Category Archives: Knowledge Exchange

Event, Knowledge Exchange, News, Research

Research Lounge “Participatory Approaches in Research” on June 3, 2025

The event Research Lounge on the topic of “Participatory Approaches in Research” will take place on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 from 2 to 5 p.m., at the Central Institute Center for Cultural Techniques (ZfK) on Campus North. Organized by the team of the Vice President Research in cooperation with the HU office for “Knowledge Exchange with Society”, researchers from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and its partner institutions are invited to network at this event:  Register here

Knowledge exchange with society is becoming an increasingly important part of knowledge production in research through participatory and transdisciplinary approaches. While these approaches are standard in some research areas, such as sustainability and innovation research, there is less experience and exchange in other areas. Among other research methods, participatory and transdisciplinary research methods are seen as a particularly good way to contribute innovative solutions to current societal challenges. To this end, cooperation with citizens, organised civil society, culture or politics can open up new research topics and strengthen trust in science through their active participation.

There are many definitions, methods and experiences of participatory approaches to research, as well as a wide variety of actors and forms of participation. The Research Lounge “Participation in Research” therefore aims to promote scientific exchange and networking in this area and to highlight the diversity of current research activities and examples of success at Humboldt-Universität.

Programme

2:00 p.m. – Welcome

Prof. Dr. Christoph Schneider (Vice President for Research)
Zentrum für Kulturtechnik

2:20 p.m. – Keynote speeches

Dr. Saskia Schäfer (Institute for Asian and African Studies):
Participatory research on democracy: Insights from civic education and local decision-making

Dr. Silke Stöber (Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences):
Participatory action research for food systems transformations: methods and challenges

Prof. Dr. Regina Römhild (Institute for European Ethnology):
Postcolonial Neighborhoods: A new experiment in collective ethnography and trans-academic collaboration

Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Verhoeven (Institute for German Language and Linguistics):
Sprachen Berlins – Languages of Berlin: mapping the city’s linguistic diversity

Prof. Dr. Miriam Bouzouita (Institute for Romance Studies):
Using Citizen Science to examine geospatial and sociolinguistic variation and change

Break

Prof. Dr. Robert Arlinghaus (Integrative Fisheries Management, IGB, IRI THESys):
Co-production of knowledge in participation changes attitudes, norms and behaviour of practitioners: Examples from fisheries research

Prof. Dr. Heike Wiese (Institut for German Language and Linguistics):
Shaping multilingualism together: Participatory research with Berlin pupils and HU students

Dr. Constanze Saunders (Professional School of Education):
‘Learning schools’ and research-based teacher training

Indrawan Prabaharyaka (Institute for European Ethnology):
Animation and Prototyping: Two transdisciplinary tools for knowledge exchange with more-than-human society

Dr. Stefanie Alisch (Institute for Musicology and Media Studies):
Reasoning Sessions und Dubdampfer – Sound System Epistemologies networks in Berlin

4:30 p.m. – Open Networking

 

Please register for the Research Lounge here.
If you have any questions, please visit the event website.

Knowledge Exchange, News, Object Lab, Third Mission

Teaching and Learning with Society: New Courses in the Object Lab (summer term 2025)

A new Seed Funding program has been established by the Office for Knowledge Exchange with Society to support transdisciplinary seminars in the Object Lab.  Financial help and advice is given to shape research questions and coursework in cooperation with society.

The programme in the summer term 2025 focuses on the engagement with archives, collections, media and art works as carriers of historical, political and aesthetic meanings, as well as questions on showing and concealing. Through research-based, curatorial and artistic approaches, the seminars experiment with practices of visualisation, erasure, transformation and rethinking.

