Finished projects: Research Units
Research Unit: Strategies of Ecologically Beneficial Land Utilisation in the Plains of North-East Germany
Spokesperson:
Prof. Karlheinz Richter
Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture
Department of Plant Cultivation Sciences
Invalidenstr. 42
D-10115 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 2093-8351/8358
Fax: +49 30 2093-8357
E-Mail: karlheinz.richter@agrar.hu-berlin.de
Duration: 11/96 - 06/99
Research Unit: Cutaneous Tumours
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sterry
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Clinic of Dermatology, Venerology, Allergology and Asthma
Schumannstr. 20/21
D-10117 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 450-518905
Fax: +49 30 450-518911
E-Mail: wolfram.sterry@charite.de
Duration: seit 02/96
Research Unit: Conception, Theoretical Substantiation and Validation of Applied Petri-Net Technology
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Reisig
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences II
Department of Computer Sciences
Rudower Chaussee 5
D-12489 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 2093-3966
Fax: +49 30 2093-3067
E-Mail: reisig@informatik.hu-berlin.de
Duration: 01/96 - 07/02
Homepage: http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/PNT/
Research Unit: New Methods of Non-Invasive Functional Diagnostics of the CNS
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Arno Villringer
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Clinic of Neurology
Schumannstr. 20/21
D-10117 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 450-560142
Fax: +49 30 450-560952
E-Mail: arno.villringer@charite.de
Duration: 02/96 - 02/02
Research Unit: Pediatric Molecular Biology
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Gaedicke
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Clinic of General Pediatrics
Augustenburger Platz 1
D-13353 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 450-566161
Fax: +49 30 450-566916
E-Mail: gerhard.gaedicke@charite.de
Duration: 10/98 - 07/04
Research Unit 102: Biomechanics and Biology of Bone Healing: Individual, Load Adapted Osteosynthesis
Spokesperson:
PD Dr. Georg Duda
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Clinic of Trauma and Reconstructice Surgery
Augustenburger Platz 1
D-13353 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 450-559079
Fax: +49 30 450-559969
E-Mail: duda@charite.de
Duration: 01/02 - 09/09
Homepage: http://www.charite.de/cmsc/
Clinical Research Unit 105: Wachstumskontrolle neoplastischer B-Zellen: Tumorbiologie und molekulare Therapieansätze
Spokesperson:
PD Dr. med. Ralf Bargou
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Internal Medicine Clinic Specializing in Haematology / Oncology and Tumor Immunology
HELIOS Klinikum Berlin - Robert-Rössle-Klinik
Lindenberger Weg 80
D-13125 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 9417 1365
Fax: +49 30 9417 1209
E-Mail: bargou@mdc-berlin.de
Duration: 01/02 - 09/09
Research Unit 177: Continuity and Change: Transformation Processes of School and Education in the Soviet Zone, the GDR and the new Federal States
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Dietrich Benner
Faculty of Arts IV
Department of Philosophy of Education
Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 7
D-10117 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 2093-4091
Fax: +49 30 2093-4047
E-Mail: dietrich.benner@rz.hu-berlin.de
Duration: 05/94 - 11/00
Research Unit 192: Muscular Dystrophies
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Friedrich C. Luft
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Campus Berlin Buch
Robert-Roessle-Str. 10
13122 Berlin, Germany
E-Mail
Duration: 07/07 - 12/14
Research Unit 202: Historical-Sociological Comparison of Societies: Structures and Identities in Cognitive and Social Change
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Kaelble
Faculty of Arts I
Department of History
Unter den Linden 6
D-10099 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 2093-2236/2217
Fax: +49 30 2093-2797
E-Mail: KaelbleH@geschichte.hu-berlin.de
Duration: 11/94 - 12/00
Research Unit 221: "Cortical Plasticity": Psycho-physiological Studies of Lesion-induced and Behaviour-induced Functional Changes in Cortical Maps
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Herta Flor
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences II
Department of Psychology
Hausvogteiplatz 5-7
D-10117 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 20246-830
Fax: +49 30 20240-808
E-Mail: hflor@rz.hu-berlin.de
Duration: 09/98 - 09/01
Research Unit 299: Optimised Molecular Libraries for Analysing Biological Recognition Processes
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Jens Schneider-Mergener
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Department of Medical Immunology
Ziegelstr. 5-9
D-10117 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 450-524092
Fax: +49 30 450-524942
E-Mail: jsm@charite.de
Duration: 01/98 - 01/04
Homepage: http://www.charite.de/immunologie/
Research Unit 391: Picture - Scipture - Number
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Coy
