Special issue of Cybernetics & Human Knowing out now!
We are happy to share that the special issue of Cybernetics & Human Knowing entitled “(Dis)entangling Cognition, Meaning, Modeling, and Environments” has been published.
The issue is guest edited by Alin Olteanu, Phillip H. Roth, and Gabriele Gramelsberger and includes many contributions from KHK c:o/re staff and fellows.
The foreword, written by Phillip H. Roth and Alin Olteanu, is available on the journal’s website.
International Conference “Cultures of Research”
March 25 to 27, 2025, Forum M, Buchkremerstraße 1-7, 52062 Aachen
The international conference “Cultures of Research” takes stock of the first four years of the fellow program at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg: Cultures of Rearch (c:o/re).
During these years, more than fifty international fellows came to the KHK c:o/re to explore the transformation of research in its many facets. Topics such as the digitalization of science, the growing influence of AI on research practices, the organizational transformations in science, the “engineering of science”, and the historical as well as intercultural comparison of “varieties of science” have been widely discussed.
The conference will focus the discussions on these topics in various panels with current and alumni fellows as well as members of the scientific advisory board of the KHK c:o/re.
A detailed program with all speakers and titles can be found in this document.
Program
| Time | Tuesday, 25th | Wednesday, 26th | Thursday, 27th |
| 09:00-12:00 | Welcome and Introduction | Panel 4 “Digitalisation of Science” Lecture by Franck Varenne | Panel 7 “Expanded STS” & Euregio |
| Panel 1 “Historicizing Science” Lecture by Hans-Jörg Rheinberger | |||
| Lunch | |||
| 13:00-15:30 | Panel 2 “Dealing with Complexity” Lecture by Mary Morgan | Panel 5 “Varieties of Science” Lecture by Alfred Nordmann | Panel 8 “Art and Research” |
| Coffee break | |||
| 16:00-18:00 | Panel 3 “Lifelikeness” | Panel 6 “Freedom of Research” Lectures by Frederik Stjernfelt & Steve Fuller | Departure |
| 18:00-20:00 | Evening Keynote Lecture by Ad Aertsen | Conference Dinner | |
| Reception (finger food) |
Get to know our Fellows: Carsten Reinhardt
Get to know our current fellows and gain an impression of their research. In a new season of short videos, we asked them to introduce themselves, talk about their work at the KHK c:o/re and the research questions that fascinate them.
How do chemical residues shape our understanding of uncertainty in modern society? In this video, Carsten Reinhardt, professor for historical studies of science at the University of Bielefeld, explores the concept of residual uncertainty and how unknown long-term effects of chemicals influence scientific debates and regulatory policies.
Check out our media section or our YouTube channel to have a look at the other videos.
Get to know our Fellows: Elisabeth Röhrlich
Get to know our current fellows and gain an impression of their research. In a new season of short videos, we asked them to introduce themselves, talk about their work at the KHK c:o/re and the research questions that fascinate them.
What lessons can the nuclear age teach us about regulating artificial intelligence? In this video, Elisabeth Röhrlich, associate professor in history at the University of Vienna, introduces her research on critical parallels between the early nuclear age and contemporary debates on AI governance.
Check out our media section or our YouTube channel to have a look at the other videos.
Fellow Publication: International Organizations and the Cold War
We are pleased to announce that the book “International Organizations and the Cold War. Competition, Cooperation, and Convergence” by Sandrine Kott, Eva-Maria Muschik and KHK c:o/re Fellow Elisabeth Röhrlich is now published and available as Open Access.
The post-WWII era was a time of superpower confrontation and antagonistic bloc politics, but it was also a period in which organized internationalism reached its peak as both an ideological value and a political practice. This open access volume explores how international organizations affected the evolution and nature of Cold War rivalries, and how they in turn were shaped by them.
In seeking to understand the role that international organizations have played as sites of confrontation, this volume also highlights their role as spaces for mediation and negotiation, particularly for middle-size powers and colonized or newly decolonized countries. Through multiple perspectives, based on a diverse array of historical sources, the authors collectively explore how international organizations were able to bridge and move beyond the Cold War divide by promoting common causes and shaping common scientific knowledge, communities and practices.
