Strategic Scientific Workshops
Strategic Scientific Workshops 2023

Clockwise from bottom left: Prof. Dr. Erdmute Alber, Prof. Dr. Yvan Droz, Dr. Diego Malara, Prof. Dr. Tatjana Thelen, Prof. Dr. Lotte Meinert
Prof. Dr. Erdmute Alber Chair of Social Anthropology, University of Bayreuth
Prof. Dr. Yvan Droz
Senior Lecturer, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Geneva Graduate Institute, Switzerland
Dr. Diego Malara Assistant Professor in Social Anthropology, University of Glasgow, Schottland
Prof. Dr. Lotte Meinert Professor of Culture and Society, Aarhus University Moesgaard, Denmark
Prof. Dr.Tatjana Thelen Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna, Austria
Workshop Title: Making (a) Difference: Intergenerational Conversations on Transformation and Intimate Relations
The planned three-day workshop will bring together an international and intergenerational array of leading anthropologists to reflect on how intimate relations are made in, with, and through difference – and on how intimate relations make difference in turn. It falls squarely into the UBT focus area Cultural Encounters and Transcultural Processes, enriching it with innovative perspectives on hotly debated issues like identity politics, health politics, and the de-colonization of im/material heritage. The workshop will open ground-breaking directions in the study of intimate relations, kinship, and care, as well as difference. Strategically, it will launch a first-of-its-kind international network of researchers on kinship and intimate relations, under the European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA), headed by the University of Bayreuth.
Date: October 25-28, 2023

From left: Prof. Dr. Ricarda Bouncken, Prof. Xin (Robert) Luo, Prof. Dr. Charles Noble
Prof. Dr. Ricarda Bouncken Chair of Strategic Management and Organization, University of Bayreuth
Prof. Xin (Robert) Luo Special Assistant to the Dean for Research Advancement,
Anderson School of Management, University of New Mexico, USA
Prof. Dr. Charles Noble Henry Distinguished Professor of Business, University of Tennessee, USA
Workshop Title: Digital Innovation, Empowerment and the MNE
Today, digital technology is key to innovation, as it underlies processes and the ‘gestalt’ of innovation. Digital technology also supports collaboration between different entities across time and space combining context specific local and global knowledge. Especially multinational enterprises with distributed units and business models can gain from better digitalized connectivity of the distributed geographical locations. Yet, connectivity does not occur automatically. It demands employees who are empowered in using and developing digital technology and who are supported in their digital empowerment by their top management. The proposed workshop will bring together researchers from the field of Innovation Management, International Business, and Information System (IS) to examine the specific conditions, complexities, and possibilities for empowering employees and how empowerment can be further supported by specific top management team constellations. |
Date: November 14-15, 2023
Strategic Scientific Workshops 2022

From left: Prof. Dr. Laura König, Prof. Dr. Emmanuel Kuntsche, Prof. Dr. Rebecca Krukowski, Dr. Max Western
Prof. Dr. Laura König
Junior Professor of Public Health Nutrition, University of Bayreuth
Prof. Dr. Rebecca Krukowski
Professor of Public Health, University of Virginia, USA
Prof. Dr. Emmanuel Kuntsche
Professor of Public Health, La Trobe University, Australia
Dr. Max Western
Lecturer in Behavioural Science, University of Bath, UK
Workshop Title: Understanding the digital divide in health promotion
Social inequalities are an important contributor to the global burden of disease. It has been initially assumed that digital health technology may increase access to high quality health care at low cost, however, first studies suggest that digital health risks to widen, instead of reducing, health disparities. This workshop aims to build an international network of public health researchers addressing social inequalities in digital health to synthesize the current state of research, assess underlying mechanisms of the digital divide, identify research gaps, and propose potential solutions to improve (digital) health for all. |
Date: June 20-23, 2023
Website: https://www.phn.uni-bayreuth.de/en/DigitalDivide/index.html

From left: Prof. Dr. Astrid Swenson, Dr. Alison Carrol
Prof. Dr. Astrid Swenson
Chair of European Historical Cultures Institute, University Bayreuth
Dr. Alison Carrol
Reader in European History Institute, Brunel University London, UK
Workshop Title: Borders of Belonging: Historical and Creative Methods in Heritage and Placemaking
This workshop rethinks the role of borders in shaping ideas of heritage and belonging in Europe. While recent historical research has taken increasing account of transnational movements, debates often remain fragmented according to national lines and fail to consider the ways in which a wide set of European, imperial and global encounters and processes interacted. Bringing together scholars and creative practitioners, this workshop addresses this gap by analysing the shifting presentation of borders from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, with attention to sites across Europe and Africa. These sites may have been on the peripheries of nation-states, but they were at the centre of a range of other processes that shaped notions of belonging. Thus, the workshop seeks to advance the fields of historical research, heritage studies and border studies by placing thinking about the role of fluid and closed borders at the heart of historical thinking and heritage practice.
Date: June 28-30, 2023
Website: www.bordersofbelonging.de

