Press

Munich, 28 January 2008 – The question as to where Germany’s humanities, social and cultural sciences are situated in the global context also has to be dealt with after the “Year of Humanities”. On 12 and 13 February, on invitation of the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities (KWI) in Essen and Goethe Institute, international experts will be discussing how internationalisation affects science and research and what makes the German humanities so successful world-wide.

12 and 13 February 2008 Beginning: 12 February, 04:30 p.m. c.t. Philharmonie Essen, Weißer Saal Huyssenallee 53, 45128 Essen

The conference will be focusing on three central questions: How could the German humanities, well-established since the early 19th century, develop into an “export good”, which has influenced the research cultures in many regions of the world? How have the German humanities changed as a result of an international exchange of topics, institutions and scientists? How should interactive scientific exchange develop in the context of an accelerated cultural globalisation?

An international board of outstanding scientists, journalists and mediators will deal with these issues in an open discussion guided by impulse presentations. The experts include: Georg Bollenbeck (University of Siegen), Ulrich Herbert (University of Freiburg), Kenichi Mishima (Tokyo Keizai University), Surendra Munshi (Formerly Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta; Fellow of Bertelsmann Foundation), Susan Neiman (Einstein Forum, Potsdam), Sandra Pott (University of Stuttgart), Thomas E. Schmidt (Die ZEIT), Georg Schütte (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Berlin), Sascha Spoun (University of Lüneburg) Thomas Steinfeld (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Peter Strohschneider (Science Council, Berlin) Karl Siegbert Rehberg (Technische Universität Dresden), Michael Werz (German Marshall Fund, Washington D.C.). The symposium will be headed by Claus Leggewie, Director of the KWI, Hans-Georg Soeffner, Chairman of the Advisory Council Science and Current Affairs of Goethe Institute and Christoph Bartmann (Goethe Institute).

The symposium is organised by the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities in Essen in cooperation with Goethe Institute. It is supported by “Pro Geisteswissenschaften”, an initiative of Fritz Thyssen Stiftung and Volkswagen Foundation with ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius as well as the association Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.

We gladly welcome journalists interested in the event. The detailed programme and all speakers can be found at the links specified below and at the top right.

Contact:

Susanne Sporrer
Goethe-Institut
Pressesprecherin
Tel.: +49 89 15921 - 249
 sporrer@goethe.de

Dr. Armin Flender
Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut, Essen
Tel.: +49 201 7204 - 213
armin.flender@kwi-nrw.de