Through GSHS research funding, I had the opportunity to attend the German Studies Association (GSA) International Conference in Arlington, Virginia from September 24-28, 2025. I had qualified for participation by successfully applying for a research seminar as part of the conference program. The participants in this seminar had research units [im Rahmen der Forschungsinitiative 2008-11] that were very similar to my project, but were more advanced in their academic careers than I was. The content-related impulses during this seminar were extremely constructive and were able to decisively sharpen my research project. I was also able to join the research network of the organizers, who work mainly in Germany and Austria. The research seminar thus offered me the opportunity to sharpen the content of my project and to establish contacts with researchers within Germany. In addition, participation in the rest of the conference program was also very enriching. My project is situated between literary and Cultural Studies discourses. This disciplinary interface is much more pronounced in North America than in Germany. By participating in relevant lectures and discussions, I was therefore able to find out about the current status of theoretical debates that are central to my project. The research stay therefore enabled me to advance my work on my specific research topic, to sharpen the theoretical background of my project in line with the current state of debate and to join a research network that is highly relevant to me.

My short research stay at the Center for Economic Psychology at the University of Basel was made possible thanks to the support of the GSHS. This enabled me to benefit in particular from the interdisciplinary environment. I particularly benefited from the exchange with various researchers on the topics of skewness preferences, the relationships between complexity and cognition, and diffusion decision modeling. The exchange provided valuable feedback and new methodological approaches that I was able to integrate directly into my research projects.

As part of my doctorate at the Chair of Corporate Governance and Auditing, I attended the EARNet conference in Vienna from September 11 to 13, 2025. Beforehand, I attended the PhD workshop, which was offered specifically for doctoral candidates in the field of audit research. Although I did not present myself, it was very enriching to follow the presentations of other doctoral students and to experience the discussions with experienced scientists. [XY University] with dissertations on …). Many impulses were also relevant for my own research. The conference offered numerous exciting sessions on topics such as audit quality, the use of technology in examinations and regulation, with contributions from renowned international researchers. The evening conference events also provided valuable discussions and networking opportunities. I am very grateful to the GSHS for the financial support that made it possible for me to attend this enriching international event.

Thanks to the grant from the GSHS, I was able to complete a four-week research stay at the School of Communication at Ohio State University in July 2025. The time on site was enormously helpful in continuing existing collaborations – for example, we were able to complete our data collection, analyze the data, and start planning the manuscripts. As part of a colloquium, I was also able to discuss parts of my doctoral project with the faculty and receive valuable feedback. The professional exchange with the local co-workers significantly expanded my network and allowed me to return to Mainz with many new ideas and perspectives.

Thanks to a grant from the GSHS, I was able to attend the conference of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric (ISHR) at the University of Copenhagen in July 2025. Ancient legal rhetoric plays a central role in my doctoral project, which focuses on the corpus of Attic orators. For the predominantly Anglo-Saxon research in this field, the ISHR conference is the most important international forum for scientific exchange. The conference program was therefore particularly valuable for me, as numerous contributions touched on central aspects of my work and gave me insights into different methodological approaches and current research questions. Outside of the panels, I gained valuable impetus for my work in conversations during the breaks, over coffee or over dinner and made contacts with researchers from all over the world that will certainly be collected beyond the conference. Attending the ISHR conference was therefore a great professional and personal enrichment for me. My heartfelt thanks go to the GSHS for making this experience possible.

During my three-month research stay at Stanford University, I was able to make decisive progress on my dissertation paper in particular. Through intensive professional exchange with Professor Maya Rossin-Slater and the presentation of my project in her seminar, I received valuable feedback that helped to sharpen my research question and methodology. This was supplemented by regular meetings with researchers from the fields of health and labor market research as well as participation in numerous seminars and lectures by international researchers. I also presented my research at two international conferences and was able to expand my scientific network considerably. Overall, the stay was a great professional and personal enrichment for my doctorate, and I am very grateful for the support provided by the GSHS grant.

