Interdisziplinarität (kurz: ID) begründet Spannungsfelder innerhalb des Wissenschaftssystems. Gemeinsam mit Ihnen als Expertinnen und Experten wollen wir lösungsorientierte Ideen für die Zukunft von Interdisziplinarität erarbeiten. Am 14. August 2018 werden in Themen-Cafés Konzepte entwickelt. Der Workshop behandelt vier Themenfelder:

In the second session of a new workshop series on Authoritarian Politics and International Relations at WZB, Christoph Stefes will speak about whether and how Russia attempts to introduce an new set of norms into international politics.

Der Vortrag stellt die Projektergebnisse eines vom BMVI geförderten Projekts zu Open-Data-Innovationen mit KI-Methoden (ODAKI) vor.

Comment by Irina Mützelburg (CMB)

Drawing boundaries is one of the main functions of modern law. Legal boundaries deeply shape modern societies. They define inclusion and exclusion and differentiate legal status, by that determining who belongs to a society or group – and who does not. This fundamental function of law to define belonging is at the heart of a lecture series organized by the Center for Global Constitutionalism (WZB) together with the Centre Marc Bloch.

The Scholars Workshop will discuss papers on global constitutionalism/global governance/human rights. One of the goals of the Workshop is to advance global constitutionalism as an interdisciplinary field. Another is to promote the creation of networks of scholars working in similar fields. Thus, the Center invited submissions from a broad range of disciplines including International Law, Political Science, International Relations, Comparative Constitutional Law, Comparative Politics, Political Theory and Philosophy.

Das Institut für Bildungsrecht und Bildungsforschung e.V. (IfBB), das Deutsche Institut für Internationale Pädagogische Forschung (DIPF) und die AG Bildungsrecht in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Bildungsverwaltung (DGBV) veranstalten gemeinsam mit dem Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB) den 5. Deutschen Schulrechtstag

"The Internationalists.

In public as well as academic discourses, religious fundamentalism has been commonly associated with radicalization, intolerance, and violence. The 6th Annual Conference on Migration and Diversity brings together international researchers to discuss and identify causes and mechanisms related to religious fundamentalism and violence: Under what circumstances do people advocate or even use violence in the name of their religion? To what extent do social deprivation factors such as discrimination, low socio-economic status or lack of integration lead to radicalization?

Based on five years of research in the field (including berry-picking and traveling with migrants back and forth from Oaxaca, Mexico, up the West Coast of the United States), this presentation explores how international political economic forces, anti-immigrant sentiment, and ethnic hierarchies undermine migrant health and health care.  The presentation examines structural and symbolic violence, medicalization, and the clinical gaze as they affect the experiences and perceptions of a vertical slice of indigenous Mexican migrant farmworkers in the U.S.

New approaches to research on philanthropy have deepened the understanding of giving behavior. They include the ascent of field experiments on fundraising where charities are perceived as active parties. Others include the influence of behavioral economics on our understanding of how social interactions affect donations. The channels through which people donate have recently changed as well. For example, the role of online activities like donation-based crowdfunding is increasing.

Bis zu 80 Prozent unserer Tageszeit verbringen wir mit Arbeit. Heute ist Arbeit mehr als reiner Broterwerb. Sie ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil sozialer Teilhabe und ist neben anderen Faktoren identitätsbildend. Über die Arbeit bilden wir unsere sozialen Netzwerke, die manchmal ein Leben lang halten. Dennoch wird die Sphäre der Arbeit in der Regel nicht untersucht, wenn es um die Frage des Zustands der Demokratie geht. Wie steht es denn um die demokratischen Strukturen in der Arbeitswelt?

This new workshop series on Authoritarian Politics and International Relations (APIR) offers a forum for systematic debate about authoritarianism in world politics.

The conference of the Leibniz Research Alliance on Energy Transitions invites international scholars to discuss social innovations in the context of energy transitions, to reflect their meaning for educational and participatory practices, and to spark a debate about the social aspects inherent in these innovations.