“Censorship and the public. On the material culture of image- and speech bans”

Dr. Katja Müller-Helle (The Technical Image, Department of Art and Visual History) and Dr. Alia Rayyan (Theory and Practice of Curating, Centre for Cultural Techniques)

This practice-oriented exercise takes a historical and systematic look at the concepts of the public and censorship and at the specific material practices of their context-dependent realisation: blurring effects, black bars, fading and overpainting reach deep into the history of debates on content regulation and are at the same time highly up-to-date and in constant transformation. The art space occupies a special position with regard to the handling, framing or expansion of what can be said and shown: it can be understood as a field of experimentation through which practices of censorship are avoided, expanded, overwritten or even demanded. Hengame Hosseini, an artist from Tehran whose work emerges from lived experience within Iran’s sociopolitical landscape, will co-lead the seminar. Drawing on her position as a witness and engaged observer, she will share reflections on public space, visibility, and the visual language of resistance—as seen, for example, during the Women, Life, Freedom movement, where the streets became a canvas for an ongoing dialogue between suppression and expression. (Seminar in German)

„Archiving Werkstatt der Kulturen: (Post)Migrant Histories in Berlin Arts“

Dr. Habiba Hakimuddin Insaf (Department of Art and Visual History) and Juana Awad (inherit.heritage in transformation)

The Werkstatt der Kulturen (WdK) in Berlin operated from 1993 to 2019 as the city’s only state-funded institution dedicated to showcasing art and culture by migrant communities and communities of Colour. In formats including festivals, concerts, screenings, workshops, and transnational collaborations, it offered a platform for artistic experimentation to individuals and groups that had been largely excluded from other state-supported cultural spaces in the city. After its closure by the Berlin Senate, the WdK left behind its archival material, now comprising over 180 boxes of official correspondence, photographs, videos or flyers, documenting the work of thirty years of (post)migrant arts and culture presentation in the city. This course examines the materials left behind by the WdK, collaborating with the custodian of the archival collection, the Migrationsrat Berlin e.V. as a local societal actor. By asking key questions on notions of archiving and presenting, participants construct an inventory of the archival collection, and research and curate examples for public presentation in the form of a virtual exhibition. (Seminar in German and English)

“Overloaded! Inter-imperial Entanglements of Material and Photographic Collections in Berlin and Vienna” (Café Interimperial)

Prof. Dr. Magdalena Buchczyk (Department of European Ethnology), Dr. Hanin Hannouch (Weltmuseum Wien) and Anna Szöke (Ethnologisches Museum/Asian Art Museum)

Café Interimperial is a public student-led event designed as part of the MA seminar Overloaded! Inter-imperial Entanglements of Material and Photographic Collections in Berlin and Vienna at the Institute for European Ethnology. As part of this project, students collaborate with the Weltmuseum Wien and the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin to trace the inter-imperial relations that shape collections of photography and material culture across both cities. The public event Café Interimperial transforms the Object Lab into a pop-up space for conversation and research-in-progress. The event invites scholars and members of the public to interact with students’ work and engage in a meaningful dialogue about the layered histories that continue to shape the present. (Seminar in German and English)

“Meet the Sponges: Curating Dark Ecology, Deep Immersion, Shifting Senses and Other Retionality”

Felix Sattler (Curator of the Tieranatomisches Theater, Centre for Cultural Techniques)

MEET THE SPONGES explores theories and practices of accessing and queering material heritage in collections, examines transversal curating and dvelves into artistic and indigenous research methodologies. In exchange with academic and societal actors students prepare curatorial concepts and sections for an exhibition. This includes presenting and/or performing artifacts, written and oral history, and works of art, while developing a concise curatorial narrative and dramaturgy. The seminar works with the so called deep sea cabinet, containing of microscopic preparations of glass sponges from the HU Zoological Teaching collection, gathered within the Valdivia deep sea expedition (1898–99). The project’s co-creators experiment with establishing new relational aesthetics and ethics between deep-sea lifeforms and humans. (Seminar in Englisch)

“Course of the Menzel-Dachs with Matt Saunders: Remediations”

Dr. Jakob Schillinger (Menzel-Dach, Department of Art and Visual History) and Matt Saunders (Art, Film and Visual Studies, Harvard University)

Departing from Matt Saunders’ own artistic practice, this practice-oriented course examines processes of remediation and transfer between different media. Grounded in painting, Saunders’ work makes porous and provocative relationships with other forms, especially photography, printmaking and installations of animated films. Connecting different techniques, the course will involve off-site collaboration with lithographer Ulrich Kühle in Berlin. This idea of maker-centred learning and teaching is a shared interest and approach of Matt Saunders, the Centre for Cultural Techniques and the Menzel-Dach, which will soon reopen as a site for research and teaching that explores artistic practice. (Seminar in English)