Rather than focusing exclusively on western-dominated institutions within the UN system which have received the most scholarly attention to date, “International Organizations and the Cold War” highlights the role of lesser-known groups such as the Paris-based International Child Center, the Prague-based International Union of Students and historical actors such as Soviet public health experts and Chinese development specialists. In doing so, it asks new questions about the role of international organizations in securing peace and security across the modern world, and their role as negotiator in times of tension and crisis.
Keynote by Hannah Star Rogers at the Materializing Methods Symposium
On February 20, 2025, KHK c:o/re Fellow Hannah Star Rogers will deliver the keynote at the Materializing Methods symposium at Durham University.
Materializing Methods is a one-day symposium hosted by the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities at Durham University, in collaboration with The Cultural Negotiation of Science research group (Northumbria University) and Hannah Star Rogers (Medical Museion, University of Copenhagen).
What can practice-based research tell us about working with disciplinary cultures that are not our own? With a focus on how contemporary art practices engage with expert cultures in health and biomedicine, this symposium foregrounds questions of method, practice and process in relation to interdisciplinary inquiry. Critical art practices are knowledge-producing practices that shape interdisciplinary research agendas.
Photo credit: Molly Renda
If you are interested in participating, please visit the event website.
Get to know our Fellows: Sam Selma Ducourant
Get to know our current fellows and gain an impression of their research. In a new season of short videos, we asked them to introduce themselves, talk about their work at the KHK c:o/re and the research questions that fascinate them.
How does lifelikeness function as a mechanism of control? In this video, Sam Selma Ducourant, who works on the history and philosophy of sciences involved in animal production, discusses her research on the history of battery cages for chicken.
Check out our media section or our YouTube channel to have a look at the other videos.
Freedom of Research Summit: Call for Contributions
On November 5 and 6, 2025, the second edition of the Freedom of Research Summit will take place in Aachen, jointly organized by the Charlemagne Prize Foundation, RWTH Aachen University’s Knowledge Hub, and the Käte Hamburger Kolleg: Cultures of Research (c:o/re).
With the topic “Europe in Times of Division”, the Summit aims to address the complex challenges facing our continent today – ranging from political polarization and geopolitical tensions to economic disparities and environmental divides. How can we navigate these challenges and create a resilient framework for future developments?
This year, we invite you to take an active role in shaping the Symposium. We encourage you to participate in our Call for Contributions to explore the role of science as a bridge-builder in Europe within your specific research field or area of work and to reflect on the importance of academic freedom in this context. The Summit’s Symposium will take place on November 6, 2025 at the SuperC of RWTH Aachen University.
Please have a look at the Call for further information.
The application deadline is March 31, 2025.
If you are interested in a recap of last year’s symposium, here is a blog post.
Lab-Talk: KHK c:o/re meets E.ON Energy Research Center
On January 29, 2025, a group of fellows and staff members visited the Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems at the E.ON Energy Research Center at RWTH Aachen University.
Professor Ferdinanda Ponci and her team gave us insights into their research topics and we learned about exciting EU projects such as EnerTEF. We also enjoyed a tour of the ACS lab and discovered many common interests ranging from AI and AI bias to hardware-in-the-loop topics.
As part of the Lab-Talks, KHK c:o/re fellows and staff visit various institutes at RWTH Aachen University to promote networking and interdisciplinary collaboration between STEM projects and the social sciences and humanities.
photo credits: Jana Hambitzer
Get to know our Fellows: Nathalia Lavigne
Get to know our current fellows and gain an impression of their research. In a new season of short videos, we asked them to introduce themselves, talk about their work at the KHK c:o/re and the research questions that fascinate them.
In this video, art researcher, writer and curator Nathalia Lavigne shares insights from her work on alternative networks and different models of connection in human communication. She explores what we can learn from artists and activists who are imagining alternative forms of connection and finding other ways to communicate and build communities.
Check out our media section or our YouTube channel to have a look at the other videos.
