18.02.2019

Research-Alumnus has been appointed University of Tübingen Ambassador to China

The Kant specialist and researcher Dr. Dahan Fan takes over the new role in order to strengthen Tübingen’s visibility in China.

© Christin Wannagat

Dr. Dahan Fan holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tübingen, and was awarded the Tübingen Leopold Lucas Award 2017 for his dissertation, which he recently published as a book. He now teaches practical philosophy and Kantian aesthetics as an assistant professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing. His ongoing relationship with Tübingen, where he not only collaborates with his former colleagues but also supports the University’s exchange programs to China, has now been officially honored by the university leadership.

“Dr. Fan is an important research and cooperation partner for us in China. We are thrilled that he is helping to bring German philosophy to China”, says his former doctorate father Professor Otfried Höffe. Fan is the general secretary of the Chinese Society for German Philosophy, founded in 2017, with around one hundred members of professors and lecturers who teach and study German philosophy in China.

© Dr. Andrea Schaub

Fan’s mission as ambassador is also to support Chinese students in Tübingen. “I would be delighted to give Chinese students and doctoral candidates more self-confidence to participate in discussions and debates and to encourage them not to be afraid to express themselves in their courses and in their daily life at each German language level.” His first action as ambassador is accompanying an exchange of Chinese students from Tsinghua to Tübingen this summer.

The ambassador role is assumed by alumni and alumnae of the University of Tübingen whose connections to their alma mater are of outstanding quality and eminence. The ambassador network is part of the international research alumni relations of the University of Tübingen, and part of its internationalization strategy. It is supported by the initiative “Research in Germany”, and by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation within their program “Research Alumni Strategies”.

Christin Wannagat