The University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp (UCSIA) is an offspring of the former Jesuit institution UFSIA. It is an independent non-profit organization founded by the Jesuit Order and members of the former UFSIA with the aim of continuing the Jesuit university project and contributing to a more just society through education, community service and academic research.

Therefore, UCSIA has developed six different thematic lines to reflect on relevant issues with students, scholars, social actors and a wider public: ‘Religion, Culture & Society’, ‘Jesuit Heritage’, ‘Europe & Solidarity’, ‘Ethics & Economy’ and ‘Community Service-Learning and Innovations in Education’.

Within the thematic line ‘Religion, Culture and Society’, the first UCSIA Summer School was organized in 2003. Since then, the UCSIA Summer School has annually brought together a multidisciplinary and international group of 15 promising PhD students and post-doctoral scholars with a research interest in religion.

Key elements of the summer school are the discussion of theoretical frameworks through expert lectures and the mentoring of young scholars in the fields of humanities and social sciences. The programme consists of lectures and individual tutoring by the faculty, paper presentations by the students and disciplinary discussion sessions.

The UCSIA Summer School takes place in the last week of August in the beautiful historical building Hof van Liere at the city campus of the University of Antwerp (Antwerp, Belgium). It is the intention of the organizing committee and faculty to create an open and relaxed atmosphere in which students and faculty can freely discuss their scholarly work.