The call for applications for six new PhD positions within the 3rd cohort of the GRK 2696 has begun.
The application period will end on December 8th, 2024.
Please visit this page for more information about the positions and the application procedure: https://grk2696.de/jobs/
Senior scholars, early-career researchers, and students from various academic disciplines gathered in Wuppertal for the workshop on “Methodological Transformations in Fundamental Physics” from September 16 to 18. The event, organized by our Research Training Group, provided an interdisciplinary platform to explore the dynamic and plastic character of “the” scientific method in fundamental physics.
Participants presented their latest research in their respective fields (philosophy of science, philosophy of physics, history and sociology of science, and social epistemology).
On the first day, presentations and discussions focused on the nature of evidence and the challenges of methods for testing and confirming theories in the field. Keynote presentations on the nature and limits of eliminative reasoning by Chris Smeenk (Western University) and on meta-empirical theory assessment in relation to special relativity by Richard Dawid (Stockholm University) set the stage for contributions on the observation of binary black hole mergers (Sarwar Ahmed), consilience arguments about the Hawking effect (Erik Curiel), and gauge invariance considerations in fundamental physics (Guy Hetzroni). Our principal investigator, Radin Dardashti, discussed issues surrounding the notion of scientific discovery.
On the second and third days, the workshop gradually shifted towards heuristics and open-endedness in scientific methodology, starting with a keynote on knowledge transfer in theory building by Elena Castellani (University of Florence) and Emilia Margoni (University of Geneva). The talk was followed by presentations on social dilemmas in high-energy physics (Lucas Gautheron), and on the roles of theoretical virtues and economical considerations in pursuit worthiness assessment (Enno Fischer & Patrick M. Duerr).
The 2nd day’s afternoon session was opened with a historical perspective by Helge Kragh (University of Copenhagen), followed by a number of presentations assessing statements of progress in cosmology (Patrick M. Duerr & Finnur Dellsén) and pursuit-worthiness in relation to the dark matter hypothesis (Antonis Antoniou) or the LCDM model (Anastasiia Lazutkina). As part of this session focused on cosmology, Mauro Dorato discussed conceptual issues regarding the concept of cosmological time.
The last day began with a keynote by Mike D. Schneider (University of Missouri) on creativity and un-creativity in contemporary fundamental physics research. It was followed by a talk by Helen Meskhidze on solution-generating techniques in general relativity, and ended with a historical overview of string theory research and its evolving relationship with physical reality (Robert van Leeuwen).
These talks sparked lively debates regarding pursuit-worthiness, continuities and discontinuities in fundamental physics, and the future of the field in general. More generally, the workshop provided an opportunity for both young and established scholars, from all over Europe and North America, to comment on each others’ works and engage deeply with perspectives from different fields and areas of fundamental physics.
Hast du Interesse an einem Einblick in die Wissenschaft weißt aber nicht wie?
Du kannst Fragen stellen, mehr über wissenschaftliche Forschung erfahren und verstehen, wie die Wissenschaft funktioniert. In gemeinsamen Workshops gehen wir beispielsweise den Fragen nach, was es für Wege oder berufliche Laufbahnen in der Wissenschaft gibt, wie du einen solchen Weg planen kannst und was du dabei beachten musst. Das Programm soll dir helfen, wissenschaftliche Fähigkeiten aufzubauen, damit du eigenständig in der Forschung arbeiten und bei akademischen Projekten punkten kannst. Außerdem wird dein Selbstvertrauen im Umgang mit wissenschaftlichen Kompetenzen gestärkt. Durch die persönliche Betreuung von Mentor*innen aus dem GRK erhältst du hilfreiche Unterstützung.
her.culis ist ein Förderprogramm, das vom Graduiertenkolleg 2696 getragen wird. Es spricht gezielt Bachelor-Studentinnen der Fakultäten 1, 2 und 4 an der Bergischen Universität Wuppertal an und hat sich dem Ziel verschrieben, den weiblichen wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs frühzeitig zu fördern und zu stärken. Dieses Programm ist Teil des Engagements der Universität, den Anteil von Frauen in der Wissenschaft zu erhöhen.
Das Programm geht über einen Zeitraum von einem Jahr und startet am 01.06.2024. Es bietet den Teilnehmerinnen die Möglichkeit, an eigenen Projekten zu arbeiten und wertvolle Kontakte mit Expert*innen zu knüpfen. Darüber hinaus erhalten sie eine Vergütung für ihre Tätigkeit und haben Zugang zu interaktiven Workshops, die ihre wissenschaftliche Kompetenz weiterentwickeln.
Durch her.culis sollen junge Frauen ermutigt werden, sich frühzeitig mit der Wissenschaft auseinanderzusetzen und ihren Platz darin zu finden. Das Programm unterstützt sie dabei, ihre Fähigkeiten zu entwickeln und bietet die Möglichkeit, sich in ein Netzwerk einzubinden.