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences II
Department of Computer Science
Rudower Chaussee 25
D-12489 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 2093-3166
Fax: +49 30 2093-3168
E-Mail: coy@informatik.hu-berlin.de
Duration: 03/01 - 10/06
Homepage: http://www2.rz.hu-berlin.de/kulturtechnik/bsz.php/bsz.htm
Research Unit 413: Algorithms, Structure, Randomness
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Hans Jürgen Prömel
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences II
Department of Computer Science
Rudower Chaussee 25
D-12489 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 2093-3190
Fax: +49 30 2093-3191
E-Mail: proemel@informatik.hu-berlin.de
Duration: 04/01 - 12/06
Homepage: http://asz.informatik.hu-berlin.de/
Research Unit 497: Structural Change and Transition in Agriculture
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dieter Kirschke
Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture
Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences
Luisenstr. 56
D-10115 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 2093-6256
Fax: +49 30 2093-6301
E-Mail: dieter.kirschke@agrar.hu-berlin.de
Duration: 04/03 - 05/06
Research Unit 526: Blue - light receptors
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Peter Hegemann
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences I
Department of Biology
Invalidenstr. 42
D-10115 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 2093-8681
Fax: +49 30 2093-8520
E-Mail: hegemape@rz.hu-berlin.de
Duration: 10/04 - 10/10
Homepage: http://www.bluelightphotoreceptors.de/
Research Unit 218: Hormonal regulation of body weight maintenance
Spokesperson
Prof. Dr. Annette Grüters-Kieslich
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Charitéplatz 1
10117 Berlin
E-Mail: annette.grueters@charite.de
Duration: 07/09 - 12/15
Homepage: http://adipositas.charite.de
Research Unit 667: Epithelial Mechanisms in Renal Volume Regulation
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Bachmann
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Center for Anatomy
Institute of Cardiorenal Anatomy
Philippstr. 12
10115 Berlin
E-Mail
Duration: 01/2006 - 12/2012
Research Unit 778: Conflicts as Signals in Cognitive Systems
Spokesgroup:
Prof. Dr. Peter A. Frensch, Prof. Dr. Stephan Brandt, PD Dr. Birgit Stürmer
Faculty of Life Sciences
Department of Psychology
Rudower Chaussee 18
D-12489 Berlin
E-Mail
Duration: 07/06 - 10/13
Research Unit 804: Retrograde signaling in plants
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Grimm
Faculty of Life Sciences
Department of Biology
Plant Physiology
Hannoversche Str. 27 (Haus 12)
D-10115 Berlin
E-Mail:
Duration: 05/07 - 04/13
Research Unit 955: Akteure der kulturellen Globalisierung, 1860-1930
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Andreas Eckert
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department of Asian and African Studies
Invalidenstr. 118
D-10115 Berlin
E-Mail
Duration: 01/08 - 03/14
Research Unit 986: Structural change in agriculture
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Martin Odening
Faculty of Life Sciences
Department of Economics and Social Sciences in Agriculture
Luisenstr. 56
D-10117 Berlin
Homepage
Research Unit 1008: Bildakt-Forschung. Geschichte, Technik und Theorie des Bildaktes
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Horst Bredekamp
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department of Art and Visual History
Unter den Linden 6
D-10099 Berlin
E-Mail
Duration: 09/08 - 08/12
Research Unit 1054: Sex specific mechanisms in myocardial hypertrophy
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Campus Charité Mitte
Luisenstraße 65
East wing / 10th floor
10117 Berlin
E-Mail
Duration: 09/08 - 05/16
Research Unit 1120: Kulturen des Wahnsinns (1870 - 1930). Schwellenphänomene der urbanen Moderne
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Volker Hess
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Campus Charité Mitte (CCM)
Institute of History of Medicine
Ziegelstraße 5-9
10117 Berlin
E-Mail
Duration: 10/08 - 03/15
Research Unit 1279: Protein-based Photoswitches as Optogenetic Tools
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Peter Hegemann
Faculty of Life Sciences
Department of Biology
Invalidenstr. 42
10115 Berlin
E-Mail
Duration: 03/10 - 08/16
Research Unit 1336: Von Monozyten bis zu Hirnmakrophagen - Einflüsse auf die Eigenschaften myeloider Zellen im Gehirn
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Josef Priller
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Campus Charité Mitte (CCM)
Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie
Charitéplatz 1
D-10117 Berlin
E-Mail
Duration: since 2009
Research Unit 1368: Hemodynamic Mechanisms of Acute Kidney Injury
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Pontus Börje Persson
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Campus Charité Mitte (CCM)
Johannes Müller Centrum für Physiologie
Institut für Vegetative Physiologie
Hessische Straße 3-4
10115 Berlin
E-Mail
Duration: since 2010
FOR 1493: Diamond Materials for Quantum Application
