Public Events and Activities
Given the public relevance of religion, the VDTR regularly organises events for audiences inside and outside the university, including science communication initiatives, book launches of our PhD candidates, and discussions with academics, civil society, and policymakers. Many of our events spotlight the work of our PhD candidates.
15 October 2026, 2-3.30pm: Masterclass with Prof. Hille Haker
We are pleased to welcome Prof. Hille Haker (Loyola University Chicago, Richard McCormick Chair of Catholic Moral Theology) for a masterclass on "Democracy in America?". Prof. Haker is a theologian and ethicist; her research interests include various topics in Christian social ethics, including hermeneutical ethics, feminist ethics, human rights and global justice, to name but a few. She has extensively published in the field of bioethics and social ethics. Following an introduction by Prof. Haker, PhD candidates will offer short responses to her text, followed by an open discussion. If you are interested in taking part in the masterclass, please contact us by email at contact.vdtr@univie.ac.at
Portrait of Prof. Hille Haker of Loyola University
21 October, 5pm: VDTR Public Lecture with Prof. Sebastian Gäb
Actual problems and critical situations – such as ecological crisis and political disruption – have more and more shown the need for a thought that can be effective, but nonetheless not all-encompassing. This conference - organised by VDTR PhD candidates - proposes "experimenting philosophy of religion" as field, method and a performative mode of exchange: a practice of inquiry that acknowledges precarity and embraces provisional possibilities of thinking.
As part of the conference, the organisers kindly invite you to a public evening event:
17.00 Public Key Note by Sebastian Gäb (Munich) on the topic of the “The Future of Philosophy of Religion”
18.30 Podium Discussion with Kurt Appel, Sandra Lehmann, Moritz Maurer, Miriam Metze and Christoph Rogers on “Issues, challenges and perspectives of Philosophy of Religion”
20.00 Performance by Noemi Call (Vienna): A Guest in Con-fusio: A Performance on Staying with Uncertainty in Philosophy of Religion
Place: Dean‘s Hall of the Faculty of Catholic Theology, Main Building of the University of Vienna, 2nd Floor, 2nd Staircase
