for-belarus/main)

No results

**Invisible University for Belarus (IUBEL)** is a **certificate program** (offering ECTS credits) initiated in 2026 by Central European University for undergraduate (BA) and graduate (MA and PhD) students from Belarus residing in the EU and other countries. The name of this transnational solidarity program evokes various nineteenth- and twentieth-century underground and exile educational initiatives (such as the “flying universities”) in Eastern Europe, as well as the tradition of Invisible Colleges formed after 1989 in the region.

IUBEL is a regional branch of the [Global Invisible University (GIU)](https://www.ceu.edu/academics/non-degree/GIU), a non-degree educational program supporting students and scholars living under war, authoritarianism, political repression, and displacement. GIU builds on the success of the [Invisible University for Ukraine](https://www.ceu.edu/academics/non-degree/Invisible-University) and expands regional branches for Georgia, Belarus, and Southeastern Europe.

The program offers Belarusian students an **intensive learning experience** on topics concerning Eastern and Central Europe, placing questions relevant for Belarusians into a transnational comparative perspective. The program is not meant to replace or duplicate the existing education opportunities in European universities, but to support them by filling the lacunae that temporarily emerged due to turbulent developments in the region. By establishing and strengthening the ties between dispersed Belarusian students, the exiled Belarusian academic community and transnational scholarly networks, we hope to counter the detrimental effects of exile and displacement and provide Belarusian students with access to educational infrastructure and academic knowledge. We also hope to facilitate the emergence of a dynamic **community of Belarusian students and academics**, who could make a positive impact on the resilience of Belarusian civic society and the future of Belarus in general.

The program is designed in a **hybrid format** (online teaching, complemented by an on-site winter school). The program is comprised of four components:

• thematic courses, including small group meetings mentored by doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars;
• student individual research projects;
• a series of online and offline workshops;
• skill-building activities (academic English, academic writing).

**STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAM**

In Fall 2026, Invisible University for Belarus (IUBEL) offers the basic interdisciplinary course on Belarus: **Belarus in Question: Rethinking Belarusian Politics, Society, and Culture in Regional and Global Contexts.** The course will bring together a multidisciplinary team of renowned international and Belarusian scholars, including Anne Applebaum, Nelly Bekus, David Marples, Almira Ousmanova, Iryna Ramanava, and others.

In addition, IUBEL students can also attend two courses offered by the regional branches within the broader Global Invisible University (GIU) framework, centred on Ukraine, Georgia, and Southeastern Europe.

Each course consists of 12 sessions (100 minutes), equal to 4 ECTS credits. Students are expected to take at least one and no more than three courses. In addition, IUBEL offers several short trans-disciplinary intensive online seminars. Courses are taught online, in English, in late afternoons once a week per class. Classes are recorded, and registered students who are unable to attend the online sessions can watch the recordings later.

**IUBEL COURSE OFFERINGS IN FALL 2026:**

1. **Belarus in Question: Rethinking Belarusian Politics, Society, and Culture in Regional and Global Contexts**. _Course co-directors: Tatiana Shchyttsova (European Humanities University Vilnius) and Andrei Kazakevich (Institute of Political Studies “Political Sphere”)_

**The courses offered by the regional branches within the framework of GLOBAL INVISIBLE UNIVERSITY in Fall 2026:**

01. **Decentering Soviet Histories: Regional Perspectives on Everyday Life and Politics in the USSR (IUfU)**. _Course co-directors: Iaroslav Kovalchuk (Columbia University) and Arslan Akanov (Nazarbayev University)_
02. **Borders and Spatial Imaginaries in Ukraine and Beyond** **(IUfU)**. _Course co-directors: Elżbieta Kwiecińska (Polish Academy of Sciences) and Hanna Perekhoda (University of Lausanne)_
03. **Ukrainian Literature: Literary Canons, War, and Social Change** **(IUfU)**. _Course co-directors: Diana Vonnak (Czech Academy of Sciences) and Iryna Shuvalova (poet, independent scholar, Changsu)_
04. **Transnational Relations of Care: Ukraine and Beyond (IUfU)**. _Course co-directors: Oksana Ovsiiuk (University of Fribourg) and Madlen Kobi (University of Fribourg)_
05. **Justice Across Europe: Trust, Judicial Independence, and Courts in Times of Transition (IUfU)**. _Course co-directors: Marta Mochulska (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv) and Marta Spodaryk (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv)_
06. **Comparative Methods for the Social Sciences (IUfU)**. _Course co-directors: Levente Littvay (CEU Democracy Institute, Budapest) and Inna Melnykovska (EUI)_
07. **Introducing the Balkans (GIU: South-Eastern Europe**. _Course Co-directors: Aleksandar Pavlović (IFDT Belgrade) and Marija Mandić (University of Belgrade)_
08. **Wars for the Yugoslav Succession and Their Contemporary Legacy in the Balkans and Beyond (GIU: South-Eastern Europe)**. _Course director: Vladimir Petrović (NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam) and Sven Milekić (University of Rijeka)_
09. **The Informal Leviathan: Networks, Institutions, and the Dynamics of Control and Resistance (GIU: Georgia)**. _Course co-directors: Giga Zedania (Ilia State University) and Ghia Nodia (Ilia State University)_
10. **Post-Empire Transformations: Georgia and Ukraine in Comparative Perspective (GIU: Georgia)**. _Course c

Крыніца: https://visibleukraine.org/call/invisible-university-for-belarus/