Was leistet die Mitbestimmung: Was sagt die Wissenschaft?
2. Biennale-Konferenz

Machen Sie mit uns Sozialforschung. Kommen Sie ins Labor, um an einem Experiment unserer Verhaltensökonomen teilzunehmen. Testen Sie ihr Wissen zum Thema Recht auf Bildung und Schule in einem Quiz für Familien. Was steht auf Ihrer Wunschliste für den idealen Arbeitsplatz? Machen Sie mit bei Live-Befragungen und lernen Sie die Methoden der Sozialforschung kennen. Erfahren Sie in Vorträgen, Gesprächen und Filmen, wie Gesellschaft am WZB erforscht wird. Reden Sie mit uns über die (ihre) Arbeit der Zukunft, soziale Ungleichheit und Mobilität in der Stadt.

Das Kinder- und Jugendhilferecht weiterzuentwickeln, ist eine stetige Aufgabe. Millionen junger Menschen und deren Familien nehmen vielfältige Leistungen und Unterstützung der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe in Anspruch: von der Beratung und offenen Angeboten der Kinder- und Jugendarbeit über die Kindertagesbetreuung bis zu den Hilfen durch sozialpädagogische Angebote, Pflegefamilien oder stationäre Einrichtungen.

We are pleased to be able to welcome Professor Robert Alexy (University of Kiel) as guest speaker to this year's Berlin Colloquium on Global and Comparative Public Law.

This event is part of this semester’s Berlin Colloquium on Global and Comparative Public Law, which is organized by Mattias Kumm.

In this seminar, Katerini Storeng will show how and why the maternal mortality ratio – the MMR – has emerged as a major global health indicator with huge political significance, despite intractable measurement challenges. Based on ethnographic research within international expert communities, she will describe how and why internationally leading epidemiologists have gradually skewed their attention towards the production of globally comparable MMR estimates at the expense of developing locally relevant metrics and strengthening national health intervention systems.

Die WPK ist der Verband der Wissenschaftsjournalisten in Deutschland. Sie setzt sich für guten Wissenschaftsjournalismus ein. Dazu bietet sie ihren Mitgliedern Seminare, Hintergrundgespräche und Recherchereisen an sowie Workshops zur beruflichen Fortbildung. In der Öffentlichkeit tritt die WPK als Veranstalter von Diskussionsrunden auf, mit denen sie den Dialog zwischen Wissenschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft beleben will. Auf der nicht-öffentlichen Jahresversammlung am 26.

The Cuban model of international medical collaboration began in 1963, with a Cuban medical team in Algeria. Since then, the Cuban global health program has changed: Today, it focuses specifically on the main diseases present in the communities, the development of a prevention strategy, and on primary health care. The sustainability of the program is guaranteed by continuing presence of groups of Cuban trained health professionals revolving every two years.

UN-Habitat Director Joan Clos recently declared we would build more urban infrastructure in the next three decades than in all of human history. He was referring to an emergent global imperative to transform our cities into global (or green or smart) cities, as a necessary path to global sustainability. Michael Goldman will explain the origins of the global obsession with urban infrastructure, its transnational spread, and its relationship to the 2008 financial crisis and current regime of urban financialization.

Kommentar: Klaus Peter Siek (CMB)

According to many observers African states and the International Criminal Court (ICC) are at loggerheads. Government leaders have derided the ICC as racist and neo-colonial in its pursuit of justice. A number of states have stated their intention to withdraw from the Court and one, Burundi, withdrew from the ICC in October 2017. At the same time, African communities affected by conflict have raised concerns about the impacts of the ICC and the apparent gap between the institution’s promise and what it can deliver.

Moderne digitale Dienste arbeiten mit verhaltenswissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen über das „optimale“ Design von interaktiven Benutzeroberflächen. „User Experience Design“ hat sich als der zentrale Diskurs etabliert, dem es darum geht, technische Produkte den Fähigkeiten, Intuitionen und Verhaltensgewohnheiten der User anzupassen. Digitale Dienste sollen sich anthropomorph und spielerisch in die soziale und affektive Nahwelt der User einfügen, indem sie ihre Technizität verbergen, ohne Nachdenken bedienbar sind und sogar Stimmungen und Bedürfnisse der User antizipieren.