My research stay at Harvard University as part of the Institute for World Literature was extremely enriching for me both academically and personally. The program brought together doctoral students and other researchers worldwide from the fields of comparative literature and world literature, and was characterized by intensive exchange. [XY University] with dissertation on …). The two seminars I attended with Delia Ungureanu and David Damrosch opened up new perspectives for my doctorate. I was also able to present the current state of research for my doctorate at a colloquium and take away valuable new ideas. I would like to thank the GSHS very much for the grant.

In July 2025, we took part in the international summer school “CSAMA Bioconductor – Biological Data Science” in Brixen. The one-week training course in the field of bioinformatics focused on statistical data analysis of biological omics data, with an emphasis on the programming language R and the Bioconductor framework. The content taught was practical and was deepened through interactive tutorials and data-driven case studies. The exchange with other participants was encouraged through discussion evenings and the planned social afternoon. The entire stay was professionally and personally rewarding. We have strengthened our skills in the field of biological data analysis and expect the Summer School to have a lasting impact on our academic papers.

As part of my doctorate at the Chair of Corporate Governance and Auditing, I had the opportunity to attend the Summer School “Corporate Governance and the Effectiveness of Boards” in Groningen from 07.07.2025-11.07.2025 thanks to a grant from the GSHS. In addition to the scientific presentations by internationally active professors, for example on current trends in Corporate Governance research, I had the opportunity to present a project from my doctoral dissertation and receive feedback from professors and other participants. In addition, I found the intensive exchange on research aspects with doctoral students from other countries and universities as well as practice representatives very interesting and helpful.

Thanks to the support of the GSHS, I was able to travel to Ghent from June 29 to July 5 to take part in a summer school on the topic of “Cognitive Foundations of Decision-Making”. The varied program offered exciting insights into current research on cognitive decision-making processes – with contributions from behavioral economics, psychology and neuroscience. In my doctorate, I am working on cognitive processes such as memory and the processing of information. Therefore, the interdisciplinary perspective of the Summer School was particularly valuable for me to learn about new approaches and methods. In addition to the high-quality content of the lectures, the exchange with other participants and speakers was particularly valuable: I am taking away many new impulses and ideas for my own research.

The grant from the GSHS enabled me to participate in this year’s Translation in History – History in Translation Summer School with the topic “Digitizing Translation History: Methods, Tools, and Approaches”, which was offered by the Institute for Theoretical and Applied Translation Studies at the University of Graz. The digitization of archive material and the use of digital methods in general are of great relevance to my PhD topic. As part of the summer school, there were lectures and workshops by people who are active in the field of translation history, particularly at the interface with the digital humanities. For example, there was an introduction to dealing with “Big Data”/”Big Translation History”, OCR/HTR (automatic text recognition of archive material) and data visualization. Throughout the summer school, there was always the opportunity to apply the topics presented and discussed to one’s own research questions and dissertation topics, to discuss them in the group and thus gain new perspectives. Overall, by participating in the summer school, I was able to broaden my horizons with regard to the possibilities and opportunities of using “big data”, automatic text recognition and data visualization and gain concrete ideas for new approaches in the context of my doctoral dissertation.

From May 19 to 23, 2025, I was able to participate in the 2025 School on Column Generation thanks to a grant from the GSHS. The event offered an intensive examination of the state-of-the-art solution method Branch-Price-and-Cut for optimization problems. In addition to technical inputs, the focus was on the exchange with leading experts and young international researchers.

A central component of my doctoral dissertation, which deals with the Christianization of Crete, is the conduct of a regional survey. Visiting the sites with significant material remains is essential in order to understand their topographical location – a central aspect of my research question. This requires comprehensive local knowledge, for example in order to verify what has already been described or to supplement it with my own observations. The latest archaeological finds and discoveries, which have not yet been published, can also be much better understood on site – especially in direct exchange with local authorities and scientists. My six-week research trip to Crete enabled me to do all of this in a special way. Not only did I take numerous photographs during this trip, but I was also able to make some valuable contacts.

During my trip, I encountered one practical problem in particular: in order to gain access to the churches and sites, it was essential to first find the clerics or people responsible on site and arrange individual appointments with them. This often resulted in unpredictable delays and surprising obstacles when visiting the sites. Many things could neither be planned in advance nor estimated in their full scope. The grant from the GSHS was invaluable in this context: it gave me maximum flexibility, which made spontaneous appointments and last-minute changes to my itinerary possible in the first place.

