The KHK c:o/re is dedicated to the manifold research cultures of the sciences, their commonalities, differences and transformations. The question at the heart of its interdisciplinary perspective is how the digitalization of research, the study of complex systems and societal challenges, like climate change, the energy revolution, biologisation and sustainability are transforming scientific practices and discourses and, consequently, society.
The discourses that activate in these debates revolve around the premise that digitalization, facilitating the study of complex systems and emerging technologies (simulation, artificial intelligence, machine learning), and forms of recognition are undergoing profound change. These processes borne new cultures of research, tightening the bonds between science and technological production (engineering of science/science of engineering).
The aim is to explore emerging cultures of (transdisciplinary) research, and, as such, to develop new theories and methodologies for investigating scientific transformations. Cultures of research is to be understood on a global level and therefore also includes the question of how the various institutional frameworks integrate the changes in scientific practice resulting from digitalization.
Thematic Fields
1. Complexity, Lifelikeness and Emergence
2. Emerging Computational and Engineering Practices
3. Expanded Science and Technology Studies
4. Histories and Varieties of Science
Research Environment
Located in the historical Stadtpalais of Aachen’s Theaterstraße, the center creates an innovative intellectual space for investigating the manifold research cultures in the sciences.
As part of RWTH Aachen University – a University of Excellence and one of the largest technical universities in Europe – the center’s location offers various possibilities for collaboration: with the different institutes in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and beyond, with the Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance JARA BRAIN, and with the institutes in the German-Belgian-Dutch Region “Euregio” engaging in Science and Technology Studies (Universities of Liège and Maastricht).
Associated Research Groups
The KHK c:o/re is embedded in a lively research context at RWTH, which it enriches through its annual fellows and internal team.
These are our several associated RWTH research groups, to which the directors of the KHK c:o/re contribute in a variety of managerial and academic ways:
- Computational Science Studies Lab (CCS Lab), Chair of Theory of Science and Technology
- Living Labs Incubator (LLI), HumTec (DFG EXU, 2019 – 2027)
- Philosophy of (digital) Geology (DFG, 2022 – 2024)
- Society after Money – Simulation (Volkswagen-Foundation, 2018 – 2022)
- Discourses on Public Health Issues (DiPubHealth), Chair of Society and Technology (Bayer Foundation, 2021 – 2024)
- NeuroSys: Innovation processes and business model development, Chair of Management Accounting (BMBF, 2022-2022)
- Linguistics and Cognitive Semiotics Chair (RWTH Aachen University)
