Cultural and social science approaches in dialogue. Social advancement through education not only commands respect for individual effort, it is also considered a hallmark of a fair education system. However, research shows that educational advancement is often experienced as highly ambivalent. In order to explore educational advancement in all its contradictions, the project takes a new approach: it focuses on auto-sociobiographies and related types of texts as its research subject and organizes cooperation between education, literature, history, and sociology. In the form of an interdisciplinary graduate college, an innovative research network is to be established that would be unique beyond the German-speaking world.

The study of East Polynesian history through an archaeogenomic time transect. The Polynesian triangle, a group of more than one thousand islands spread over two million km2 in the Pacific Ocean was the easternmost frontier for one of the greatest human expansions into the open ocean. This expansion along with later human movements and interactions have shaped the present-day cultural, linguistic, and genetic diversity of Polynesian communities. We study the genomes of ancient East Polynesians to gain insights on settlement history, health, and diversification of social practices through time. A fundamental objective is establishing a strong network of East Polynesian communities along with local archaeologists and linguists that will serve as a foundation for ongoing engagement and bidirectional exchange throughout the research process.

An interdisciplinary perspective based on governance networks and future climate scenarios. Many regions in Germany will be affected by the increasing effects of climate change if effective climate protection measures are not taken immediately. Water scarcity and drought threaten the livelihoods of humans and nature. With an interdisciplinary research project that brings together findings from political and environmental sciences, we are contributing to research on the governance of water resources. Using cross-impact balance (CIB) analysis, governance networks and complex political decision-making processes are analyzed in conjunction with scenarios for future climate conditions in order to find efficient strategies for water resource resilience, building adaptation capacities, and reducing carbon emissions, and to support informed decision-making. The aim is to further deepen this research through a DFG research group application.

Link: Project website

Link: Institute for Research on Right-Wing Extremism (IRex)

The research project aims to conceptualize and systematically break down right-wing immersion. By this, we mean the process in which subjects encounter right-wing worldviews or lifestyles and consciously or unconsciously become involved (or allow themselves to become involved). We investigate how right-wing immersion works in various (media) infrastructures and what resources and strategies are used in the process. Specifically, we ask how right-wing patterns of knowledge are taken up in everyday and scientific interpretations, politically reshape them, and thereby generate resonance in different social milieus.

Following the conceptualization of ‘right-wing immersion,’ best practice projects in which ‘right-wing immersion’ is successfully counteracted will be examined. The aim here is to systematize the experiences from the projects and develop a ‘response framework’ for promoting democratic resilience.

In addition, the project is an interdisciplinary working context that will culminate in an application to establish a DFG research group on “Right-wing Immersion and Democratic Resilience.” Participants include the Institute for Research on Far Right Extremism (IRex), the application group for the establishment of IRex, and experts from other universities.