In the past couple of years solid-state quantum optics and spintronics has undergone spectacular developments (1). Achievements like coherent coupling of multiple quantum systems, spin photon entanglement or long lived quantum memories witness that the control has reached a quantum level, known so far only from atomic systems. On the other hand, versatile material properties and advanced nano-structuring brings about novel opportunities, which are unique for solid-state systems. Examples are near-field enhanced spin-photon coupling or photon-phonon coupling mediated by nano- mechanical systems (2). In contrast to atomic physics model systems, any quantum device built from solid-state materials comprises a huge number of atoms. Consequently, successful developments to solid-state quantum physics and technology rely on proper choice and design of the materials that embed the quantum degrees of freedom, thus demanding significant efforts in material science. Research in the Forschergruppe aims at exploiting the outstanding material properties of diamond for quantum technology. Defects in diamond allow for exquisite quantum control as they are embedded in a solid with intrinsically low coupling to solid-state degrees of freedom like phonons. In the past funding period, excellent progress has been made by "engineering" of single defect center properties both, with respect to spin and optical control. First steps were taken towards embedding defects in nanostructures and control units. The physics of some impurities - most notably the nitrogen vacancy (NV) and Silicon vacancy (SiV) center - are meanwhile known with such precision that they serve as a benchmark for advance electron structure calculation (3). Such knowledge gave way to new applications, e.g. for quantum networks and sensing. The proposal for the second funding period is dominated by the attempt to further integrate defects into complex periphery and developing diamond structuring onto such a level that some of the outstanding properties of bulk diamond can also be used in nanostructures. The research group strives towards continuously gathering expertise in the area of diamond growth, structuring photonics as well as quantum control. While research avenues pursued in the first funding period are continued, new directions - most importantly - engineered spin-phonon coupling will be explored. The research group now also comprises two theory projects devoted to the latter area.
Host university:
Universität Stuttgart
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Jörg Wrachtrup
Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Department of Physics
Duration: 2011-2022
FOR 2092: Biogenese of Thylakoid Membranes: Spatiotemporal Organisation of Photosynthetic Protein Complex Assembly
Photosynthetic electron transport is mediated by multi-subunit pigment-protein complexes which are situated in a specialized membrane system, named thylakoids. Despite a detailed knowledge on the structure and function of these complexes, little is known on their assembly during thylakoid membrane biogenesis. The emerging picture of this process depicts a highly-ordered scaffold of assembly factors that integrates the incorporation of proteins and organic as well as inorganic co-factors in a step-wise manner. Recent work has also indicated that the production line for photosynthetic complexes is initiated at biogenic membrane sub-compartments from where it proceeds via discrete and conserved assembly intermediates to generate a functional energy converting apparatus. The FOR2092 Research Unit has set out to disentangle the molecular principles of the spatiotemporal organization of thylakoid membrane biogenesis by applying a multidisciplinary, systematic approach combining unique expertise in molecular genetics, biochemistry, biophysics and ultrastructural analyses. The concept includes the comparative investigation of a set of suitable model organisms that enables one to follow the complete evolutionary path for the development of thylakoid complexity from primordial cyanobacteria to chloroplasts of vascular plants. By focusing on distinct assembly factors and the spatiotemporal organization of their working mode, the joined forces of FOR2092 members have recently discovered a variety of new molecular aspects of thylakoid biogenesis. The findings include details of photosystem II and photosystem I assembly, membrane insertion of thylakoid proteins, organic and inorganic co-factor incorporation and formation of biogenic membrane structures. In addition, both genetic and biochemical approaches have identified several new components of the intricate assembly factor network for thylakoid biogenesis. In sum, this obtained body of evidence now forms the solid basis for a proceeding comprehensive study of the biogenesis process which will be complemented by comparative analysis of the pigment-free ATPase complex as well as state-of-the-art studies on thylakoid ultrastructure in situ. The consortium envisions that by answering the questions how, where and when the different assembly processes take place and are integrated during thylakoid maturation, the development of knowledge-based strategies for the targeted modification of the biogenesis process in a broad set of photosynthetic model organisms will become feasible in the future.
