© Universität Bielefeld
uni.news
Published on
7. März 2011
Category
General
Bielefeld University's Cluster of Excellence through to the second stage of the Excellence Initiative
DFG and German Science Council call for a detailed proposal for the Cluster of Excellence "Communicating comparisons"
In the second phase of the Excellence Initiative by the German federal and state governments to promote science and research at German universities, Bielefeld University has won through to the second review stage with a Cluster of Excellence organized predominantly by sociologists and historians. This Wednesday (2 March 2011) the Joint Commission of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Science Council gave Bielefeld University until 1 September 2011 to submit a detailed proposal for "Communicating comparisons. From the onset of modernity to world society". A final decision will be reached in June 2012.
Bielefeld University already had two successful proposals in the first phase (2005–2007) of the Excellence Initiative: a Cluster of Excellence on Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) and a Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS) have been funded since 2007. Both institutions will be submitting applications for renewal.
Immediately after the decision was announced, Rektor Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Sagerer declared:
"The news we received from Bonn today gives us pleasure and confirms that we are on the right path: It once again shows how strong research at our university is in certain scientific fields. Nonetheless, we are also disappointed that the concept for the future of our university that was also drawn up for this stage of the Excellence Initiative has failed to sufficiently convince the experts. But we wont let this discourage us. The concept for our future has been designed to serve as a guideline for the successful future expansion of Bielefeld University without requiring the backing of the Excellence Initiative. We are fully committed to our approach. It enables us to meet the demands of top-level research while simultaneously teaching large numbers of students.
I thank all those involved. I wish the scientists in "Communicating comparisons. From the onset of modernity to world society" every success in the next stage. I also wish to thank those scientists whose proposals did not get this far. I also thank my colleagues along with the staff in the Rektor's Office and the administration for their many months of highly motivated and creative work on our concept for the future".
Compared to the first phase of the Excellence Initiative, funding in the second phase will be more flexible. Clusters of Excellence will now receive between three and eight million Euros per year.
Short description of the draft proposal
Cluster Proposal: Communicating comparisons. From the onset of modernity to world society
Nowadays, public comparisons are a ubiquitous phenomenon: States are compared in terms of their human rights records and companies in terms of their creditworthiness; universities compare themselves in terms of the amount of third-party funding they receive and athletes in terms of their victories. Although comparisons are a constitutive element of the social order, the social sciences have hardly ever treated them as an independent subject of study. The initiative for the Cluster of Excellence "Communicating comparisons. From the onset of modernity to world society" will tackle this topic and study the historical change and social significance of comparisons from a long-term historical perspective. Particular attention will be paid to the transition to modernity and the specific functions of comparisons within the emergence of the world society. With this comprehensive topic, history and sociology at Bielefeld are assigning themselves a joint research programme and intensifying the cooperation that already exists between them. Scientists in the fields of law and philosophy will also be participating in the Cluster.
Coordinators: Professor Dr. Bettina Heintz (Faculty of Sociology), Professor Dr. Willibald Steinmetz (Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology/History Department)
In the second phase of the Excellence Initiative by the German federal and state governments to promote science and research at German universities, Bielefeld University has won through to the second review stage with a Cluster of Excellence organized predominantly by sociologists and historians. This Wednesday (2 March 2011) the Joint Commission of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Science Council gave Bielefeld University until 1 September 2011 to submit a detailed proposal for "Communicating comparisons. From the onset of modernity to world society". A final decision will be reached in June 2012.
Bielefeld University already had two successful proposals in the first phase (2005–2007) of the Excellence Initiative: a Cluster of Excellence on Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) and a Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS) have been funded since 2007. Both institutions will be submitting applications for renewal.
Immediately after the decision was announced, Rektor Prof. Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Sagerer declared:
"The news we received from Bonn today gives us pleasure and confirms that we are on the right path: It once again shows how strong research at our university is in certain scientific fields. Nonetheless, we are also disappointed that the concept for the future of our university that was also drawn up for this stage of the Excellence Initiative has failed to sufficiently convince the experts. But we wont let this discourage us. The concept for our future has been designed to serve as a guideline for the successful future expansion of Bielefeld University without requiring the backing of the Excellence Initiative. We are fully committed to our approach. It enables us to meet the demands of top-level research while simultaneously teaching large numbers of students.
I thank all those involved. I wish the scientists in "Communicating comparisons. From the onset of modernity to world society" every success in the next stage. I also wish to thank those scientists whose proposals did not get this far. I also thank my colleagues along with the staff in the Rektor's Office and the administration for their many months of highly motivated and creative work on our concept for the future".
Compared to the first phase of the Excellence Initiative, funding in the second phase will be more flexible. Clusters of Excellence will now receive between three and eight million Euros per year.
Short description of the draft proposal
Cluster Proposal: Communicating comparisons. From the onset of modernity to world society
Nowadays, public comparisons are a ubiquitous phenomenon: States are compared in terms of their human rights records and companies in terms of their creditworthiness; universities compare themselves in terms of the amount of third-party funding they receive and athletes in terms of their victories. Although comparisons are a constitutive element of the social order, the social sciences have hardly ever treated them as an independent subject of study. The initiative for the Cluster of Excellence "Communicating comparisons. From the onset of modernity to world society" will tackle this topic and study the historical change and social significance of comparisons from a long-term historical perspective. Particular attention will be paid to the transition to modernity and the specific functions of comparisons within the emergence of the world society. With this comprehensive topic, history and sociology at Bielefeld are assigning themselves a joint research programme and intensifying the cooperation that already exists between them. Scientists in the fields of law and philosophy will also be participating in the Cluster.
Coordinators: Professor Dr. Bettina Heintz (Faculty of Sociology), Professor Dr. Willibald Steinmetz (Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology/History Department)