International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) "Knowledge and Its Resources: Historical Reciprocities" Welcomes First Doctoral Cohort
The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science is very excited to announce the arrival of the first Predoctoral Fellows in its International Max Planck Research School "Knowledge and Its Resources: Historical Reciprocities" (IMPRS-KIR).
The new graduate school is a joint project of the MPIWG with Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Technische Universität Berlin. It will trace the deep entanglements of knowledge and its resources from a long-term and global perspective.
Presenting the Predoctoral Fellows and Their Research Projects
The opening event on September 5, 2022 served as a kick-off for the graduate school and brought together numerous Institute members, the professors of the Principal Teaching Faculty from all four partner institutions, and the new Predoctoral Fellows.
In vivid elevator pitches, they presented their research projects on the semantics of cuneiform scripts (Satria Quaijtaal), premodern New Persian agricultural texts (Riaz Howey), the maintenance and repair of late Ottoman-era telegraphy and railways (Zeynep Ecem Pulas), reading practices of British common readers in the 18th and 19th centuries (Jakob Kaaby Hellstenius), the postcolonial history of ethnomusicology (Christopher Klauke), and uranium mining in China (Lejie Zeng).
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The participants of the opening workshop on the notion of "resources" in the history of knowledge.
First row (L–R): Dr. Lisa Onaga (MPIWG), Zeynep Ecem Pulas (Predoctoral Fellow), Dr. Andrea Westermann (Konstanz), Prof. Dr. Heike Weber (TU), Prof. Dr. Anke te Heesen (HU), Satria Quaijtaal (Predoctoral Fellow), Liliane Sommer (IMPRS Office).
Second row (L–R): Sophie Schwarzmaier (IMPRS Coordinator), Prof. Dr. Friedrich Steinle (TU), Prof. Dr. Cale Johnson (FU), Prof. Dr. Christine von Oertzen (MPIWG/HU), Prof. Dr. Viktoria Tkaczyk (HU), Samuel Ducourant (Predoctoral Fellow), Riaz Howey (Predoctoral Fellow), Christopher Klauke (Predoctoral Fellow), Jakob Hellstenius (Predoctoral Fellow), Constantin Böhm (IMPRS Office).
Photograph: Arne Sattler, 2022.
Prof. Dr. Viktoria Tkaczyk, Professor for Media and Knowledge at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Speaker of the IMPRS-KIR, introduced the Predoctoral Fellows and the Institute members to the agenda of the graduate school. Photograph: Arne Sattler, 2022.
The Predoctoral Fellows of the IMPRS-KIR presented their projects in short elevator pitches. Photograph: Arne Sattler, 2022.
The presentations were followed by a reception in the Institute's courtyard. Photograph: Arne Sattler, 2022.
The opening brought together the Predoctoral Fellows of the IMPRS-KIR, its Principal Teaching Faculty and numerous Institute members. Photograph: Arne Sattler, 2022.
Dr. Andrea Westermann (Konstanz) gave a workshop on the notion of "resources" in the history of knowledge. Photograph: Arne Sattler, 2022.
Photograph: Arne Sattler, 2022.
Photograph: Arne Sattler, 2022.
The audience was introduced to the conceptual framework and the curriculum by the Speakers of the IMPRS-KIR, Prof. Dr. Dagmar Schäfer (MPIWG), Prof. Dr. Viktoria Tkaczyk (HU), and Prof. Dr. Christine von Oertzen (MPIWG/HU). Dr. Lisa Onaga (MPIWG) introduced adaptations of existing MPIWG-wide activities such as the Methods Intensive Master Classes and Digital History trainings for the new campus curriculum. As part of the opening, a workshop was held with Dr. Andrea Westermann (Konstanz) on the notion of "resources" in the history of knowledge and her work on terrestrial and geopolitical conditions in contemporary societies.
IMPRS-KIR Program
For the next three and a half years, the Predoctoral Fellows of the IMPRS-KIR will work at the Institute on their research projects, including individual research trips. While focusing on specific topics, regions and time periods, they will address material resources of knowledge, resource economics of knowledge as well as long-term developments and global specificities of knowledge. The IMPRS-KIR aims to create synergetic effects among their projects and enable the students to develop a historically grounded as well as critical approach to globally diverse knowledge cultures.
The IMPRS-KIR will offer a total of ten additional doctoral positions. The next call for applications will be published in October 2022. Further information is available on the MPIWG/IMPRS webpage. The IMPRS-KIR's own website will be launched in fall 2022.