From March 30 to April 5, 2025, thanks to the support of the GSHS, I had the opportunity to complete a one-week research stay with Professor Dr. Stefan Radev at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, USA. The focus was on further developing my work with BayesFlow – a framework for Bayesian parameter estimation using deep learning approaches. We were able to discuss key methodological challenges and jointly develop new strategies for optimizing model training. The insight into the current development of the software and the exchange with other researchers who use BayesFlow in a biomedical context was particularly beneficial. The stay not only provided valuable professional impulses, but also the opportunity to develop new ideas for future projects. I am grateful for the support of the GSHS and confident that the stay will have a lasting effect on my future research.

From March 30 to April 5, 2025, thanks to the support of the GSHS, I had the opportunity to complete a one-week research stay with Professor Dr. Stefan Radev at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, USA. The focus was on further developing my work with BayesFlow – a framework for Bayesian parameter estimation using deep learning approaches. We were able to discuss key methodological challenges and jointly develop new strategies for optimizing model training. The insight into the current development of the software and the exchange with other researchers who use BayesFlow in a biomedical context was particularly beneficial. The stay not only provided valuable professional impulses, but also the opportunity to develop new ideas for future projects. I am grateful for the support of the GSHS and confident that the stay will have a lasting effect on my future research.

During my stay in Ithaca, N.Y., and New York City, I researched Isaac M. Rubinow (1875-1936) at the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives (Cornell University) and the Center for Jewish History (NYC). He was a Russian-Jewish social reformer and social scientist who was involved in the development of the welfare state in the U.S. and, in the meantime, in Palestine. My doctoral thesis deals, among other things, with the question of the extent to which migrant knowledge influenced the emergence of the American welfare state. Rubinow plays a central role due to his own experiences with migration.

The archive work at the Kheel Center and the Center for Jewish History focused primarily on Rubinow’s personal estate and documents relating to his time in Palestine. The aim was to photograph the archive documents and thus make them usable beyond the trip and, where necessary, accessible through translators. In particular, the unexpectedly large number of Russian-language documents and their addressees suggest a circulation of knowledge between America, Russia and Palestine, which I suspected but which has so far been sparsely considered in the secondary literature. Further documents provide evidence for my hypothesis that stronger links than previously assumed existed with Russian revolutionary movements.

The trip enabled me to complete the indexing of my source corpus. I would like to thank the GSHS for supporting this essential step in my doctoral project.

Thanks to the support of the GSHS, I was able to spend a four-week research stay at the European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency in Seville (Spain) from March 3 to 28, 2025, which is part of the EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre. In particular, I was able to accompany the work of the scientists in the HUMAINT team (“Human behavior and machine intelligence”), which deals with research questions in the context of the Digital Services Act and the AI Regulation from an interdisciplinary perspective.

In numerous one-on-one meetings with the researchers, I was able to get to know their work and projects and discuss the theses I had put forward so far as part of my legal dissertation project. I was also given the opportunity to present my project to the entire team as part of a presentation and to obtain feedback on it. The change in perspective towards computer and social science research into the use of algorithmic systems was particularly insightful. Not only did I receive valuable literature and research references as well as helpful explanations on the technical foundations of my dissertation topic, but I was also able to expand my professional network by getting to know interesting researchers from across the EU. I would like to thank the GSHS for the financial support of my stay!

From February 5 to 15, 2025, a research stay in Italy, generously funded by the GSHS, gave me access to the unique resources of the Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institutes for Art History in Rome, and the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, Max Planck Institute. On site, I was able to review literature I had already collected and also consult sources that were difficult to access. In addition, I visited important art collections, including the Palazzo Barberini, the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, the Villa Borghese and the Vatican Museums, which I examined for the presence of thematically relevant works and analyzed the corresponding paintings with regard to various aspects. The research stay served to further develop my doctoral project “Orrore and Terribilità – Horror in the Arts of the Seicento” and was extremely successful, especially in terms of sharpening my theses and questions.

