Director Prof. Julika Griem discusses the remarkable profile: “The College for Social Sciences and Liberal arts combines research study professorships, early-career research groups, and distinguished worldwide leading scholars as fellows. This structure, which is distinct in Germany, makes it possible to check out ingenious fields of research study in an interdisciplinary method and to develop networks.”
Since its founding in 2021 as part of the Research Alliance Ruhr, the College for Social Sciences and Humanities was able to fill most of its professorships with outstanding scholars in the liberal arts and the social sciences. Through its Fellowship Program, the College has actually already brought 36 prominent researchers from all over the world to Essen for 6 months. The tandem jobs with members of the UA Ruhr often lead to long-lasting research study cooperation.
Cutting-Edge Research Study with a Concentrate On Culture, Society, and Politics
At the ceremonial opening on 1 December, the teachers of the College supplied insights into their research study fields. For example, Prof. Tahani Nadim– in discussion with civil society and archives– examines how memory culture and curatorial practices are altering through digital innovations. Another focus is on ecological humanities, which examine the social and cultural elements of ecological transformation. In 3 research study groups, the Assistant Professors Elena Beregow, Florian Fastenrath and Matthias Kranke are exploring, among other elements, how we culturally handle (increasing) sweating in times of environment change, whether sustainability can be governed worldwide, and how politics addresses social inequality.
The Minister of Culture and Science of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Ina Brandes, highlighted the College’s function in science and society: “The Ruhr area demonstrates how the change from a center of coal mining to a knowledge region can be effectively achieved. Today, research and science are the resources that make sure excellent jobs, success and social security. I am therefore delighted to open the College for Social Sciences and Liberal Arts of the Research Study Alliance Ruhr. Huge strength is produced when the three significant universities in the Ruhr region pool their know-how in the liberal arts and social sciences. Especially in unsure times, we require such strong alliances that skillfully examine and describe social developments.”
The rector of the University of Duisburg-Essen, Prof. Barbara Albert, along with the rector of Ruhr University Bochum, Prof. Martin Paul, and the rector of TU Dortmund University, Prof. Manfred Bayer, mentioned the crucial part that the College plays within the University Alliance Ruhr: “The College initiates and strengthens international relations of our universities to prestigious research institutions worldwide, particularly through the Fellowship Program. By complying in the Research Alliance Ruhr, we are more enhancing the position of innovative research study in the liberal arts and the social sciences in the Ruhr area, making it more visible globally.”
The Role of Academic Community in Technological and Political Change
In a keynote lecture, Prof. Rajani Naidoo, UNESCO Professor of Higher Education and Social Modification and Vice-President of the University of Exeter (UK), showed how universities can constructively add to shaping technological modification in the tension in between society, politics and economy. The concluding panel discussion focussed on the function of research institutions in the face of threatened democracies. Prof. Stephen Brown, political scientist at the University of Ottawa (Canada) and previous fellow at the College, Prof. Daniel Feierstein, sociologist at the National University of Tres de Febrero (Argentina) and present fellow, Prof. Eva Geulen, Director of the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research in Berlin, and Prof. Dorota Sajewska, theatre research studies scholar at Ruhr University Bochum, talked about how academic organizations can react when academic flexibility comes under pressure in the worldwide political arena.
About the College
The College for Social Sciences and Humanities promotes high-profile research study in the social sciences and humanities within the University Alliance Ruhr and advances international cooperation and exposure. As an Institute for Advanced Study, the College offers a cross-university online forum for exploring and developing innovative fields of research study and stimulates interdisciplinary cooperation in the social sciences and humanities. The foundations of the College are three research study professorships, 3 research study groups, and a global Senior Fellowship Program that invites up to 20 excellent scholars each year for a research study stay. The College also supports early-career researchers through formats such as the PostdocLab.
To the College
Contact for queries:
Melina Wachtling
College for Social Sciences and Liberal Arts
E-mail