Host university:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Jörg Nickelsen
Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Biology
Duration: 2014-2022
FOR 2177: Integrated Chemical Micro Laboratories (In-CheM)
Chemistry in miniaturized systems in which (bio)-chemical processestake place in microchannels or cavities is a very active field ofresearch. In recent years, impressive scientific progress has beenachieved in micro reaction technology as well as in the miniaturizationof analytical methods and technologies. Despite intense researchefforts are made in these single disciplines all around the world, theirefficient combination is still largely in its infancy. The intention of theresearch unit “Integrated Chemical Micro Laboratories (In-CheM)” isto meet this particular challenge and to synergistically bridge the gapbetween highly topical approaches in (bio)-organic synthesis andchemical analysis in micro systems. To achieve this interdisciplinarygoal, a team of scientists performs fundamental research in the fieldsof (bio-) chemical transformations in chips or micro reactors. A strongfocus is the combination of chemical synthesis with analyticaltechniques to inline characterize the processes in real-time. By closecooperation of experienced scientists from analytics and synthesisoriented disciplines of (bio-) chemistry, significant progress in the areaof integrated synthesis and analysis labs is expected. Prominentapplication fields of such innovation can contribute in the field of, forexample, drug discovery, assembly of substance libraries, control ofcatalytic reactions and the elucidation of reaction mechanism.Attributed to the strong regional cluster of experts in the fields of labon-a-chip technology, analytical chemistry and synthetic (bio-) organicchemistry, the research area Leipzig-Berlin represents an almost idealbasis for a regionally focused research unit dedicated to meet these scientific challenges.
Host university:
Universität Leipzig
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Detlev Belder
Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry
Duration: 2015-2023
FOR 2402: Rough Paths, Stochastic Partial Differential Equations and Related Topics
The interplay of rough paths with stochastic partial differential equations (SPDEs) has continued, since writing the initial proposal of the research unit some 3 years ago, to rise to one of the most active areas in the intersection of modern probability theory and analysis. Much stems from the fact that the modelling of an evolving system with many variables leads almost inevitably to (partial) differential equations, and yet, we now face many situations (ranging from statistical physics and quantum field theory to neuroscience and financial markets) in which all smoothness assumptions - on which classical theories of differential equations rely in one form or another - are a fortiori violated. Easy (to state) examples include the phase transition of a burning paper sheet or the development of yield curves in fixed income markets. Another aspect is central to these examples: the intrinsic randomness and the resulting need for a statistical description. It comes as no surprise that the field of stochastic partial differential equations has massively gained importance over the last decades. In its classical form, the foundations of which were settled 30+ years ago, SPDE theory fully relied on Ito’s (martingale based) stochastic analysis in a Hilbert space setting. A (slow in the beginning) revolution came in the form of Lyons’ rough path theory, exactly 20 years ago, formulated for ordinary differential differential equations. He realized that analytical ill-posedness of equations subjected to noise can be tamed by identifying a universal lift of that noise, the precise structure of which is dictated by the equation. In the case of ODEs driven by Brownian noise, this amounts to add Levy’s area, leading to a decisive “pathwise” SDE theory. Less than 10 years ago, Gubinelli–Tindel (2010) and Caruana–Friz (2009) succeeded with first formulations of partial differential differential equations driven by noise in the rough path sense. In 2012, Hairer famously used rough paths to solve the KPZ (burning sheet) equation, severely ill-posed due to space-time rough noise. Soon afterwards, he proposed a generalization of rough paths to “a theory of regularity structures”, where - in a sense - each SPDE problem at hand induces its own tailormade algebraic/analytic rough path type framework. Many other SPDEs, especially from statistical physics and quantum field theory could then be - for the first time - analyzed. (For these works Hairer was awarded the 2014 Fields medal.) In a parallel development, Gubinelli, Imkeller, Perkowski initiated the paracontrolled approach, conveniently based on existing tools from harmonic analysis, to a number of similar problems with infinite dimensional noise. The overall aim of this research unit is a continued focus to advance our understanding of the important interplay of rough paths, regularity structures and stochastic partial differential equations.