From September 23 to 28, 2024, thanks to the support of the GSHS, I had the opportunity to attend the European Communication Conference of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Participating in the conference enabled me to gain valuable inspiration for my doctoral dissertation in the field of health communication. The international orientation of the conference not only offered me deep and highly topical insights into my own field, but also the opportunity to expand my international network. I also had the opportunity to attend lectures from other areas of Communication Studies, such as science and climate communication, which sharpened my awareness of cross-disciplinary approaches and opened up interesting content-related and methodological perspectives for my own work.

Between September 19 and November 5, 2024, I stayed in Ankara, Eskişehir and İstanbul to do research for my doctoral thesis on Georg Rohde. He was a Professor of Classical Philology who fled to Turkey during the Hitler era and worked at the Ankara University School of Languages, History and Geography between 1935 and 1949.

During my stay in Ankara, I frequently visited the School of Languages, History, Geography, where I had two long spokespersons with Professor Çağatay Akşit, the head of the Latin Language and Literature Department. I also had the opportunity to see the Classical Philology library founded by Rohde and some of Rohde’s personal belongings. Another place I worked in Ankara was the Hasan Ali Yücel Collection in the Central Library of Bilkent University. While working in the collection, I also conducted an interview with Prof. Mehmet Kalpaklı, the head of the Department of History and Turkish Literature, and two separate interviews with Candan Şentuna and Tansu Açık, retired Professors of Ancient Greek at the School of Languages, History, Geography.

In Eskişehir, I worked in the library of Anadolu University in the collection of the famous writer and translator Azra Erhat, who had worked with Rohde for many years. This phase of my short stay was a very productive experience for both my doctoral thesis and my academic career.

During my stay in İstanbul, I worked mainly in the İsam and Atatürk libraries to conduct in-depth research on Turkish periodicals. I also participated in an exhibition and a series of conferences organized at the Orient Institute on Traugott Fuchs, another German scholar in exile. Finally, I interviewed Rıfat Bali, the founder of Libra Publishing House, and Liz Behmoaras, a writer who recently published a biographical novel about Azra Erhat. I would like to thank the Gutenberg Graduate School of the Humanities and Social Sciences for allowing me to go on this research trip, which contributed to my doctoral dissertation in many ways.

I had the opportunity to participate in a doctoral course of the “Swiss Doctoral Program Network in Accounting Research” at the University of Zurich from 15.07.2024 to 17.07.2024. This course was led by Mr. Itay Goldstein, a renowned professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. During the three days of the course, which consisted of three sessions each, various research papers on the topic of “Information in Capital Markets” were presented and analyzed. The course instructor discussed the special features of the respective models and compared the different approaches. Mr. Goldstein also presented one of his current research projects.

Participating in the doctoral course helped me to deepen my knowledge of basic methods for creating analytical models. Especially valuable was the direct interaction with the course instructor and the other participants, who provided me with valuable feedback and new ideas for my research work. The discussions and exchange of experiences opened up new perspectives and helped me to critically question and improve some aspects of my research. By participating in the course, I was also able to expand my academic network and connect with other doctoral candidates and researchers who share similar interests. This networking provides the opportunity for future collaborations and the ongoing exchange of ideas and research findings.

I am very grateful for the financial support of the GSHS, which enabled me to participate in this important course. This experience has been a significant enrichment for my PhD and has been instrumental in taking my research to a new level.

While attending the Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2024 in Chicago, USA, I had the valuable opportunity to participate in numerous sessions and workshops and to network intensively with other researchers. The conference not only offered the opportunity to exchange ideas with leading researchers in the field of management, but also to advance my current research projects in direct conversation with (potential) co-authors. The personal meetings and discussions during the conference contributed significantly to the further development of my research work and opened up new perspectives.

While attending the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management in Chicago, USA, I was able to participate in numerous Paper Development Workshops (PDWs), such as the ‘Content and Textual Analysis in Organizational Research: Techniques and Applications’ PDW. I particularly enjoyed the opportunity to meet with the faculty members of the Management & Organization Department of the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, USA, to discuss my research projects. I would like to thank the Gutenberg Graduate School of the Humanities and Social Sciences for sponsoring my stay and the Mendoza College of Business for inviting me to the University of Notre Dame reception.

