Open Knowledge: Wikimedia & Research in the CEE Region
Open Knowledge: Wikimedia & Research in the CEE Region – join us!
[edit]Open Knowledge: Wikimedia & Research in the CEE Region is a conference that will bring together the Wikimedia community with researchers who study, use or collaborate with Wikimedia projects in their work. It is also open to everyone interested in open science and the democratisation of knowledge.
Key information:
[edit]Time: 9-10 October 2026 (with satellite activities on 8 October) Place: Katowice, Poland and online
The event is co-organised by Wikimedia Polska and Wikimedia Ukraine, in partnership with the University of Silesia and with support from the Wikimedia CEE Hub. It is supported by a grant from Wikimedia Foundation.
The conference will be a space to exchange ideas, understand each other’s perspectives, and explore practical ways of working together. Participants can expect:
- Presentations of research and Wikimedia-related projects
- Workshops and practical sessions
- Discussion panels
- Interactive networking and brainstorming sessions.
The will be hybrid, most of the programme will be livestreamed and online participation will also be possible. More information about the programme will be available soon.
Programme submissions: 1 May - 30 June
Scholarship applications: 1 May - 24 May
Regular registration (without programme submission): 1 May - 8 Sept
Why Research in the CEE Region?
[edit]Central and Eastern Europe is a diverse region with active Wikimedia communities and strong academic traditions. At the same time, collaboration between these two worlds leaves a lot of space for development. For example, Wikipedia in local languages is less studied than the English Wikipedia, and the awareness and use of Wikidata by researchers is rather limited.
By organising this conference, we want to:
- Strengthen connections between researchers and Wikimedia communities in the CEE region and beyond.
- Share best practices in research and higher education from across the region.
- Build a sustainable network of collaboration.
Who is this conference for?
[edit]
We welcome Wikimedians, researchers, students, PhD students, librarians and academic librarians, people working with data including data stewards.
If you are:
- Interested in research collaborations with Wikimedia
- Curious about Wikimedia-related research
- A Wikidata editor, considering new project ideas
- A researcher using Wikidata or working on Wikimedia topics
- Interested in open science, digital humanities, or knowledge equity
This event is for you!
The conference is primarily for attendees from the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Community, including: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Turkey.
Participants from outside the region are also welcome if interested in this focus. Scholarships will be available for participants from the CEE region. Some speakers will be international.