The DSP Gendered Body Politics, the ATHENA Center for Intersectional Research, and the Professorship of Politics & Gender, Diversity & Equality (Department of Political Science) at the University of Salzburg are delighted to invite all PhDs, young scholars, interested faculty, researchers, and students to an afternoon of academic exchange featuring guest speaker Laura Rahm (European University Institute, Florence / Centre Population et Développement, Paris).

Please save the date for this dynamic two-part event exploring global gender governance and academic publishing:

• Date: Monday, 15 June 2026

• Time: 13:00 – 17:00

• Location: Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 18 (Specific room details below)

Programme Overview

13:00 – 15:00 | The Nuts and Bolts of Academic Book Writing

Workshop: Publication Strategies for Young Scholars, Sigmund Haffner Gasse 18 Room: HS330, 5020 Salzburg

Designed especially for junior researchers, doctoral students, and postdocs, this highly interactive workshop provides practical guidance on turning a dissertation or research project into a book proposal, navigating the complexities of academic publishing, and developing long-term writing projects. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their own book ideas in an interactive setting.

15:00 – 17:00 | The Global Governance of Harmful Practices: Actors, Networks, and Knowledge Transfer in Transnational Gender Programmes (Bristol University Press, 2026)

Book Presentation & Discussion, Sigmund Haffner Gasse 18 Room: HS331, 5020 Salzburg

Join us for a presentation and discussion of Laura Rahm’s newly published open-access monograph. Drawing on political sociology, demography, and gender studies, the book offers a critical, interdisciplinary perspective on global gender governance and the hidden „knowledge battles“ over what counts as a harmful practice. Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss their own book ideas and projects in an interactive setting.

About the Speaker

Laura Rahm is a political sociologist and demographer specializing in global governance and sustainable development. She is currently a Policy Leader Fellow at the Florence School of Transnational Governance (EUI) and an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Population and Development in Paris. Her research examines how knowledge, data, and policy interact to shape development outcomes, with a focus on gender, population, and health. The Global Governance of Harmful Practices is her second monograph.

About the Book

Hundreds of millions of women and girls worldwide continue to face practices that violate their rights. Drawing on political sociology, demography, anthropology, and gender studies, this book offers an interdisciplinary analysis of how policies are framed, contested, and translated across contexts. Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT), it maps the complex webs of bureaucrats, donors, and experts circulating knowledge in global campaigns, revealing the dynamics of transnational knowledge transfer and the politics of changing „sticky“ social norms.

Open Access:  Read the book for free via Bristol University Press

What the Experts Say:

• „A powerful, timely study of how global gender policy gets produced and how knowledge-to-policy processes actually work. Rigorous, insightful, and expertly written.“ — Ginette Azcona, Former Research and Data Policy Specialist at UN Women

• „A bold analysis how global actors challenge entrenched norms about harmful practices, revealing the hidden politics and transnational knowledge battles.” — Diane Stone, Chair of Global Policy, Florence School of Transnational Governance