Universität Bonn

Forum Internationale Wissenschaft

Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (FIW)
The Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (FIW) was founded in 2012 and is a Unit of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Bonn.
The scientific departments focus on the subject areas of Comparative Research on Democracies and Authoritarian Regimes, Science Studies and the Politics of Science, Comparatitive Research on Religions and Digital Society.
Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (FIW)
Publications
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Current News
“Playing for the Future”5
From September 1 to 12, 2025, the FIW will host a training session with international game designers as part of the DATIpilot project “Playing for the Future: The Innovation Potential of Tabletop Role-Playing Games in Education.” The training is aimed at employees and students of the Bonn Lab for Analog Games and Imaginative Play and will take place at IMPULSE – House for Intellectual Innovation and Creativity (Adenauerallee 131).During the training, tabletop role-playing game designers from Malaysia, Canada, the US, and Germany will exchange ideas with game researchers from the University of Bonn on innovative game ideas for use in education.
Participation in TC/ESG25 conference6
Damien Krichewsky (FIW, University of Bonn) and Michael Shirungu (University of Namibia) will lead a flexible interactive dialogue session on the topic of “Transformation toward justice and equity” at the TC/ESG25 conference “Navigating Sustainability Transformations Towards Justice and Equity” from August 18 to 21, 2025, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the topic of “Transforming Biodiversity Policy through Pluriversal Action Research.”
Publication of a political policy brief with FIW participation7
Several EU member states are undermining refugee protection in Europe in view of the relatively low number of asylum seekers at the EU's eastern external borders and justify this with attempts by Russia and Belarus to “instrumentalize” migration. In a newly published policy brief, Judith Kohlenberger, Paula Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik, Lena Laube, Bernd Parusel and Daniele Saracino examine the narrative of the “instrumentalization” of migration and its impact on asylum policy in the EU: Link.
Lecture of Kaat Louckx on May 14, 2025 “Questions of Modernity: How Asking Questions Shaped Our Modern World”8
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.
Upcomimg Event
Roundtable der Bonn Platform for (Forced) Migration Studies11
MIGRApolis, Brüdergasse ...
05:30 PM - 08:00 PM
Am 6. November 2025 veranstaltet die Bonn Platform for (Forced) Migration Studies den nächsten transdisziplinären Roundtable im Bonner MIGRApolis. Wir ...
Workshop der Forschungsgruppe ZivDem12
IMPULSE – House for ...
09:30 AM - 05:30 PM
Die Forschungsgruppe "Zivile Seenotrettung als Kristallisationspunkt des Streits um Demokratie" (ZivDem) veranstaltet am 28. November 2025 einen kollaborativen ...

Dahrendorf Library

The FIW owes the Dahrendorf Library, comprising about 7,000 books, to the donation of the widow of Ralf Dahrendorf. Since 2012, it can be found in the basement of the FIW.

Perspektiven der Moderne

›Perspektiven der Moderne‹ is the central scientific lecture series at the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft. Lectures take place on Wednesdays.

Newsletter

Subscribing to the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft newsletter, you can receive information and updates about all FIW departments and events to your inbox.

Vacancies and internships

Here you can find current vacancies of the FIW. Additionally, the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft offers internship opportunities to interested students.

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