Topic: for society

On 20 October at 16:15 Aleksandra Sooniste will defend her doctoral thesis "Religious Literacy of Estonian Basic School Graduates" for obtaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Religious Studies).

On 13 October at 16:15 Ago Lilleorg will defend his doctoral thesis "A Study of Church Growth Using the Example of Estonian Protestant Churches. Formulating a Church Development Strategy" for obtaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Theology).

The new collection shows how emotions and affects shape political identities, amplify polarisation in times of crisis, and often turn public debate into emotional confrontation. „Power of Emotions. On the Affective Constitution of Political Struggle“ is edited by Andreas Ventsel, Professor of Political and Sociosemiotics at the University of Tartu, and Peeter Selg, Professor of Governance and Political Analysis at Tallinn University.

In Arvo Pärt’s jubilee year, the lectures from his year as a University of Tartu professor of liberal arts have become accessible to an international audience, as English subtitles have been added to the recordings of the lecture series.

On 25–26 August, the workshop on the ethics of artificial intelligence, "Ethics of AI: Navigating Challenges to Values, Society, and Human Welfare," was held at the University of Tartu.

Doctoral defence: Kadi Kähär-Peterson „Garlieb Merkel’s Political Thought: A Baltic Perspective on Enlightenment“

On 22 October, doctoral researchers of the University of Tartu have an opportunity to introduce their research results to the public in the format of a three-minute short lecture.

Estonian researchers have created the AI Barometer where users can compare the responses of language models and assess their proficiency in Estonian. Everyone is welcome to try out the barometer at baromeeter.ai. The researchers aim to collect at least 50,000 comparisons by the end of June.

Next academic year, the professorship of liberal arts will be held by poet, children’s author and prosaist Viivi Luik.