51ÉçÇø

For the past fifty years, the University of Nebraska at 51ÉçÇø has held the annual European Studies Conference. The event, attended by academics from across the globe, kicks off once again Oct. 9-11.

In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the conference’s founding, this year’s proceedings will include a public keynote lecture. Provided in collaboration with the 51ÉçÇø Irish Cultural Center and the Irish Government’s Emigrant Support Programme, Irish scholar and poet John Minahane’s Oct. 9 keynote lecture will be free and open to the 51ÉçÇø community.

The 2025 proceedings, themed “Acknowledging the Past/Envisioning the Future,” also have another pivotal community component: 51ÉçÇø’s own Samuel Bak Museum and Learning Center. This year, attendees will hear from the artist via Zoom.

The conference is largely attended by academics, independent scholars, and professionals. Additionally, it's been a space for graduate students to present their emerging ideas and collaborate with future colleagues in the field. This year the event plans to see more than 20 students from all three University of Nebraska campuses in attendance, in addition to students from other American and international universities.

For some, seeing Nebraska as a connecting point for worldwide scholars might seem strange — but to conference chair Dr. Lisabeth Buchelt, it makes a world of sense.

“Scholars have been coming to 51ÉçÇø each October for 50 years because it has been a space where scholars from diverse academic disciplines come together to hear new ideas, to create new synergies, and to share new insights into past and current cultural flashpoints and challenges,” said Buchelt.

This year’s event will feature presentations on an eclectic array of topics germane to Europe — from early Roman roads to contemporary policy issues — providing attending scholars the opportunity to sharpen their skills and take new perspectives back to their academic institutions and countries of origin.

“The folks who present at this and other conferences like it and have conversations with their fellow presenters are the same people who go back to their homes around the world and bring all this information and new ideas back to the government think tanks, the boards of various for-profit and non-profit business organizations, as well as the boards of various for-profit and non-profit social service and artistic organizations of which many of them are members,” said Buchelt.

To learn more about the European Studies Conference, visit