Barriers and Breakthroughs

Celebratory seminar to mark the 150th anniversary of women's admission to the University of Copenhagen

In June 2025, it will be 150 years since a royal decree granted women access to study at the University of Copenhagen. This decision had a profound impact on Danish society at large—and, naturally, on the university itself. The University of Copenhagen will mark the anniversary with a variety of events throughout the year.

At the Faculty of Humanities, we are using the anniversary as an opportunity to reflect on how the humanities have contributed—and can continue to contribute—to the diversity that the legal change helped pave the way for.

How has research in the humanities identified barriers and created breakthroughs for equality and diversity—and what breakthroughs still lie ahead?

The seminar brings together researchers, students, and invited guests for an afternoon of presentations, discussions, and music.

Programme

Welcome by Dean Kirsten Busch Nielsen

Introduction to the programme by Professor Marie Louise Nosch, Saxo Institute (moderator)

Historical background by Postdoc Pelle Oliver Larsen, Saxo Institute

Followed by two academic panel sessions:

Panel 1: Then and Now?

Humanities’ perspectives on historical and existing barriers to equality and diversity. Three researchers will present highlights from their work, followed by questions from the audience.

• Finding your niche - a personal account of intersectionality (in Danish)
  Associate Professor Kirsten Thisted, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
   
• Top, Bottom or Side?: The Emergence of Queer Historical Research at KU and Beyond 
  Postdoc Tobias de Fønss Wung-Sung, Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies
   
• Where are the female geniuses? How brilliant women philosophers were rendered irrelevant 
  Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, Department of Communication

Panel 2: Now and Going Forward?

A look at current and future challenges: What do barriers and opportunities look like today? Four researchers will present insights from their work, followed by questions from the audience. 

• TBA
  Associate Professor Marie Sandberg, Saxo Institute
   
• Cultural analysis as exclusion analysis (in Danish)
  Professor Isak Winkel Holm, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
    
• Pedagogies of care in higher education: why do we need them? 
  Assistant Professor Magda Pischetola, Department of Communication
   
• What a trans look at literature can teach us about gender (in Danish)
  Associate Professor Mons Bissenbakker, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics

The seminar concludes with a reception and musical performance by UngKlang (vocal ensemble)

Registration

The event is free of charge and open to all, but registration is required. 

Register here