 

Contact:

If you have any questions, please contact

Xenia Muth
Leonie Kubigsteltig

Office for Knowledge Exchange with Society
Phone: +49(0)30 2093-12892 | -12881
Email: wissensaustausch.hzk@hu-berlin.de

Knowledge Exchange, News, Object Lab

Dance Artist in residence: Engaging with Science Through Movement

Choreographer and artistic researcher Irina Demina (SCARBOD Lab) is currently a resident artist at Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik (ZfK). In this interview she talks about her vision to use body-based formats for knowledge exchange and public engagement with research. In collaboration with the Office for Knowledge Exchange with Society she develops new ways of enhancing engagement with science. The research community is invited to visit the newly activated ‘object lab’ at ZfK and engage in participatory sessions or get inspired by performative talks

Irina Demina, how do you workwhat do you do and what does SCARBOD Lab stand for?

As  a choreographer and artistic researcher, my work is driven by a lot of curiosity for transdisciplinary formats that connect embodied artistic practice with scientific inquiry. I understand choreography not just as stage art, but as a method of thinking about and through movement — a strategy for navigating knowledge and uncertainty, and exploring relationships between bodies, spaces, ideas, and time. I call this approach SCARBOD Lab, which is short for Science Art Body.

How can dance and science engage with each other?

My practice revolves around trans- and multidisciplinarity. — I’m curious about what emerges when seemingly unrelated fields cross-pollinate, like, for example, folk dance and AI or dance improvisation and theoretical neuroscience – which are projects I am currently involved in. What fascinates me about the dialogue between dance and science is the chance to explore knowledge not just intellectually, but to experience it with the whole body. Participatory, embodied formats create opportunities to reconnect knowledge with lived experience — inviting people to sense, reflect, and engage with science in a different way.

How can the research community get to know participate in or experience your work?

This invitation to dialogue isn’t limited to specific disciplines, on the contrary, the most exciting things often happen at the most unexpected intersections. We have developed a couple of pilot formats for the object lab at ZfK, which everyone is welcome to take part in – from open movement sessions to performative talks. If you are interested to join one of these events or would like to start an exchange about movement and engagement practices – please contact us at wissensaustausch.hzk@hu-berlin.de

Photo: (c) Claude Hofer

Current events in the object lab

Open movement sessions: “BODYATION”: First Wednesday of the month on 07.05.25, 04.06.25, 02.07.25 from 09:00 – 10:00

This regular movement session invites the HU community to rethink thinking – engaging your body as an active partner in the research and ideation process.

Performative encounters: “Choreographies of knowledge”: 04./05.07.2025, 17:00 – 19:00

This event aims at fostering transdisciplinary dialogue, where artistic exploration and academic inquiry converge to spark new possibilities and creative collaborations.

All events take place in the object lab of Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik, Campus Nord – Haus 3, Philippstr. 13

We kindly ask you to register your interest: wissensaustausch.hzk@hu-berlin.de

 

Knowledge Exchange, News, Object Lab

Performative encounters in the object lab “Choreographies of knowledge” on 4th/5th July 2025

“Choreographies of knowledge” at the Object Lab invites practitioners and researchers from the fields of body-based arts, movement and performance to share their practices in a relaxed open studio atmosphere. In this series of dynamic encounters scientific concepts are gaining potential to transform into lived experiences, tracing the invisible choreographies of knowledge and suggesting novel pathways for teaching and research.

How does knowledge move? What transformative potential lies in movement for sharing and shaping ideas? Does research have a rhythm, a form, a choreography? How do bodies, materials, concepts and spaces interact and dance together in the dynamic co-creation of knowledge?

This event aims at fostering transdisciplinary dialogue, where artistic exploration and academic inquiry converge to spark new possibilities and creative collaborations.

