From July 14 to 17, 2026, the 17th International Conference of the International Society for Third Sector Research (ISTR) took place in Lisbon. The ISTR is a leading global academic association dedicated to research on the third sector. Its biennial international conference is one of the most important global platforms for academic exchange in this field of research. Now that the conference has concluded, we look back on several inspiring days filled with research and international exchange.

A particular highlight was the recognition of Dominik Meier, Assistant Professor of Global Philanthropy at CEPS, during the closing ceremony. He received the prestigious Lester M. Salamon Emerging Scholar Dissertation Award for his dissertation, “Social Preferences Across Contexts.” We extend our heartfelt congratulations to him on this outstanding and well-deserved honor.

CEPS was well represented throughout the conference. Prof. Georg von Schnurbein, Prof. Dominik Meier, Dr. Oto Potluka, Kinga Zsofia Horvath, Milan Weller, Carlo Tschopp, Alice Seffusatti, and Abigail served as speakers, moderators, panelists, participants in the PhD seminar, and members of committees and the ISTR Executive Board. Together, they represented CEPS and the University of Basel within the international research community on the third sector. In doing so, they contributed Swiss perspectives on philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, and civil society to the international academic debate. As a sponsor, the Center for Philanthropy Studies (CEPS) also supported the conference as an important international platform for advancing research on the third sector.