The health and wellbeing of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (First Nations; Indigenous) has been profoundly shaped by the circumstances of the past, and most particularly by the events and conditions in Australia since colonisation in the late 18th Century. As such, the striking inequalities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians cannot be understood without an appreciation of the history and persistent impact over time of profound dispossession, exclusion, discrimination, marginalisation and inequality, in various forms.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has long been used as the main indicator of a country’s development and wellbeing. Over the past two decades, consensus has been growing that an alternative index is needed to measure societal wellbeing and progress. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) assists countries to develop alternative measures of societal wellbeing. Some well-known examples are the Bhutan Happiness Index, the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, a Sustainable Italy, What Kind of Wales do we Want and Ecuador’s Wellbeing Index.

Please note: The event by Marcia Chatelain and Jeanette Hofmann "From Slogan to Hashtag" on May, 7 is cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience. 

Response by and discussion with Jeanette Hofmann, WZB

Event within the WZB series "Achtung: Demokratie"

Chronic diseases and related unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking were for a long time thought to be an issue that was exclusive to the rich, industrialised countries of North America and Europe. In contrast, the problems in sub-Saharan Africa were deemed to be infectious diseases and malnutrition. If anything, the cultivation, production and trade of tobacco was viewed as critical to the economic development and health of the former colonies.

Influential authors portray religion as an overestimated factor in radicalization processes, or even dismiss religion as a real cause. In comparison to anthropological, philosophical and theological theories on religion, these authors define religion too narrowly. Such narrow definitions of religion lead to false contradictions, such as the dichotomy between religion and factors that ‘really’ move people. Measuring ‘religion’ in radicalization processes demands a more comprehensive approach to religion.

Digitalisierung und neue Innovationszyklen stellen wissensintensive Branchen vor große Herausforderungen: Bisherige Innovationsstrategien sind nicht mehr erfolgreich und neue Geschäftsmodelle ersetzen konventionelle Wertschöpfungsmuster. Dadurch stehen die interne Wissensproduktion der Unternehmen und ihre Forschungs- und Innovationskooperationen mit externen Forschungseinrichtungen unter Veränderungsdruck.

Facebook and Google suck up our personal data and allow it to be turned into fake news, engagement algorithms and “psychographic messaging” for Brexit and Donald Trump's election. A battle is looming over who will control this sea of Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI) - the public interest or Internet-based platform companies? What can be done to develop innovative policy approaches and a social economy for the digital age?

Wie veränderungsfähig sind die Deutschen angesichts der Herausforderungen, vor denen das Land steht? Die fortschreitende Digitalisierung, die nötige Integration geflüchteter Menschen oder die unsichere weltpolitische Lage erfordern große Veränderungskompetenz – doch wie stark ist sie vorhanden? Und was brauchen die Menschen, um sich auf Veränderungen vorzubereiten?

Comments by Anne Griffiths, University of Edinburgh

Advocates of the platform economy present it as a new way of organizing work and value creation and as a fundamental and efficient alternative to the “old economy”. Traditional workplaces and employment are replaced by platforms organizing crowds of formally independent freelancers. There are huge platforms like Upwork which organize markets for freelancers in a large number of sectors. There are dedicated platforms which focus on specific markets. Companies like Uber or Deliveroo, for instance, offer mobility and transport services and compete with traditional transport providers.

People move, and governments react. Do these government decisions make sense? This question prompts even bigger ones, and not just about migration. The reasons for migration are part of a thick web of issues; understanding this broader framework is essential for finding effective responses. Four questions are especially important.

The WZB and the Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme (FMSH) invite to the final conference of the Franco-German research program “Changing Societies” on April 10, 2018. Since 2016 the program has strengthened the interdisciplinary exchange between French and German researchers in humanities and social science by organizing workshops and conferences and promoting visiting research fellowships in both countries.

Der Experten-Workshop wird das Spannungsverhältnis beleuchten, das durch Interdisziplinarität begründet wird: Auf der einen Seite gibt es aufgrund gesellschaftlicher Entwicklungen (‚grand challenges‘) die wissenschaftspolitische Forderung, zunehmend interdisziplinär zu forschen; auf der anderen Seite kollidiert diese Forschungspraxis mit Anforderungen disziplinärer Reputationssysteme, die Interdisziplinarität wenig belohnen. Wie ist es möglich, Interdisziplinarität als eine gelingende und die Disziplinarität ergänzende Struktur aufzubauen?