I traveled to Brumadinho / Belo Horizonte for three weeks in January 2023 for my doctorate in the DFG project “The Administration of Loss: Politics of Life and Death in Minas Gerais”. During this time, I was able to resume and deepen existing research contacts as well as establish new ones. The chosen period allowed me to participate in events related to the fourth anniversary of a specific event, the lasting consequences of which are the focus of my doctoral project: On January 25, 2019, the retention dam of a tailings dam in Brumadinho burst, killing 272 people as a result.

During the three weeks of my stay, I was able to gain various insights into the everyday lives of the residents of Brumadinho. Through several field trips, I got to know the current concerns of the residents regarding mining in general and the clean-up work after the dam burst in particular. Volunteering during the current threat of high water and flooding gave me insights into the municipal aid chains and communication processes in the event of (foreseeable) exceptional circumstances. By accompanying the daily procedures in the municipal polyclinic, I also came into contact with the health care of the people living in the urban area. In the last week, together with residents of the region, relatives of the deceased and various other actors (representatives of NGOs and church associations, political representatives, activists, journalists, etc.), I took part in the commemorative events surrounding the anniversary of the collapse of the outlet basin, which included a bicycle tour, a one-day seminar and a motorcade, as well as a ceremony lasting almost eight hours.

Methodologically, I conducted semi-structured and open interviews with employees from the municipal administration, municipal and federal politics as well as affected people from the urban area of Brumadinho. In the contexts outlined above, I was also able to participate in observations and experience the everyday life of people in the region.

During my 4-week stay in Costa Rica, I interviewed eleven producers and funding officers in San José, Costa Rica for my dissertation project on the financing of film projects in Costa Rica. The closeness that could only be achieved through face-to-face interaction on the ground allowed interviewees to open up about their strategies and approaches to securing funding for their projects, their appreciation for the sources available, their frustrations with the system and the more informal practices they resort to. The interviewees were all very eager to talk and grateful that this topic was being addressed at an academic level and were open to talking again.

During my research stay at the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, USA, I was able to benefit from the experience and expertise of eminent professors and receive valuable feedback. Through the regular exchange with Ph.D. students, members of the school of Management & Organization and the access to extensive databases, I was able to develop my research work significantly. A big thank you to my host, Professor Craig Crossland, Ph.D., for making my stay possible.

A research stay in Athens is a must for all archaeologists working on Greece. It is not only home to important research institutions and their specialist libraries, but also to the people who make Athens a place for networking of a special kind. My five-week stay in Athens focused first and foremost on improving my knowledge of Modern Greek, which is essential for my doctoral thesis. To this end, I enrolled in an intensive language course at the Modern Greek Language Teaching Center (Διδασκαλείο Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας). Immediately after the language course, I was able to visit the libraries of the Faculty of Theology and the Faculty of Philosophy to scan further literature for my doctorate.

I spent the following weeks getting to know the archaeological institutes in Athens better. In particular, the Gennadius Library and the library of the École française d’Athènes proved to be very useful for me, as they have books that are extremely relevant to my PhD topic. I was also able to explore the Scuola archeologica italiana di Atene and the British School at Athens. At the end of the funding period, I successfully completed my language course with a certificate.

Looking back, my expectations with regard to Athens as a place of language learning and exchange have been confirmed. I will probably have to travel to Athens at least one more time as part of my research. Fortunately, I won’t have to spend any more time registering with the archaeological schools, as various documents and a letter of recommendation are required to use the libraries. The library searches in Greece made me wonder how much Greek-language literature a doctoral student researching in Germany can miss out on if one only consults German libraries for literature research. The modern Greek literature I found, which I can now work with more easily thanks to my improved knowledge of Greek, will undoubtedly enhance and enrich my dissertation.

For my doctorate at the Chair of Sociology of Technology and Innovation, Social Simulations, I took part in the Summer School of the European Social Simulation Association in August 2023. During this time, I was able to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge in the context of agent-based social simulations using Netlogo. The Summer School, entitled “Agent-based Modeling for Wicked Problems”, was hosted by the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland.

During the summer school, I mainly learned about modeling complex social systems. This included not only technical lectures, but also several days of group work, which was presented at the end of the Summer School. Through several steps, such as participatory system modeling, causal loop diagrams and the definition of decisive and reactive agents through to programming the system in Netlogo, we jointly modeled complex systems. I not only learned the methodological and technical aspects, but also how to work together interculturally, internationally and, above all, interdisciplinarily.

