Daugavpils University professor Maija Burima participated in the 16th European Conference on Baltic Studies (CBSE) of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) “Converging Paths: The Baltic between East and West” at the University of Cambridge, which took place on April 24-26, 2025.

The conference was organized by the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge, which has been implementing the Baltic Geopolitics Programme since 2021.  Approximately 500 participants from around the world took part in 129 working groups. Presentations were given by researchers studying the Baltic region in the discourse of humanities and social sciences.

At the opening of the conference, Charls Clark, Joint Programme Leader at the Centre of Geopolitics, noted that Cambridge had brought together researchers who are particularly interested in aspects of Baltic history and culture and the major challenges they face. Dr. Donatas Kupčiūnas, Baltic Fellow at the Centre of Geopolitics, emphasized the broad representation of conference participants in his opening speech and humorously added that Cambridge had not seen so many Balts at once in the last thousand years.

Prof. Maija Burima participated in two working groups at the conference. In one of them, “Transcending Borders and Periods in Baltic Literature,” the professor presented her research, “The Economic Trauma of the Transitional Period in Arno Jundze’s Novel ‘Red Mercury,” analyzing the first post-Soviet decade depicted in the novel and evaluating the manifestation of economic aspects in the context of transitology research. Round table discussion “Advantages and Challenges of Teaching Latvian in Language Summer Schools in Latvia and Abroad”, which focused on the teaching of the Latvian language in summer schools in Latvia and the diaspora, Professor M. Burima presented a report entitled “Latvian Language Acquisition at Daugavpils University Summer Schools: Challenges and Solutions”, which focused on the methodology and experience of implementing DU’s international Latvian language and culture summer school programmes. The Centre for Latvian Studies of Daugavpils University has already organized 10 international summer schools. There is considerable interest in learning Latvian as a foreign language in synergy with an integrated cultural module. A total of 1,283 applications were received, and since 2017, with the support of the State Education Development Agency, more than 100 participants have taken part in the summer school programmes. In his presentation, Prof. M. Burima emphasized the need to describe the A0 language learning level and provided recommendations for intensive study courses at the A0-A1 level using the CLIL methodology.

The participants of the conference were offered a tour of the Imperial War Museum Duxford and a lecture by Air Marshal Edward Stringer on the role of the Royal Air Force in the Baltic Sea region. At the end of the conference, a special surprise was in store – a festive dinner in the Great Hall of King’s College.

Based on the papers presented at the conference, articles will be submitted for publication in scientific journals.

Professor Maija Burima expresses her gratitude to the State Culture Capital Foundation for its support in participating in the conference.

See the conference programme here.