4 July 
5 pm   An Boekman “Moving the Classroom” (Tanz in der Schule) / auf deusch
6 pm   Irina Demina  “Folk Dance and AI. Rethinking traditions” / in english

5 July  
5 pm   Lina Gomez  “Embodied Landscapes. Seismic bodies” / in english
6  pm  Wanda Golonka  “Rund um die Leere. Choreografie und Keramik” / auf deutsch

Location:
Objektlabor
Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Campus Nord – Haus 3
Philippstr. 13

Short, non-binding registration would be appreciated: wissensaustausch.hzk@hu-berlin.de

 

Knowledge Exchange, News, Object Lab

“Bodyation” movement workshops in the object lab: brain storming the body

Image

This regular movement session invites the HU community to rethink thinking—engaging your body as an active partner in the research and ideation process. Where in your body does curiosity arise? How do ideas take shape through movement? How does a shift in posture shift your perspective?

Through guided movement improvisation tasks, we will tune into our researching and thinking bodies, exploring how physical awareness can offer new perspectives in scientific inquiry. Bring your research questions, wear comfortable clothing and shoes, and come with a spirit of playfulness and curiosity. This session is designed with an open and flexible approach, ensuring that participants can engage at their own pace, free from expectations.
No prior movement experience required—just an open mind and a willingness to experiment.

These sessions are part of Irina Demina’s commission at the Center for Cultural Techniques (ZfK), in which participatory, body-based formats for knowledge exchange with society and public engagement are developed and integrated into the research and teaching activities of the Object Lab. This practice invites to explore, how sensory experiences and artistic practices have the potential to open new pathways to scientific research and knowledge exchange. It offers an inviting space and opportunity for experimentation where ideas can flow freely, so that transdisciplinary and creative research approaches can meet and unfold together.

You may come to one or more sessions as you see fit.

Location:
Objektlabor
Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Campus Nord – Haus 3
Philippstr. 13

Dates:
Wednesday   30.04.25  12.30 – 13.30h  (for ZfK members only)
Wednesday     07.05.25  09 – 10 h (open to all HU members)
Wednesday      04.06.25  09 – 10 h (open to all HU members) 
Wednesday      02.07.25  09 – 10 h (open to all HU members)

Language: English/Deutsch            

Short, non-binding registration would be appreciated: wissensaustausch.hzk@hu-berlin.de

Knowledge Exchange, News, Research, Third Mission

Research Lounge – Participatory Approaches in Research

Call for Contributions: Submit abstracts for the fifth Research Lounge on the topics of Participatory Approaches in Research until April 20, 2025.

The fifth Research Lounge will take place on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 from 2 to 5 p.m. on the topic of “Participatory Approaches in Research”, this time at the Central Institute Center for Cultural Techniques (ZfK) on Campus North. Organized by the team of the Vice President Research in cooperation with the HU office for “Knowledge Exchange with Society”, researchers from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and its partner institutions are invited to network at this event.

Knowledge exchange with society is becoming an increasingly important part of knowledge production in research through participatory and transdisciplinary approaches. While these approaches are standard in some research areas, such as sustainability and innovation research, there is less experience and exchange in other areas. Among other research methods, participatory and transdisciplinary research methods are seen as a particularly good way to contribute innovative solutions to current societal challenges. To this end, cooperation with citizens, organised civil society, culture or politics can open up new research topics and strengthen trust in science through their active participation.

There are many definitions, methods and experiences of participatory approaches to research, as well as a wide variety of actors and forms of participation. The Research Lounge “Participation in Research” therefore aims to promote scientific exchange and networking in this area and to highlight the diversity of current research activities and examples of success at Humboldt-Universität.

We welcome contributions from researchers at all career stages (R1-R4) and from all disciplines. The short presentations of 7 minutes can deal with empirical or theoretical scientific aspects of participatory and transdisciplinary research or with practical perspectives and experiences. The non-exhaustive list of possible presentation topics includes:

