News

The next summer school

The 20th International Summer School and Symposium on Humour and Laughter will be organised by Halle University, Germany, from November 6 to 9, 2026. The main organiser is Rene Proyer. The summer school, though held in November and online, will follow all the good summer school traditions. It will feature lectures by an interdisciplinary group of scholars, presentation of student papers, personal feedback, meet the lecturer sessions, and much more. REGISTER HERE!

Summer school schedule 2026

All times in CET

Day 1 – November 6

11:30–12:00 Opening and an overview of ISS

12:00–13:00 Willibald Ruch — Psychology / empirical approaches / introduction

13:15–14:15 Joonas Koivukoski "Introduction to Political Humour Research"

14:30–15:30 Moira Marsh — Folklore / anthropology

15:45–16:45 Kiki Hempelmann — Linguistics / verbal humour

17:00–18:00 Meet the Lecturer

Day 2 – November 7

11:30–12:00 Publishing in Humour Studies — humour journals

12:00–13:00 Jessica Milner Davies "Researching humour and laughter: considering cultural context"

13:15–14:15 Kay Brauer "Individual differences in dealing with ridicule and being laughed at: Gelotophobia, gelotophilia, and katagelasticism"

14:30–15:30 Salvatore Attardo "Discursive Performance of Humor"

15:45–16:45 Sam Stull — Humour interventions

17:00–18:00 Meet the Lecturer

Day 3 – November 8

11:30–12:00 Mentorship in humour studies

12:00–13:00 Sonja Heintz — Psychology

13:15–14:15 Beer Prakken "Studying far-right humor: play, affect and ethnography"

14:30–15:30 Student Symposium I

15:45–16:45 Student Symposium II

17:00–18:00 Meet the Lecturer

Day 4 – November 9

11:30–12:00 Projects —Introducing currently ongoing projects

12:00–13:00 Delia Chiaro "Joking Globally: Lingua Franca, Culture, and the Mechanics of Humour Translation"

13:15–14:15 René Proyer — Psychology / personality and humour

14:30–15:30 Julia Taylor Rayz — Computational humour

15:45–16:45 Ori Amir "The Fly Beats the Elephant in the Room: A Brain Imaging and Eye-Tracking Study of Humor Creativity"

17:00–18:00 Meet the Lecturer and Closing Remarks

The Advisory Board welcomes bids from institutions wishing to host the Humour Summer School in future years. More information is available on the contact page.