“Gender, Identity, and Resilience: Challenging Norms, Exploring Futures” – WOLS 2025

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 (9.30–12.30) – “Gender, Identity, and Resilience: Challenging Norms, Exploring Futures” – Study Morning at the European School Luxembourg 1 – Kirchberg

This study morning at the European School of Kirchberg will feature the Luxembourg premiere of the documentary entitled ‘’Cuddle or Die”, created and directed by Claire Bower. The screening will be followed by a debate with students and teachers, featuring the director Claire Bower, Dr. Laura RAHM, Prof. Valentina VADI, and Dr.Elena DANESCU.

This study morning is organised in the framework of the 2025 edition of Winter (Online) Lecture Series on Europe.

Abstract of the documentary film “Cuddle or Die”, by Claire Bower

Most people have heard of the term toxic masculinity , but what does an alternative look like? Cuddle or Die is a coming-of-age documentary that unfolds over seven days as a group of masculine-identifying youth embark on a ‘rite of passage’ wilderness expedition designed to nurture positive masculinity. Set in the Albertan countryside and the Rocky Mountains, the group is led by 28-year-old Jonathon, Youth Program Manager with Canadian nonprofit, Next Gen Men. At times, the suitability of “rites of passages” as a method for cultivating positive masculinity is called into question. The youths’ experiences are interwoven with interview footage from academics and staff from Next Gen Men who share their differing perspectives about the debates concerning engaging men and boys in the prevention of gendered violence. The film does not conclude with any specific call to action or “single solution”, but rather encourages those working in this area to reflect critically on their understandings of gender, masculinities and violence prevention.

Joint chair: Dr Elena DANESCU, Martin WEDEL, Director of the European School Luxembourg 1–Kirchberg and Elina CHRYSTALLA, teacher at the European School Luxembourg 1–Kirchberg

Discussants: Claire BOWER, Dr Laura RAHM, Prof. Valentina VADI, Dr Elena DANESCU

Short biographies:

Claire BOWER is an Australian gender-based violence prevention practitioner and documentary film maker. She holds a Master in Critical Gender Studies from Central European University. Her thesis, an ethnography of a Canadian not-for-profit working to promote positive masculinity, forms the basis of her first feature length documentary, Cuddle of Die. She has produced other short documentaries including Unboxing Gender, which premiered at the Queer Shorts Vienna 2023 film festival, and Somos Las Masculinidades Diversas. Claire Bower’s research explores the creation and use of audiovisual media to advance critical studies of men and masculinities, support the prevention of gender-based violence, and translate academic ideas into educational tools that can change meaning and understanding at a societal level.

_{Photo: ©Claire BOWER}

Laura RAHM is a Political Sociologist and Associate Researcher at the Centre for Population and Development in Paris. She holds a PhD in Political Demography and Sociology from Sorbonne University, where she lectured on Population, Development, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She previously held a Jean Monnet Fellowship at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute and was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Research Fellow. Her main research focuses on global governance and gender studies. She has worked extensively on knowledge transfer, sustainable development, and public policies related to gender, population, and health, and has published widely in international journals. Currently, as a Policy Leader Fellow at the School for Transnational Governance (EUI, Florence), Dr RAHM is implementing a project titled “Reimagining Accountability: A Forward-Thinking Framework for Measuring Gender Equality.”

_{Photo: ©Laura Rahm}

Valentina VADI is an Associate Professor of International Law at the School of Political Science, Law, and International Studies of the University of Padua, Italy. She formerly held positions at the University of Florence, Lancaster University, and Maastricht University. She also was recently a Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute (2024–2025) and a Michigan Grotius Senior Research Fellow at Michigan Law School (2019). Her research focuses on public international law, international investment law, and cultural heritage. She has published over 100 articles and other contributions, including books such as Proportionality, Reasonableness and Standards of Review in International Investment Law and Arbitration (Edward Elgar, 2018), War and Peace: Alberico Gentili and the Early Modern Law of Nations (Brill, 2020), and Cultural Heritage in International Economic Law (Brill, 2023).

_{Photo: ©Valentina Vadi}

Elena DANESCU is a Research Scientist at the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH). She is a member in the Contemporary European History research group and is accredited to supervise PhD candidates within the Doctoral School in Humanities and Social Sciences. Her research, teaching and publications focuses on contemporary European history, European integration, EMU, history of economic thought, oral history, the role of women in diplomacy. She is an elected member of: the University Council (2018-2023 and 2023-2028), the Board of the Fondation du Mérite européen and the Council of the Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe. She’s also in charge of Europe Direct University of Luxembourg – a competitive public history project co-funded by the European Union (2021-2025) and a founding fellow of the Robert Schuman Initiative for European Affairs. In 2020, she was awarded the Fernand Braudel Senior Fellowship at the European University Institute (EUI), and in 2024, she received a Jean Monnet Fellowship at he Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCS) for the interdisciplinary research project “The Female Face of the EU.”

_{Photo: ©Elena Danescu}