Research on participation and transdisciplinarity in science:
  • Participation and transdisciplinarity research
  • Theoretical and methodological reflections on the (further) development of participation in research
  • Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)
  • Reflections from impact research, findings on impact and added value of participatory and transdisciplinary research
Approaches, methods, case studies:
  • Concepts and methods as well as project/context-specific application of transdisciplinary and participatory processes in research projects and teaching
  • Examples of participatory research projects and participation formats
  • Experience from areas such as participatory action research, participatory health and social research, transformation research, artistic research, co-curation, co-design, Citizen Science, shared coding/computing
Challenges and principles of transdisciplinary collaboration with a focus on:
  • Integration of heterogeneous types of knowledge, experiential knowledge, knowledge needs and expectations, project goals and desired research outputs
  • Reflections on trust, ownership, emotions, power relations including reflection on one’s own role as a researcher in the participatory research process
  • Theoretical approaches and application of quality criteria, evaluation criteria and evaluation methods

Procedure and further information

  • The planned short presentations should not exceed 7 minutes.
  • If you are interested in giving a presentation, please send an abstract (approx. 100 to a maximum of 250 words) to vpfref[at]hu-berlin.de by April 20, 2025 at the latest.
  • The event languages are German and English.
  • Speakers will be notified by May 6, 2025.
  • The event will take place at the Central Institute ZfK (Centre for Cultural Techniques) and will be co-supervised by the HU office for “Knowledge Exchange with Society”.

If you have any questions, please contact the organizers of the Research Lounge at vpfref[at]hu-berlin.de or consult the event website.

Photo: Nadine Zilliges, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Knowledge Exchange, News, Object Lab

“Choreographies of Knowledge” – Knowledge Exchange with Society through Dance

How does knowledge move? What transformative potential lies in movement for sharing and shaping ideas? Does research have a rhythm, a form, a choreography? How do bodies, materials, concepts and spaces interact and dance together in the dynamic co-creation of knowledge?

These questions form the foundation of Irina Demina’s work as a choreographer, dramaturg, and artistic researcher. Since February 2025, she has been commissioned with the development of participatory, body-based formats for knowledge exchange and public engagement at the Center for Cultural Techniques’ Object Lab.

Irina understands choreography not as something that occurs exclusively on stage, but as a way of thinking movement, a strategy for organizing knowledge and exploring relationships between ideas, bodies, objects, space, and time. With SCARBOD Lab (a name derived from Science, Art and Body), she founded an experimental platform and investigates how body-based artistic practices can open up new approaches to scientific research and public engagement.

The Object Lab at the Center for Cultural Techniques provides the space and setting for Irina to conceptualize and explore formats with the potential of transforming scientific concepts into embodied, tangible experiences. The aim of this practice is to build bridges between science and society and to bring focus to the body as a medium of thinking and researching — an approach Irina calls ‘bodyation,’ where ideas are shaped and directly experienced through movement. This holds potential for creating spaces of encounter— between people and objects, between movements and ideas, between theory and practice.

Upcoming events in the Object lab: 

„Choreographies of knowledge“ (performative encounter)  
04.07.2025 and 05.07.2025 5 – 7 pm

„Bodyation“ (movement workshops)
Wednesday   30.04.25  12.30 – 13.30h  (for ZfK members only)
Wednesday    07.05.25  09 – 10 h (open to all HU members)
Wednesday    04.06.25  09 – 10 h (open to all HU members) 
Wednesday    02.07.25  09 – 10 h (open to all HU members)

If you would like to engage in a deeper exchange about object, body, and movement, please feel free to contact us at wissensaustausch.hzk@hu-berlin.de

Photo: Philipp Weinrich

 
 
BUA, Knowledge Exchange, News, Open Humboldt Freiräume, Third Mission

Universities have a civic duty

In this first networking event for knowledge exchange with society, experts and academics from Oxford and Berlin came together at Humboldt University’s Center for Cultural Technique to discuss the topic of public engagement.

The historic lecture hall and the object laboratory of the Center for Cultural Techniques provided the perfect space – the international speakers contributed the specific professional expertise for this November event: the topic of “Researching with Society – International Perspectives” brought together 50 scientists and science-related stakeholders to exchange ideas on how researching with society can succeed. The importance, possibilities and techniques of participatory research and the role of universities were discussed in lectures and workshops.

A highlight of the day was the keynote speech by Dr. Victoria McGuinness, Head of Public Engagement and Head of the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) at the University of Oxford. She emphasized the changing role of universities – from a static educational institution to an institution with social responsibility and an open space for discourse – and at the same time highlighted the importance of every scientist as a “doorway to the university” for non-academic communities.