Informationen zum Programm und zur Bewerbung: https://www.gleichstellung.uni-wuppertal.de/de/foerderprogramme-instrumente/wissenschaftliche-laufbahn-fuer-frauen/
Two of our PhD students have attended the 9th Norwegian Conference on the History of Science in November 2023 (financed with funds from the Research Training Group). Jasmin Dierkes contributed to the conference with a talk “On dummies and dates: The advent of simulation-based training in medical education”. Nora Schierenbeck gave a talk “About the Classification of Personality Disorders: Transformations in the Face of Definable Landmarks or Incremental Change?”. If you are interested into their experiences in Trondheim, you can read about it in their interview.
The history of mathematics group within the GRK will be organizing a workshop on Mathematics and Its Historiography in the Long Twentieth Century: Circulations and Interactions, at the Glanzstoffhaus from March 13-15, 2024.
The workshop aims at promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and therefore proposals contributing to any aspect of the theme discussed above are welcome. Special consideration will be given to proposals from young scholars. Further information can be found on the workshop page.
The research project Big Mathematics? The Classification of Finite Simple Groups, 1950s to 1980 will be funded by the German Research Foundation. The Classification of Finite Simple Groups (CFSG), also known as the enormous theorem, is a highlight of 20th-century mathematics, both with respect to its mathematical content and to the complex process of proving the result.
In this project, Volker Remmert (Wuppertal) and Rebecca Waldecker (mathematics, MLU Halle-Wittenberg) intend to thoroughly analyze the history of the CFSG and use it as a magnifying glass to study the history of mathematics and the mathematical community in the context of the Cold War (e.g. the impact of politics on research in pure mathematics in the Cold War, namely via new possibilities of funding research in general and of mathematical research in particular, a largely unexplored territory). Further information can be found here.
On the first of October 2023, the members of the GRK 2696 “Transformations of Science and Technology since 1800” were pleased to welcome six new PhD students who will participate in the GRK graduate school program. The second cohort consists of Elife Cetintas, Tobias Grabosch, Fabienne Grimm, Linda Grohmann, Anastasiia Lazutkina and Charlotte Poller.
In order to give the new PhDs a good start to their PhD journey, the first cohort hosted a Welcome Week, which took place from 10th – 12th October 2023. The Welcome Week started with an official welcome ceremony: Spokesperson Prof. Dr. Volker Remmert opened the event with a welcome speech, followed by the presentation of the GRK concept and theoretical framework presented by the first cohort PhD students Jeremias Düring and Nora Schierenbeck, and Principal Investigator Jun.- Prof. Dania Achermann closed the event with an inspiring speech about her personal career path in academic research. The second day began with a tour of the campus Grifflenberg. There, the PhDs of the first and second cohort explored the extensive campus. During a joint lunch, there was already plenty of opportunity to exchange ideas about each other’s projects. The day ended with the inauguration lecture from Principal Investigator Prof. Anna Leuschner. On Thursday morning Sophie Charlott Ebert the head of the Equality and Diversity Unit at the University of Wuppertal, visited the new GRK members. She introduced the PhDs to the unit’s services, such as individual coaching, child care services, and the SelmaMeyerMentoring in cooperation with the University of Düsseldorf. In the afternoon the PhDs went on a city tour through Wuppertal, explored Campus Haspel and the Hardt-Anlage. The Welcome Week ended with a shared dinner and a pub crawl in the Luisenviertel in Wuppertal. The whole GRK team is very happy to welcome the six new PhD students and wish them all a great start in the GRK program.
Doctoral students and renowned researchers from all over the world have come together for a summer school on the topic of “Collaboration and Interdisciplinarity in Science and Technology” in the week from 24th to 29th of September 2023. The summer school is organised by the Research Training Group in collaboration with the Summer School Series in Higher Education Research and Science Studies (HERRS). The invited scholars provided the doctoral students with insights into the complex topic of scientific collaboration and interdisciplinarity by presenting the latest theories, methods and research designs aimed at better understanding the complex web of scientific collaboration, the costs and benefits of interdisciplinary research, the competition between research fields, the institutional conditions for successful collaboration and its impact on scientific careers. The summer school offered the young researchers from the fields of history, philosophy and sociology of science the opportunity to discuss these topics with leading scientists and develop new ideas for their own projects.
Hanne Andersen is one of the currently three Mercator Fellows of the Research Training Group 2696 and will give this lecture as part of her first stay in Wuppertal. You can find more information about the topic on the respective poster and read more about her here. Hanne Andersen will also be part of the summer school in September.
This workshop is a seminar for members of the Research Training Group only. You can find more information on the respective poster. If you are interested in the topic, please contact Nina Lorbach.