The Summer School was rounded off by daily guest speakers who presented application examples and best practices from their personal research projects. These sessions were particularly interesting as they demonstrated the application in everyday life and, above all, the diversity of potential areas of application.

Looking back, I can say that my expectations of the Summer School were clearly exceeded, as I not only made progress in terms of methodology and subject matter, but was also able to make new contacts with other doctoral students. The funding from the GSHS made it possible for me to attend the Summer School in the first place, for which I am extremely grateful.

With the help of the GSHS Short Stay Abroad funding opportunity, I had the great opportunity to attend the 1st International Multimodal Communication Symposium (MMSYM) in Barcelona from May 26-28, 2023. The symposium took place at Pompeu Fabra University and was organized by the GrEP Research Group (Prosodic Studies Group) in collaboration with the GEHM research network.

The aim of MMSYM 2023 was to bring together researchers from different disciplines who are investigating multimodality in human communication and human-computer interaction. I had the opportunity to present my current research results on “Priming effects from sign to spoken word in hearing toddlers exposed to sign-augmented communication” orally in front of a large audience and to exchange ideas with other scientists.

This was an excellent opportunity to receive feedback on my work and to gain new ideas and impulses for my own research project. In particular, the many discussions and presentations enabled me to deepen my understanding of multimodality in human communication. The symposium also offered the opportunity to make new contacts. The atmosphere was inspiring and I was able to meet many interesting people.

Overall, the short stay in Barcelona and the participation in the MMSYM 2023 was extremely enriching, educational and challenging for me. I am grateful for the opportunity to have presented my research findings and to have gained valuable experience. Participating in conferences is a special opportunity to grow and learn as a young scientist.

This summer, I was able to participate in the “ESSA Summer School 2023”, a one-week training on Agent Based Models (ABM) offered by the European Social Simulation Association (ESSA), which brings together European experts in social simulation from various fields such as social sciences, engineering, biology or ecology. The training took place at the James Hutton Institute in Scotland.

In my PhD thesis, I am concerned with social processes embedded in water governance, which in turn is confronted with the droughts of climate change. This kind of socio-ecological framing leads to the so-called “wicked problems”, which are a kind of complex social systems and for which there is no simple solution. In these scenarios, ABMs are very useful in several ways: they can be used, for example, to understand the concerns of different stakeholders, to identify which variables play an important role, or to analyze possible future scenarios.

The team of teachers at the “ESSA Summer School 2023” had very diverse backgrounds, which was very interesting to understand how we can use ABMs in our own projects. My presence in person made a big difference – many of the activities and networking that took place there would not have been possible online. On the one hand, the activities were mainly participatory, working in groups and practically applying the theoretical knowledge acquired. On the other hand, participants and the teaching team from all over the world were able to meet and we had enough time to exchange ideas about our projects and professions and to get to know each other. The support of the Gutenberg Graduate of the Humanities and Social Sciences (GSHS) made my participation possible, for which I am very grateful.

In order to gather new material on sexuality and gender-related matters in the Ottoman Empire and to enhance my dissertation project focusing on homosexuality in the late Ottoman and early republican literature, I consulted the relevant archival materials at the Ottoman Archive of the Presidency of State Archives (BOA) in Istanbul, Turkey, an immensely useful and rich resource for scholars of (cultural) history. During this study trip, I scanned as many archival documents as possible in order to gain insight into the perception of gender and sexuality in Ottoman society. In the archives, I tried to understand through court records what sexual harassment was, to what extent relationships between men were allowed and tolerated, and how the Ottoman authorities responded to homosexuality. I explored which contexts of sexuality were criminalized to the point of reaching the judicial system. Through laws and legal documents, medical and psychological texts, I tried to gain insight into how sexuality was regulated in the Empire. The archival trip was extremely valuable for the development of my dissertation. The documents I discovered during this visit will play a crucial role in shaping the foundation of my research. The information I gained from the archives strengthens the theoretical frameworks I am exploring and contributes significantly to the scholarly integrity of my work. I am grateful for the support of the Gutenberg Graduate School of the Humanities and Social Sciences in making this archival visit possible.