Talks and workshops

On invitation by the office for Knowledge Exchange with Society at Humboldt University’s Center for Cultural Technique and the TD-Lab – Laboratory for Transdisciplinary Research of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA), participants were able to explore the methods and impact of participatory research in practical workshops and network with other public engagement experts.

For example, the workshop “What is Public Engagement with Research in the Humanities?” with Dr. Victoria McGuinness offered the opportunity to talk about motivation and support systems needed to bring researchers into exchange with non-academic publics.

In the workshop “Developing Compelling Impact Stories” with Pavel Ovseiko, DPhil MSc PGDip, Senior Research Fellow in Health Policy and Management at John Radcliffe Hospital (University of Oxford) the participants looked at ways in which social impact can be defined, collected, communicated and established in a meaningful way.

Ausblick auf 2025

The exchange on public engagement will be continued next year and opportunities for further training – such as the recently launched cooperation with the Berlin School of Public Engagement and Open Science – will be expanded. The aim is to support scientists who are conducting or planning to conduct research projects in participatory ways.

Questions, suggestions and/or specific ideas can be sent to wissensaustausch.hzk@hu-berlin.de 

Photos by Stefan Klenke, Humboldt University

Knowledge Exchange, News, Object Lab, Third Mission

Object Lab: Seed Funding for Teaching

The program ‘Object Lab: Seed Funding for Teaching’ supports teachers and students across disciplines in shaping academic questions and seminar work in cooperation with society. The aim is to integrate questions, experience and knowledge from society into teaching and university work with students, to learn from various actors in civil society, culture or politics and create an equal exchange.

The office for “Knowledge Exchange with Society” at the Center for Cultural Technique supports seminars that work in a transdisciplinary or participatory way and include elements of exchange with society or public engagement. This may include:

  • Cooperation with appropriate societal actors / organizations
  • Cooperation in the organization or presentation of course content; in the form of co-teaching or using other methods that aim to incorporate expertise from outside academia
  • Course design with aspects of community-based research/learning
  • Cooperation with society within a seminar by students, in course projects or final theses
  • Cooperation with social groups or organizations for the presentation/display of course results
  • Courses that combine material practices, object- or body-centered approaches in teaching with external collaborations

Support is provided through:

  • Funding of course materials up to 1,000 euros per seminar
  • Use of space at the Object Lab on the North Campus, including flexible room equipment
  • Occasional event assistance by arrangement
  • Support/advice from HU team Knowledge exchange with society (approx. 2h per week)

Eligible for funding are:

  • Courses that are transdisciplinary or include elements of exchange with society
  • BA or MA seminars by members of the Center for Cultural Technique, HU Berlin
  • Seminars that can take place in the Object Lab on Campus North or establish a spatial reference to the space through workshops/parts of the seminar work
  • Seminars that take place in SoSe 2025 or WiSe 2025/26
  • Material costs that are spent for coursework within the calendar year 2025 (expenses are paid by the Center for Cultural Technique or the assigned WBS element)

Members of the Center for Cultural Technique are eligible to apply in the first funding phase:

  • Please contact Xenia Muth or Leonie Kubigsteltig or send a short inquiry to hzk@hu-berlin.de to register your interest
  • Expression of interest for the SoSe 2025 should be received by 26.01.2025
Knowledge Exchange, News

Sensing Common Grounds. Towards Collaborative Speculation

Roundtable Discussion by Cluster of excellence “Matters of Activity” on November 14, 2024, 6:30 pm

The roundtable addresses current challenges at the intersection of critical humanities scholarship and design research by discussing nuanced means of knowing and making. It attends to collaborative speculation in inter- and transdisciplinary contexts to sense and unearth common grounds through the reality of the ecological predicament. Together with our guests, we ask about the narratives, prototypes, norms, materials and media that hold knowledge (and non-knowledge) of such speculations and public imaginaries: How to unlearn and unmake dominant modes of worldmaking by cutting across disciplines, foregrounding embodied knowledges, situated inquiry and extra-academic encounters?

The event will be held in English.                      

Hermann von Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik, HU Berlin Campus Nord, Philippstraße 13/Haus 3