News — Forum Internationale Wissenschaft

Lecture of Kaat Louckx on May 14, 2025 “Questions of Modernity: How Asking Questions Shaped Our Modern World”¹

The lecture will take place at 16:15 in lecture hall IV (HS IV). Abstract How did the seemingly simple act of asking structured questions shape modernity? This project traces the social and epistemic history of questionnaires, surveys, and interrogations from seventeenth-century scientific societies to early twentieth-century statistical congresses. Focusing on five arenas—scientific inquiry, state governance, professional expertise, legal interrogation, and transnational standardisation—it explores how formalised questioning produced new forms of knowledge and authority. Through comparative archival case studies from Europe and North America, the project aims to explain the emergence of categories like “household”, “occupation”, and “truth”, linking their history to contemporary debates on data ethics, citizenship, and surveillance. The lecture will outline the research agenda and its relevance across the humanities and social sciences.

New employee at the FIW²

Religious studies researcher Dr. Ramona Jelinek-Menke joined the Department of Religious Studies team on 1 March 2025.

Vitor Barros received scholarship³

In January 2025, Vitor Barros received a doctoral scholarship from the Gerda Henkel Foundation for his project ‘Ethnic differentiation and subtle racial animosity: Brazil (1887-2022)’.

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Best Master Thesis 2023 in Sociology at the University of São Paulo⁴

Vitor Barros, FIW researcher, obtained the prize for Best Master Thesis 2023 in Sociology at the University of São Paulo.

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New employees at the FIW: Kathrin Fischer and Lukas Boch as new researchers in the Department of Religious Studies⁵

Didactician Kathrin Fischer and historian Lukas Boch joined the Religious Studies team at the beginning of 2025.

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Berufung von Dr. Hanno Kruse an das Forum Internationale Wissenschaft⁶

Dr. Hanno Kruse was appointed as Junior Professor (W1 with tenure track to W2) for Sociology with a focus on social inequality at the FIW.

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Promovierendenkolloquium des RRC am 02. und 03. Dezember 2024⁷

Am 2. und 3. Dezember 2024 treffen sich die Promovierenden des Rhine-Ruhr Centre for Science Communication Research (RRC) zu einem Kolloquium, um zentrale Kapitel ihrer Dissertationen vorzustellen und gemeinsam zu diskutieren. Das Kolloquium bietet den Teilnehmenden die Möglichkeit, ihre Forschungsansätze und Ergebnisse vorzustellen und durch konstruktives Feedback neue Perspektiven zu gewinnen. Wir freuen uns auf inspirierende Präsentationen und anregende Diskussionen, die die wissenschaftliche Arbeit und den Austausch innerhalb des RRC bereichern werden.

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‌Workshop des Rhine Ruhr Centers for Science Communication Research (RRC) am Gustav-Stresemann-Institut in Bonn⁸

Als Herzstück der Transferstrategie des Rhine Ruhr Centers for Science Communication Research (RRC) präsentiert das Living Handbook Konzepte, Themen, Theorien und Ergebnisse zur Entwicklung des Wissenschaftssystems – und bereitet diese für unterschiedliche Zielgruppen auf. Um die zukünftige Ausrichtung des Living Handbooks zu bestimmen, diskutiert das Team des RRC am 21. und 22. November mit internationalen Expert:innen aus Forschung und Praxis relevante Themen, aktuelle Entwicklungen und innovative Formate der Wissenschaftsforschung, Wissenschaftskommunikationsforschung und Wissenschaftskommunikation.

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