Clockwise from bottom left: Prof. Dr. Merckx, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Gebauer, Prof. Dr. Johanna Pausch, Prof. Dr. Martin Bidartondo
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Gebauer
BayCEER - Laboratory of Isotope Biogeochemistry, University of Bayreuth
Prof. Dr. Johanna Pausch
Junior Professor Agroecology, University Bayreuth
Prof. Dr. Martin Ignacio Bidartondo
Professor of Molecular Ecology, Imperial College London, UK
Prof. Dr. Vincent Merckx
Group leader, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, The Netherlands
Workshop Title: Establishing a publicly accessible global online database on stable isotope abundance of mycoheterotrophic plants
The BayCEER – Laboratory of Isotope Biogeochemistry (BayCEER–IBG) collected more than 10,000 data on multi-element stable isotope abundance of > 700 plant species from all over the world in an internal database over the past 20 years. The aim of this collection was to identify mycoheterotrophs, i.e. plants living heterotrophic on the cost of their mycorrhizal fungi partners, a unique type of nutrition that has long been completely underappreciated. This database served as tool for > 40 publications from the BayCEER–IBG with many international collaborators. Most of them were published in highly ranked journals and attracted interest worldwide. Research funding and publication policies request more and more access of research data for a broad forum of users in an open access mode. Following this trend, the goal of this Strategic Scientific Workshop is the conversion of the internal database into a publicly accessible online database and its advertisement among a wide suite of users. |
Date: September 10-11, 2022
Strategic Scientific Workshops 2021

Clockwise from left: Prof. Dr. Eva Julia Lohse, Jane Murungi, Dr. Giulia Parola, Dr. Omondi Robert Owino, Prof. Dr. Margherita Poto
Professor Eva Julia Lohse
Chair for Public Law, University of Bayreuth
Professor Margherita Poto
Faculty of Law, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Dr. Giulia Parola
Faculty of Law, Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), Brazil
Dr. Omondi Robert Owino
Law Department, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology School of Law, Nairobi, Kenya
Jane Murungi
School of Law, University of Nairobi (Kisumu campus), Kenya
Workshop Title: Co-production of knowledge in climate governance
Climate change demands solutions from multilevel and polycentric perspectives and new methods in environmental-decision-making. Our 3-day-workshop sets a common framework for co-production of knowledge (CoPK) through the mapping and evaluation of existing climate-smart practices. By using an inductive and comparative approach we explore how state and non-state actors can systematically and effectively develop ways of CoPK in order to take into account perspectives of different knowledge bearers. We assert that CoPK can successfully counter the perceived lack of effectiveness of the mostly uni-lateral participatory rules in administrative and international decision-making. The workshop connects the narrative of effective participation with best practices of CoPK from selected local, traditional, and indigenous communities, in selected areas affected by climate change. The long-term aim is to consolidate our international network and develop training and capacity-building materials.
Date: May 5-6, 2022
Reports: Strategic Scientific Workshop: Co-production of knowledge in climate governance
Aus der Kooperation entstandene Publikation: https://biblioscout.net/book/10.35998/9783830555582

Clockwise from left: Prof. Dr. Gesine Lenore Schiewer, Prof. Dr. Etienne Damome, Prof. Dr. Alain Kiyindou, Prof. Dr. Dotsé Yigbe
Professor Gesine Lenore Schiewer
Chair for Intercultural German Studies, University of Bayreuth
Professor Etienne Damome
Mediation, Information, Communication, Arts (MICA), Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, France
Professor Alain Kiyindou
Directeur du MICA, UNESCO Chair, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, France
Professor Dotsé Yigbe
Linguistics and Literature Studies, Université de Lomé, Togo
Workshop Title: Languages of Participation. Interdisciplinary networking of participatory communication, information technology, ethics and social innovation.
Participatory communication and social innovation are a highly topical interdisciplinary research area at the intersection of computer science research, communication and social sciences, and ethics. At the international level, including in African countries, it is of great interest for positive social, economic, and legal developments.
The partner universities Bordeaux Montaigne and Bayreuth as well as the UNESCO Chair in Bordeaux have the necessary complementary research and application expertise, including extensive experience with research projects in West Africa.
Date: October 14-16, 2021
Reports: Strategic Scientific Workshop: Langues de participation and Workshop brings universities closer together
Strategic Scientific Workshop 2020

From left: Prof. Dr. Wolf-Dieter Ernst, Prof. Dr. Paulina Aroch Fugellie
Professor Wolf-Dieter Ernst
Professor for Theatre Studies, University of Bayreuth
Professor Paulina Aroch Fugellie
Professor for Arts and Literature, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México
Workshop Title: Embodied Futurities
Our Workshop deepens knowledge and practical expertise in critical, body-oriented teaching methods developed over the last decade. In the theatre-lab, we will engage in practical reflection on the epistemological paradigm that prevailed in our pre-COVID pedagogical scenarios. We will explore futures for ways of teaching that ensue in the aftermath of social distancing, with keen interest in performance-as-research on cultural crises and Futurities. The workshop will be expanded into an online-toolbox and academic paper by both professors. Professor Aroch is former Society for the Humanities Fellow at Cornell University and an Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis graduate, where Professor Ernst also studied – a common interdisciplinary background that feeds into the Workshop.
Date: October 10-16, 2022