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.
Gabriele Gramelsberger Honored With K. Jon Barwise Prize
Gabriele Gramelsberger, Professor of Philosophy of Science and Technology and Director of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg: Cultures of Research (c:o/re) at RWTH Aachen University, was awarded the K. Jon Barwise Prize 2023 by the American Philosophical Association (APA) last Thursday, January 9, 2025, in New York.
Photo credits: American Philosophical Association
The award ceremony took place during the 121st annual meeting of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association (the APA also has Central and Western Divisions). The prize, named after the American philosopher K. Jon Barwise, has been awarded since 2002 for significant and sustained contributions to philosophy and computer science.
Gabriele Gramelsberger is the third woman to receive the K. Jon Barwise Award. In her work, she develops a conceptual framework for the Philosophy of Computational Science as well as an open science infrastructure for Computational Science Studies. In 2018, she founded the Computational Social Systems Lab in Aachen, supported by the NRW Digital Fellowship 2017. Together with her team at the KHK c:o/re, Gabriele Gramelsberger will organize the History and Philosophy of Computing conference in Aachen in December 2025.
Event Announcement: Competition Law in the Digital Era: AI and other new challenges
Professor Stefan Böschen, Director of the KHK c:o/re, and the Exploratory Research Space (ERS) of RWTH Aachen University invite you to another lecture of the “ERS invites…” series, this time featuring Dr. Pēteris Zilgalvis, Judge at the General Court of the European Union, to discuss how AI is reshaping the legal landscape from various perspectives.
AI has the potential to increase effectiveness and foster innovation in the public sector, including courts. At the same time, its development, implementation, and governance must take into account the threats it might pose to fundamental rights. Furthermore, AI has significant implications for competition law.
Dr. Pēteris Zilgalvis is a Judge on the General Court of the European Union and serves on its Management Board as well as the Artificial Intelligence Management Board of the Court of Justice of the EU. Previously, he headed the Digital Innovation and Blockchain Unit in the European Commission’s Digital Single Market Directorate and co-chaired the European Commission FinTech Task Force.
The lecture will take place on Friday, 24 January 2025, from 12 to 1.30 pm in the Generali Saal at Super C, located at Templergraben 57 in Aachen. To register and for further information, please visit the event website.
Get to know our Fellows: Grit Laudel
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 institutional research conditions such as funding, evaluation or national career systems affect the way in which researchers produce contributions to scientific knowledge? In the latest video, Grit Laudel, sociologist of science, gives insights into her work comparing research in different fields.
Check out our media section or our YouTube channel to have a look at the other videos.
