The Vienna Conference on the Social Sciences (VCSS2026)

November 13-17, 2026 | Austria Center Vienna, Vienna, Austria & Online

International, Intercultural, Interdisciplinary

The Vienna Conference on the Social Sciences (VCSS2026) will be hosted alongside The Vienna Conference on Arts and Humanities (VCAH2026) as a part of the IAFOR European City Conference Series. Registration for either of these conferences will allow delegates to attend any joint plenary session or parallel sessions as desired.

Willkommen in Wien! Welcome to Vienna!

Vienna is a wonderful and vibrant city, and a great central European cultural centre. Previously the capital of the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire and now the capital of Austria, Vienna has a long and storied history reflecting its geographical position at the very heart of the European peninsula. A meeting place of peoples and ideas for centuries, Vienna is today constitutionally and permanently committed to neutrality. The city serves as one of the world’s most important hubs for global diplomacy and multilateral cooperation, and the headquarters to several UN agencies.

Vienna is a global centre for the arts and design, with a diverse and beautiful cityscape, including wonderful examples of Baroque, Secessionist, and modernist architecture. Its world-class galleries boast renowned collections of European art throughout the ages, including those dedicated to the Viennese artists Klimt and Schiele. However, it is for music that ‘The City of Music’ is most famous and celebrated, as it is home to the world’s greatest classical composers, including Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, and Mahler. Vienna continues that musical tradition today, from public street performances and waltzes to opulent performance halls such as the Opera House and the Musikverein, the home of the renowned Vienna Philharmonic.

Alongside its artistic and musical heritage lies a great intellectual and academic tradition, which have influenced and inspired each other for centuries. Home to great and prestigious universities and academies, Vienna is perhaps best known for its coffeehouse tradition; spaces which became informal centres of learning through social and intellectual exchange, and where people engaged across the lines of nation, culture, but most importantly discipline, as the city and university intersected. During Vienna’s golden age, the interplay of politics, philosophy, psychology, and the arts fostered an environment that shaped some of the twentieth century’s most brilliant minds — among them Freud, Adler, Wittgenstein, Popper, Hayek, and Loos — and whose ideas in turn continue to influence and define modern thought.

We look forward to being inspired by the international, intercultural, and interdisciplinary traditions of Vienna, and to contributing to its intellectual life through our conference. This event will bring together hundreds of scholars from around the world to exchange ideas, research, and perspectives as we bring our International Academic Forum to Vienna. Join us!

I look forward to seeing you in Vienna!

For and on behalf of the IAFOR International Academic Board

Dr Joseph Haldane, Osaka University, Japan & University College London, United Kingdom
Chairman and CEO, IAFOR

Professor Jun Arima, University of Tokyo, Japan
President, IAFOR

Professor Anne Boddington, Middlesex University, United Kingdom
Executive Vice-President and Provost, IAFOR

IAFOR's Conference Themes for 2025-2029

Our selected themes for 2025-2029 bring together ideas and encourage research and synergies in the following areas:

Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Humanity and Human Intelligence

Global Citizenship and Education for Peace

Leadership

Our four themes can be seen as standalone themes, but they are also very much in conversation with each other. Themes may be seen as corollaries, complementary, or in opposition/juxtaposition with each other. The themes can be considered as widely as possible and are designed, in keeping with our mission, to encourage ideas across the disciplines.

Conference News

Conference Report and Intelligence Briefing: SEACE2025

IAFOR launched its inaugural conference in Malaysia with The 5th Southeast Asian Conference on Education (SEACE2025) in Kuala Lumpur, and welcomed 232 delegates from 41 countries, representing 173 institutions and organisations worldwide ...

IAFOR Grant and Scholarship Recipients: The 5th Southeast Asian Conference on Education (SEACE2025)

We are delighted to announce the recipients of IAFOR grants and scholarships for The 5th Southeast Asian Conference on Education (SEACE2025) to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between February 21-25, 2025. In total, we received 65 scholarship applications. Launched ...

Conference Dinner

Join us after the plenaries for the Conference Dinner at Bijan Bar & Restaurant, where you reconvene with fellow delegates and our keynote presenters to continue conversations from the conference over an authentic Malay meal ...

Sponsorship & Exhibition

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About IAFOR

"Inspiring Global Collaborations"

Founded in 2009, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a mission-driven politically independent non-partisan and non-profit organisation dedicated to encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating intercultural awareness and promoting international exchange, principally through educational interaction and academic research. Based in Japan, its main administrative office is in Nagoya, and its research centre is in the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), a graduate school of The University of Osaka. IAFOR runs research programs and events in partnership with universities, think tanks, and other associations. Through its international, intercultural and interdisciplinary conferences, research, and publications, IAFOR is a network hub for interdisciplinary discussion across Asia and beyond.
Read more about IAFOR.