58 Jahre nach dem Erscheinen von „Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer“ kommt am 29. März Dennis Gansels Verfilmung des Kinderbuchklassikers in die deutschen Kinos.

Policies focused on the integration of migrants and refugees are often driven by conventional wisdoms and fear, and there are persistent concerns that integration policies are failing both host communities and migrants in Europe, Africa, and elsewhere. In this context, the research unit Institutions and Political Inequality will host a two-day workshop to bring together practitioners in government, decision-makers from international and non-governmental organizations, and leading researchers in this field.

Die Arbeitswelt verändert sich: Digitalisierung, alternative Arbeitsmodelle und die Entwicklung künstlicher Intelligenz stellen Forschung und Gesellschaft vor große Herausforderungen, bieten aber auch viele Chancen. Wie werden Menschen in Zukunft arbeiten? Welche Bedeutung wird digitales Lernen und Arbeiten erhalten? Welche Weiterbildung und Förderung brauchen Arbeitnehmerinnen und Arbeitnehmer, um in der neuen Arbeitswelt bestehen zu können? Und wie müssen Schülerinnen und Schüler auf die Zukunft der Arbeit vorbereitet werden?

In this article, we investigate destination language skills upon arrival and subsequent skill growth among recently arrived Polish and Turkish immigrants in Germany, Great Britain and Ireland. We introduce selectivity considerations to a model of language acquisition, arguing that positively selected individuals should display higher levels upon arrival and faster growth in destination language proficiency thereafter.

The Political Economy of Development research area will host a 2-day workshop with a focus on how to conceptualize and measure across countries the multiple dimensions of political inequality between individuals and societal groups. One goal of the workshop is to contribute to the debate surrounding the measurement process for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG #16.7 ("Ensuring responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels").

Contemporary populism is often viewed as a rebellion against globalisation, and hence neoliberalism. At the same time, populists are accused by orthodox policy-makers of lacking economic credibility or rationality, and offering emotional, ‚post-truth‘ politics. By this account, populism is a wholly irrational and impulsive phenomenon, that attacks economic rationality. This lecture will seek to present things differently, by considering ways in which contemporary populism perpetuates certain aspects of capitalist and neoliberal reason.

Auch wenn prozessproduzierte Massendaten (sogenannte „Big Data“) etwa in Form von staatlichen Verwaltungsdaten eine mehr als zweihundertjährige Tradition haben, hat sich deren Verfügbarkeit in den letzten Jahrzehnten dramatisch gesteigert: Nicht nur die Forschungsdatenzentren, sondern auch historische Datenarchive und eine Vielzahl universitärer Projekte arbeiten daran, bisher unerschlossene alte Datensammlungen ebenso wie neue digitale Daten zunehmend für die Forschung zugänglich zu machen.

The Manifesto Corpus is the digital text collection of over 2,000 electoral programmes from 40 countries in more than 30 languages. The Manifesto Project, which has been located at the WZB for decades and funded by the DFG since 2009, processes this data and makes it available to the scientific community. The conference brings together a number of scholars using the text corpus in various disciplines (e.g. political science, economics, computer science).

Unter dem Motto „March for Science“ fanden am 22. April 2017 in vielen Städten der Welt Protestversammlungen und -märsche statt. Den Auslöser dieser Aktivitäten bildeten die vor allem in den USA erkennbaren Versuche, wissenschaftliche Freiheiten und Infrastrukturen aus politischen Gründen zu beschneiden und „alternative Fakten“ zu behaupten.

Seminar mit Prof. Dr. Andreas Diekmann (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, ETH Zürich) im Gespräch mit Studierenden (Teresa Isigkeit, Freia Kuper, Lisa Reiber und Nikita Sorgatz)

There are many signs that we have entered a ‘post-truth’ era defined by the burial of ‘objective facts’ thanks to a public avalanche of ‘appeals to emotion and personal belief’, as the Oxford English Dictionary states. Critics of this ‘post-truth’ trend like to stress the political dangers of growing government secrecy, the lies of politicians, corporate bullshit, media silence, and populists’ talk of ‘fake news’. They call for a recovery of ‘truth’ in public life.