Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung

In 2015 UBIAS, the international network of University-Based Institutes for Advanced Study started a program called “Intercontinental Academia” (ICA). With the aim to create a global network of future research leaders the program offers participants to get together in two or three sessions over the course of one year at different Institutes for Advanced Study to engage in paradigm-shifting, cross-disciplinary research, mentored by eminent researchers from across the globe. 

The pilot project for the Intercontinental Academia operated as a joint venture of IEA-USP (Sao Paulo, Brasil) and the IAR (Institute for Advanced Research) of the Nagoya University (Nagoya, Japan) entitled "Time: Different Perspectives about One Topic".  

The second edition of ICA was a collaboration between the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University Jerusalem (IIAS), and the Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung (ZiF) of Bielefeld University. ICA2 aimed to promote an unprecedented interdisciplinary dialogue on human dignity and to initiate further cooperation between participants with diverse scientific and cultural backgrounds. Discussing crucial ethical, practical, and historical debates of interdisciplinary nature and societal importance, this edition of ICA resulted in lasting cooperation between the parties involved. It culminated in a third colloquium hosted by the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS) at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2019. 

The Intercontinental Academia on Humand Dignity at ZiF, Foto: Uni Bielefeld

Now the participants of this group, who are still running a discussion forum, have published the results of their work in the volume “Probing Human Dignity: Exploring Thresholds from an Interdisciplinary Perspective” edited by Stephanie N. Arel, Levi Cooper and Vanessa Hellmann. The objective of the volume is to draw on theoretical and conceptual distinctions of Human Dignity in order to inform new perspectives that probe its ambiguity. It reflects their journey, their fruitful collaboration, and their scholarly endeavors and offers an interdisciplinary and international contribution to the contemporary Human Dignity discourse.

We were delighted to host the group at ZiF!