In preparation for my doctoral project on drought and water scarcity in the Po region of northern Italy, I traveled to Ferrara, Italy, for two weeks in June 2023. During the exploratory trip, I was able to establish initial research contacts and identify local points of negotiation and lines of conflict related to water scarcity.

In semi-structured interviews and informal conversations with residents, activistsand experts, I got to know people’s concerns, perspectives and experiences with regard to drought in general and the associated flooding, pollution and water privatization. It became clear how they combined these experiences with their respective political perspectives and developed ways of dealing with them or protesting. These conversations gave me an insight into the lines of conflict on the ground, some of which were negotiated around specific infrastructure projects. Participant observation at protest and information events allowed me to experience debates about the power of interpretation of current events and the associated emotions of those affected. Through observation, I was able to see protest actions in the cityscape and the environmental impact of the floods, as well as understand the role of waterways for local residents and agricultural use. The empirical data from this exploratory trip made it possible to adapt the doctoral project to the empirical context and to concretize the research question.

My research stay in the Iraqi capital Baghdad from March to August 2023 was an important part of my dissertation “City and Identity in Iraq”. There, I examined and documented urban spaces relevant to my research. The stay also enabled me to conduct interviews and observations and to visit libraries, museums and archives. These would have been difficult without the support of the GSHS.

My doctoral thesis is about the role of cities in processes of collective identity formation. Because of its social diversity and varied urban development, Baghdad offers unique insights into this topic as a case study. Within a century, the city has experienced many different phases, transforming from a melting pot of different ethnic and religious affiliations to a polarized city.

During the field research, my previous findings from the literature work and the approaches I had designed were confirmed. Cities offer spaces in which the culturally heterogeneous population can interact and exchange ideas. At the same time, urban spaces reflect social relationships and identities in their design and layout. In this context, social diversity in urban spaces is of great importance for social cohesion. The research has resulted in the establishment of the concept of “cultural capacity”. This concept provides a methodological framework for studying cities in terms of their social diversity and integrative role, combining theoretical and practical approaches to urban development.

The conference “New Frontiers in Corporate Governance: Corporate Governance with Externalities” took place at the Royal College of Surgeons in London from October 26 to 27, 2023. Organized by Sir Oliver Hart (Harvard), Dimitri Vayanos (LSE) and Luigi Zingales (Chicago Booth), it shed light on the conflicting goals of profit maximization and consideration of social concerns. In four sessions on “Purposeful Companies”, “Shareholder Value”, “Common Ownership” and “Political Activities” as well as a debate on “Fiduciary Duty”, the conference provided an overview of current topics in Corporate Governance. Overall, the conference provided important food for thought and networking opportunities. The exchange with leading academics in this research area provided new insights for my doctoral dissertation.

A major point of criticism of communication science and media economics research is its strong Western focus, which often assumes a media system that operates largely free of state intervention and under the influence of marketing pressures. Media systems from the global South, but also from other industrialized countries, are often neglected – implications for media management are subject to distortions. The World Media Economics and Management Conference (WMEMC), on the other hand, offers multifaceted insights into current media economics research beyond the Western context.

The conference trip to Seoul enabled me to make contacts with researchers outside my existing network and gain insights that are important for the progress of my dissertation project and its framing. In particular, it is about the use of audience metrics in journalism and how this is shaped by different types of media funding and regulatory intervention. In addition, the conference gave me an impression of current global research in the field of media economics and management through presentations on platformization, artificial intelligence (AI) and media production.

In addition, my participation in the WMEMC enabled me to network intensively with young academics in the European and German context, thus advancing my work as a young speaker for the Media Economics section of the German Society for Journalism and Communication Studies.

I would like to thank the Gutenberg Graduate School of the Humanities and Social Sciences for its generous support of my conference visit, which not only gave me new academic insights but also opened up new cultural perspectives.

As part of my doctorate at the Chair of Corporate Governance and Auditing, I took part in the PhD workshop of the European Auditing Research Network (EARNet) from 20.09.-24.09.2023. Like the EARNet conference, this workshop specifically for PhD students took place in Thessaloniki (Greece).