Host university:
Technische Universtität Berlin
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Peter Karl Fritz
Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Department of Computer Science
Duration: 2016-2023
FOR 2409: Overlapping Spheres of Authority and Interface Conflicts in the Global order (OSAIC)
The research group, 'Overlapping Spheres of Authority and Interface Conflicts in the Global Order' (OSAIC), focuses on the rise of conflicts at the interfaces of overlapping spheres of authority. Spheres of authority are governance complexes in which at least one (public or private) institution is recognized as authority for a limited number of issues. With the increase of institutional density in the international realm, we start out from the assumption that interface conflicts across different spheres of authority as well as authority conflicts within such spheres proliferate. We speak of an interface conflict when relevant actors perceive rules to be directly contradictory or when they perceive them to diverge in such a way that the simultaneous attainment of the regulatory objectives of the different spheres of authority is seen to be impossible. Interface conflicts can be detrimental to regulatory coherence and governance effectiveness within and across spheres of authority and to the coherence of the global order as a whole. At the same time, interface conflicts can be productive by identifying institutional deficiencies in a given sphere of authority and by creating an opportunity structure for institutional change. In any case, interface conflicts create a demand for finding appropriate ways of tackling them. However, the question of how, and with which consequences this demand is met is an empirical one. Against this backdrop, the proposed research unit seeks to grasp the variety of interface conflicts empirically, to describe the variations in responses to interface conflicts, to explain the observed variance, and to develop a principled normative framework for the assessment of existing practices. We aim at generating systematic knowledge on how the governance activities of horizontally and vertically aligned spheres of authority are coordinated and on the normative quality of this coordination. The research program consists of four components each of which is associated with a guiding question. First, how can interface conflicts be identified? Second, how can we grasp the set of observable responses to interface conflicts? Third, how can variance in responses be explained? Fourth, by which normative concepts can the observed practices be reconstructed? Thus, our approach enables grasping, explaining and normatively assessing variance in the responses to interface conflicts. In doing so, we contribute to theoretical progress and advance empirical knowledge on the responses to interface conflicts. The specific innovation of the OSAIC research group consists in the application of our encompassing notion of a system of overlapping spheres of authority that is able to integrate different analytical perspectives on interface conflicts.
Host university:
Wissenszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Michael Zürn
Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Law
Duration: 2017-2021
FOR 2419: Plasticity versus Stability - Molecular Mechanisms of Synaptic Strength
The processing, storage and retrieval of information in the brain depend on neural circuits and the synapses which connect elements within the circuits. Although the gross structure of synaptic networks is stable for years, synaptic strength can change in the minute range in response to particular patterns of activity. The activity-dependent structural and functional changes that occur at synapses are known as synaptic plasticity and are thought to underlie learning and memory, forming the basis for cognitive function. How the balance between stability and flexibility is maintained is barely understood, especially as synaptic proteins turnover rapidly, in minutes to hours whereas memories may last decades. For instance, it is largely unknown how synaptic activation or silencing regulate the dynamic equilibrium of synaptic molecules or the long-term survival of dendritic spines. The list of cognitive and psychiatric disorders that are thought to be “synaptopathies” is growing and includes autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. The DFG Research Unit FOR 2419 applies anatomical, biochemical, physiological, genetic and optogenetic approaches to address the conflict between “plasticity” and “stability” at the synaptic level. The consortium combines expertise in molecular, cellular and systems neuroscience to ask how stable synaptic transmission is achieved, considering the constant turnover of synaptic constituents. Focusing on activity-dependent trafficking of mRNAs, proteins and organelles, FOR 2419 projects investigate molecular and cellular mechanisms that set synaptic lifetime and underlie memory. Our research focusses on highly topical questions at the core of human identity and provides a basis for understanding neuronal disease.
