Editorial
The Wissenschaftskolleg has been called an ivory tower. But it is through its Fellows that the Kolleg is connected to the larger world and thus registers political tremors of the present day like a seismograph. On the one hand this can be seen in the topics studied by our Fellows this year – refugee policy, climate change, authoritarianism and political violence; on the other hand the international situation manifests itself in the very life and work of scholars who arrive at the Grunewald. The number of Fellows who are exposed to political pressure or persecution in their homelands is growing and the Kolleg is increasingly becoming not only a welcome break in scholars’ rigorous academic routine but a station of their indefinite exile. Intellectual freedom, which is the Wissenchaftskolleg’s hallmark, is anything but a lightsome idea for these scholars at risk.
read onTrajectories
A Good Bet: Five Years of the College for Life Sciences
by Ulrike Pannasch (Scientific Coordinator of the CfLS)
“Research decisions that scientists make, particularly early on, are high-risk wagers about what will be fruitful and lead to a decent career. The road to academic stardom (and, for that matter, academic mediocrity) is littered with brilliant, passionate people who simply made bad bets.”
read onMoments
Return to Gdańsk
by Paweł Machcewicz (Fellow 2017/2018)
Eight months after his dismissal by the Polish government, the former director of the Polish Museum of the Second World War guides a group of Fellows through a controversial past.
read onSign the Gdansk Petition
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Lecture Series: "Recht und Digitalisierung"
With a fulminant lecture series the project „Law in Context“ bids farewell to the Wissenschaftskolleg and moves to Humboldt University
read onMy Favorite
The Future of the Humboldt Forum: An Epiphany
by H. Glenn Penny (Fellow 2017/2018)
It was the skulls that caused Greg to contact me; those and the bones; and the human teeth on an unusual sculpture with strong religious resonance.
read onNostalgia
(Almost) A Lifer
After twenty-two years of service as a President of the Fellows' Club, Peter Hammerstein has handed over the baton. On the occasion of the last meeting of the club members, his successor Laurenz Lütteken (Fellow 2013/14) thanked him for his long time commitment.
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Late Checkout
This book holds the record for the longest loan from the Wiko library ever; it was returned after twenty years of peregrinations.
read onSave the Date - Fellowtreffen
28-30 June 2018 – "1918/2018: Global Events and National Commemorations"
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