The Ruhr University Bochum is hosting a two-day workshop, co-organised by Dr. Sissy Katsoni and Dr. Julian Hettihewa with funding received from the Volkswagen Stiftung in the context of its ‘Researching Research: Summer Schools and Workshops’ program. The workshop, which will take place in Bochum on 9–10 December 2026, seeks to critically examine the role and impact of neutrality in legal scholarship and knowledge production.

In legal scholarship, neutrality is frequently invoked as a defining characteristic of academic rigour, objectivity, and “excellence”. Legal scholars are often expected – and sometimes pressured – to avoid taking explicit positions on politically or socially sensitive questions, presenting their work as detached from values and grounded in “objective reasoning”. At the same time, critics have pointed to the ways in which appeals to neutrality may conceal existing hierarchies and privileged epistemologies, and may shape research agendas, publishing practices, peer review, and funding decisions.

The workshop aims to critically examine neutrality as a construct, a methodological stance, and a disciplinary instrument in legal scholarship. It will bring together researchers from different disciplines, including law, philosophy, sociology, politics, and science studies, to discuss the conceptual and historical foundations of neutrality, its sociopolitical dimensions, its implications for academic infrastructure and research methodologies, and its relationship to academic rigour. The workshop’s programme is available here.

A limited number of places are available for engaged listeners, who will participate in the workshop as audience members. The organisers would like to extend a warm invitation to those with an interest in the topics to be discussed, in particular questions concerning neutrality, objectivity, positionality, academic rigour, knowledge production, and the politics and methodologies of legal scholarship.

If you are interested in participating in the workshop as an engaged listener, please send a short email explaining your interest in the workshop to Dr. Sissy Katsoni (Spyridoula.Katsoni@ruhr-uni-bochum.de) and Dr. Julian Hettihewa (jhettih2@uni-bonn.de) by 31 October 2026. Please use the subject line “Application: Engaged Listener – Impact of Neutrality Workshop”.

In your email, please also indicate whether you would require travel assistance to attend the workshop. The organisers have a limited amount of funding available to provide travel assistance, which will be allocated on the basis of need and subject to availability.

We particularly welcome participation from early-career researchers, including current doctoral students andpostdoctoral researchers, as well as researchers from disciplines and academic backgrounds beyond law.

The outcome will be communicated by 15 November 2026.

Participation in the workshop is free of charge. Engaged listeners will generally be responsible for arranging their own transport and accommodation. Limited travel assistance may be available on the basis of need, as indicated above.