Host university:
Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Matthias Kneussel
Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Department of Biology
Duration: 2015-2023
KFOR 1627: Evidence of Images: History and Aesthetics
The Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences 1627 takes up one of the oldest and most fundamental questions concerning images, namely those pertaining to pictorial evidence and to the structures and procedures through which it is generated. Our point of departure is the premise that the generation of pictorial evidence as a basic aesthetic category involves the representation of an objective external reality, but at the same time engenders forms of genuine visual presence, which exists nowhere outside of the picture. This double definition of the image - as representation and as presence - is fundamental, for the central significance and function of images can only be adequately characterised through the dialectical mediation of these two modalities. It is our aim to investigate the various historic and systematic forms assumed by such processes of mediation. Such an undertaking is both challenging and exigent, in view of the current situation in which cultural, visual and image studies seek to define the significance of images through apparently antagonistic approaches. Prevailing, on the one hand, is a wide-ranging scepticism concerning the status of evidence, which is provided by images in regard to nature and society, politics and history; according to this model, images are regarded as a kind of language, as analogous to legible systems of signs, which lack any inherent dynamism and which are exhausted, so to speak, once their messages have been decoded. On the other hand, it is claimed that images generate autonomous and purely self-referential meanings, which, as a consequence, are wholly detached from any external reality, presumably achieving their aesthetic effectiveness solely by virtue of such isolation and distinctiveness. In contrast to these current trends, in the framework of our project it is precisely the referential valence of images to which particular attention shall be turned, repositioning categorically the aesthetic issue inherent to the generation of pictorial evidence. The assumption that images precisely through aesthetic means embody reflexive potencies and thereby equal a discursive status is essential to the question of how they generate evidence. For this assumption opens up the possibility of deriving the binding criteria governing aesthetic forms from the images themselves - criteria, which are in turn bound up with their own histories. In this way, the project of restoring historic depth to the category of evidence aims at a conflation of historical interpretation and aesthetic approach, of concept and percept, and consequently at a conceptual reintegration of the image¿s reference to reality and its own reality as a physical object. Only such a dynamic conception of image and evidence is able to overcome the virulent tendency toward an antagonistic confrontation between image and text and between visual and textual competence, thereby opening up new fields of research in transdisciplinary perspectives.
Host university:
Freie Universität Berlin
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Klaus Krüger
Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Department of Philosophy
Duration: 2011-2024
KFOR 1642: 'Landnahme', Acceleration and Activation
Modern societies are dynamic growth societies. The growth imperative and the logics of expansion are not by-products but structural conditions for the constitution and reproduction of modern social order. Irrespective of their formal shape as capitalistic or socialistic, modern societies have proven to be relatively stable, even as they underwent various periods of crisis. This relative stability was, and continues to be, based on rising economic-technical efficiency and growing material wealth. There are, however, strong indicators for a break in continuity - at least since the current economic-ecological double-crisis has taken shape. There is a growing disparity between economic growth and prosperity; material growth has become a problematic factor. Hence, sociology has to confront anew the reciprocal relationship between the system's self-stabilising dynamics and its legitimising principles. The scientists are holding the view, that the expansionist logic, which is integral to processes of 'Landnahme', acceleration and activation, has transgressed a threshold. Dynamics, the very imperative of capitalist modernity, is up for discussion. Processes of crisis and change, induced by the dominant expansionist logic, currently seem converge and create a situation in which societal growth regimes are coming under scrutiny. For this reason, the problem of growth shall figure as the central point of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. Confronted with an object of study in the process of change, our group of researchers intends to develop methods and modes of practice that transcend the established ways of empirically grounded theory building, which are either highly individualised or restrained by the limits of the project format. We think that a sociological approach towards ongoing and indeterminate processes of social change needs to make systematic use of thought experiments and discursive methods. The format of the Research Unit offers ideal conditions for establishing a social scientific experimental field. The scientists intend to establish the Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences 1642 as an internationally prominent laboratory, which analyses and critically assists the transformation of capitalist growth-regimes.
