🎙 PRESS RELEASE
Iran Academia Hosts a Timely Conference on Emerging Global Order and its Impact on Iran and The Region
📍 The Hague, Netherlands – The Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (ISSH), also known as Iran Academia, is proud to announce the Peace, Democracy, and Media: Rethinking the Emerging Global Order and its Impact on Iran to be held on June 19–20, 2025, at Leiden University’s The Hague Campus, with a third day of online sessions on June 21. This timely and critical gathering is part of the Just Peace Festival and unfolds days before the NATO Summit, under the broader framework of The Hague’s Road to Summit.
📚 PDM 2025 (as featured in The Hague Stories of Purpose) brings together leading thinkers, researchers, artists, and journalists for a progressive examination of the global democratic crisis, militarization of politics, the war on truth, and the complex role of media in a fractured international order—with a particular focus on Iran and its diaspora.
🔹 Conference Highlights:
- Opening Keynote by Touraj Atabaki (from ISSG) on the transformative role of social movements in global tensions.
- Video Message from Narges Mohammadi, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
- More than 10 panels and roundtables in English and Persian, covering:
- Transnational Feminism and Peacebuilding
- Media, Power, and Populism in Iran
- Authoritarian Nationalism and Far-Right Ideologies
- Transitional Justice and the Role of Influencers
- Journalism in Exile and the Repression of Free Speech
- The Iranian Political Economy and the Sanctions
- Feminism and Nationalism in Digital Space
- Art and Activism as Peace Practices
- Transnational Feminism and Peacebuilding
🎤 Day One Closing Address: Mohammad Reza Nikfar delivers a powerful talk connecting the pursuit of freedom with the quest for peace.
🌐 Day Two Roundtable on International Relations: Featuring leading scholars Annette Freyberg-Inan, Shabnam Holliday, and Kamran Matin in an engaging dialogue on global dynamics.
💻 Day Three – Fully Online: A dedicated virtual program spotlighting narrative practices, women’s resilience, and the complexities of diaspora experiences (June 21).
📺 Live in 4 Languages: Streamed Worldwide
To ensure global accessibility and broaden our reach, the entire two-day in-person conference and the additional online day on June 21 will be live-streamed in high quality via Iran Academia’s official YouTube channel. All sessions will feature real-time AI-powered interpretation in English, Persian, Arabic, and Kurdish. Attendees can follow panels and Q&As live—either by listening or reading on their mobile devices—while the public can access the stream with live captions in English and Persian.
🤝 The PDM Conference is a proud component of the Just Peace Festival, a city-wide initiative coordinated by the Municipality of The Hague, Leiden University, and The Hague Humanity Hub. It aligns with festival themes such as Peace and Justice, Democracy, and Inclusion—offering a critical voice from the margins as Iran faces pivotal internal and international crossroads.
This conference is made possible through the generous support of our partners. The Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (Iran Academia) is honored to act as the primary sponsor of this significant event. We gratefully acknowledge the partnership of the Leiden University, especially the Global Transformations and Governance Challenges (GTGC) programme, which has facilitated the venue as part of the Just Peace Dialogues. Additional support has been provided by The Hague Convention Bureau and the Persian Heritage Foundation as silver sponsors, and by Interprefy and ParsiLaw as bronze sponsors.
👥 About the Organizer:
Iran Academia (ISSH) is a Netherlands-based alternative university dedicated to providing tuition-free, uncensored, interdisciplinary education in the social sciences and humanities. Its platforms—Academia, AcademiX, Agora, and University Press—provide for learners, activists, journalists, and thinkers across borders and boundaries.
📌 Registration:
🌐 Peace, Democracy, and Media Conference 2025
📩 Contact for Press and Sponsorship: communication@iranacademia.education
📩 Contact for Interview:
📩 Ali Reza Kazemi ar.kazemi@iranacademia.education (ISSH Managing Director) – Persian, Dutch, English
📩 Sajad Sepehri s.sepehri@iranacademia.education (ISSH Educational Development and Innovation Strategist) – English, Persian, Arabic
📱 @IranAcademia
📣 Join us in The Hague to reflect, and reimagine. Let stories shape the future.