At the workshop, I had the opportunity to present my dissertation project and discuss it with internationally renowned examination researchers. I received valuable feedback for my own research. I was also able to listen to many presentations by other doctoral students. At one of them, I had the task of discussing the research project presented.

Later, I had the chance to get in touch with professors from other universities in organized discussion groups. The talks were very informative with regard to professional prospects for an academic career.

The workshop was rounded off by a daily organized social program (boat trip, city tour, gala dinner, etc.). This gave the participants the opportunity to come together in an informal setting and make further contacts.

Overall, the PhD workshop was a great experience that not only helped me professionally, but also expanded my network in my field of research. I am grateful for the generous support of the GSHS, which made it possible for me to participate in the EARNet PhD Workshop.

With the help of funding from the GSHS, I was able to travel to Tokyo in August and September 2023 to conduct research as part of my dissertation project and to network with Japanese colleagues.

My doctoral project involves the development of a grammar of the West African Adamawa language Mbum, which is spoken in northern Cameroon. In addition to field research activities on site to collect language data, I would like to record the limited existing literature on the Adamawa language and incorporate it into my doctoral thesis.

As part of an extensive research initiative by Japanese universities in the 1970s, the Japanese professor Shunya Hino (already deceased) traveled to northern Cameroon and worked on a variety of Mbum there. His work is difficult to access and most of it has not been digitized. The research trip enabled me to view Prof. Hino’s work in the libraries and archives of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), where he taught for many years.

The productive working environment at TUFS enabled me to exchange ideas with various colleagues at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), as well as networking with colleagues at Osaka University and the International Christian University.

The stay in Tokyo was a great benefit for me and my doctoral project, as I was able to view documents that are otherwise difficult to access, as well as to network with teachers and students of African Studies at various Japanese universities. I would like to thank the GSHS for this opportunity, as well as Prof. Dr. Daisuke Shinagawa, who guided and supervised my research at the TUFS.

In order to understand the discourses and global entanglements of the comfort women’s movement in Germany, I spent a short 12-day stay in Seoul to study the commemorative practices of women’s rights activists in South Korea. During my stay, I visited various memorials and monuments, various museums and the weekly Wednesday demonstration organized by the Korean Council.

I exchanged ideas with the activists and collected archive texts and readings that are not available in Germany.

The short stay enabled me to experience women’s rights activism in its lived form and to make many contacts for my further research. The observation of activist practices, which are carried out under different conditions in South Korea, nevertheless revealed many parallels and overlaps with the activism taking place in Germany, not least in the artistic-educational presentation in the museums.

I would like to thank the Gutenberg Graduate School of the Humanities and Social Sciences for sponsoring my stay, which enabled me to make important contacts and gain insights into the global dimension of my research topic.

I traveled to the Università del Salento in Lecce from 29.05.-03.06.2024 as part of my co-tutela for my doctorate on Apulian literature.

During my trip, I was not only able to conduct an interview with a resident of the city of Taranto, which is heavily polluted by Europe’s largest steelworks, and thus gain an in-depth insight into the living and working conditions there, but also get to know the city from its ancient and historical side during a visit.

A special aspect of my trip was the meeting with my Apulian second supervisor, who on the one hand gave me access to current publications, but on the other introduced me to existing research networks, which will sustainably advance my dissertation through new exchanges. I am grateful for the support of the GSHS with regard to my dissertation and my experiences in Lecce.

Thanks to the GSHS funding opportunity “Short Stay Abroad”, I had the opportunity to participate in the international conference “Reason in Riga – International Forum in the 300th Year of Kant”. My participation in the conference was part of the partnership between the University of Latvia in Riga and JGU and in particular between German and Latvian Kant research. The Kant Research Centre at JGU, with which I am actively collaborating during my doctoral phase, was involved in the organization of the conference. During my stay in Riga, I was able to make new contacts with Kant researchers and explore topics that are of central importance for my dissertation project on Kant’s concept of spontaneity. Finally, I had the opportunity to see Kant’s manuscripts from the front, as an exhibition dedicated to the first editions of Kant’s works was opened during the conference. These were first published in Riga by J. F. Hartknoch.