Host University:
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Klaus Dörre
Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Life Sciences, Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences
Duration: 2011-2021
KFOR 1927: Media Cultures of Computer Simulation (MECS)
The Centre for Advanced Study of Media cultures of computer simulation (MECS) assumes that for half a century computer simulations (CS) changed the knowledge and practice of science and society fundamentally. These changes in both the structure of scientific knowledge and the way in which it is understood, however, have not always been accompanied by a critical approach within the humanities; in the sense of reflection upon the theoretical, substantive, historical and epistemological conditions of the possibilities afforded by simulation. In its work therefore, the Institute will not only make a fundamental contribution to the understanding of the epistemologic-technical upheaval of CS, but also establish a site for the exploration of CS as a new humanities research field. In the first phase, the Institute has proposed the idea of CS as a humanities research subject. As an inherently transdisciplinary and from the perspective of humanitieslargely unexplored field. CS poses challenges that allow new concepts, methods, forms of argumentation and gestures of thinking to take effect. With this, an epistemology of digital sciences can be developed to help inform the socio-political relevance of media and cultural studies. The Institute‘s applicants come from the fields of physics and computer science as well as the media studies and humanities. With the help of an interdisciplinary team of staff and an international fellow program, case studies for comparative research and systematization of CS in different fields of knowledge and scientific domains were developed via the study of selected issues, range of events and initial publications.After the development of the field and the development of a network of researchers, the second funding phase is dedicated to comparison, consolidation and systematization of the Institute¿s findings, as well as reconnection to other discussions in the humanities. The aim is to develop methodological and conceptual principles to develop a technically informed cultural theory of CS. The key concepts ofbpolicies, temporalities and materiality support this aim. Our research will be situated at the cutting edge of developments within these key concepts and their interdependencies. Working with these concepts our work will develop a cultural theory of CS in a two-fold way, simultaneously problematizing the possible conditions of current media studies and cultural theory on the subject of CS. The aim of MECS is therefore to continue the development of the topic within the humanities research community as part of a wider reflection on the basis of cultural theory.
Host University:
Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Claus Pias
Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Cultural History and Theory
Duration: 2012-2022
KFOR 2770: Beyond Canon: Heterotopias of Religious Authority in Ancient Christianity
The canon of writings of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures is regarded as the fundamental authority in Christianity. Even after its finalization and its widespread recognition in the 4th century, however, there existed (and continue to exist today) traditions claiming authority, which lie beyond the canon and which were partly directed against canonical texts, sometimes selecting from and updating them. In a creative reception of Foucault’s concept, these traditions, generally known as “apocryphal,” as well as their expressive forms and communication contexts, can be understood as heterotopias, i.e. as “effective spaces,” serving as “abutments” in late ancient Christianity.
These traditions and their functions in the many diverse contexts of religious life are the focus of the Beyond Canon Collaborative Research Group (CRG). Specifically, the Beyond Canon CRG will focus on literary traditions beyond the biblical canon, on their diverse, often material forms of expression and starting points in “lived” and “popular” religion, and on their underestimated significance in the ritual life of the churches. The concept of the “intellectual space of late antiquity” is thereby expanded in the sense of a discourse space that also includes things and practices.
This interdisciplinary approach not only promises insights into the rather implicit mechanisms of religious communication and the making of theological knowledge, but it can also make an innovative contribution to general questions of canonical processes and alternative authorities as they are explored in cultural sciences and humanities.
Host university:
Universität Regensburg
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Tobias Nicklas
Participating Faculty/Participating Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Faculty of Theology
Duration: 2018-2023