Current News

The Zukunftskolleg is warmly welcoming Senior Fellow Giora Hon from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Haifa, Israel. It is his second stay at the Zukunftskolleg. This time he has been nominated by Helen Gunter and Julia Jones. He will be our guest until February 2014. Prof. Hon's work is located at the interface between the history of physics and the philosophy of science. His research is driven by general (philosophical) questions and concerns about science. In particular, his…

Postdoctoral Fellow Martin Elff and Susumu Shikano from the Department of Politics and Public Administration developed – in cooperation with colleagues from the University of Konstanz and the Centre for Democracy in Aarau, Switzerland – a decision-making tool called “ParteieNavi” for the upcoming Bundestag elections on September 22. It serves as addition to the Wahl-o-Mat of the “Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung” and aims at helping the electorate to put its political position in relation…

Margaret Thomas has been offered a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) in Berkeley, California, USA, from January to May 2014. She is invited to the research semester on “Model Theory, Arithmetic Geometry and Number Theory”. The mathematician is one of only seven MSRI Postdoctoral Fellows who were selected worldwide for the program. "This semester will bring together many senior mathematicians in my field, as well as junior researchers, to the…

We also welcome 2-year Postdoctoral Fellow Panteleimon Eleftheriou (Mathematics and Statistics) at the Zukunftskolleg. He started his Fellowship on August 1st and works on his project “Groups definable in tame expansions of o-minimal structures”. Before coming to Konstanz Panteleimon Eleftheriou was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the department of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo, Canada.

We welcome Julián Torres-Dowdall (Biology) at the Zukunftskolleg. He started his 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship on August 1st. He works in the Laboratory for Zoology and Evolutionary Biology of Axel Meyer on his project “Does side matter? Evolution of genital asymmetry in livebearing fishes”. Julián Torres-Dowdall is one of a total of 15 new 2-year Postdoctoral Fellows that were selected in the latest call for applications.

We welcome Stefanie Neupert (Biology), winner of this year´s Manfred Ulmer Scholarship, as Associated Fellow at the Zukunftskolleg. The Manfred Ulmer programme is open to doctoral students of all disciplines at the University of Konstanz and pays 1,000 euros per month over six months. It enables the scholars to bridge a financial gap between their studies and their doctoral phase. ln her PhD project “Social Communication in Ants”, Stefanie Neupert will study the rules governing nestmate…

Simon Hanslmayr has accepted a position as Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham. On September 1st, 2013, he will start working in the School of Psychology. For more information see http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/psychology/index.aspx. Simon Hanslmayr has been a Fellow of the Zukunftskolleg since July 2010. We congratulate him on his new appointment and wish him all the best!

The Zukunftskolleg welcomes Brendan Balcerak Jackson (Philosophy) as new Associated Fellow. He is Co-Director of the Emmy Noether Research Group “Understanding and the A Priori”. His wife, Magdalena Balcerak Jackson, is a Research Fellow of the Zukunftskolleg since June this year.

Tanja Rinker was interviewed by the local newspaper Suedkurier. She spoke about her research project on “Turkish-German children with and without Specific Language Impairment” and explained the opportunities and challenges for children that grow up with two languages. The whole interview you can read and download here:

http://www.suedkurier.de/region/kreis-konstanz/konstanz/Tanja-Rinker-8222-Viel-sprechen-ist-hilfreich-8220;art372448,6164400

Elena Rosseeva took part in the 63rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting which was dedicated to chemistry. 625 outstanding young researchers from 78 countries have been selected to get the unique chance to participate in the meeting. From June 30 to July 5 they met 35 Nobel Laureates in Lindau to exchange knowledge and ideas, to share their enthusiasm for science and to establish new contacts. For Elena Rosseeva it was an important experience: “It was a great honor for me to participate in the meeting…

We welcome Zhongbao Jian (Chemistry) at the Zukunftskolleg. He started his 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship on July 1st. He works at the chair of Chemical Materials Science of Stefan Mecking on his project “Stereoselective acrylate insertion polymerization”. Zhongbao Jian is the first of a total of 15 new 2-year Postdoctoral Fellows that were selected in the latest call for applications.

Alexander Titz has accepted a position as group leader of the Helmholtz Young Investigator Group “Chemical Biology of Carbohydrates”. On August 1st, 2013, he will start working at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research in Saarbrücken which is part of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research. For more information see:

http://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/organisation/locations/hips_saarbruecken/about_hips/

We congratulate Alexander Titz and wish him all the best!

On June 17th, the Recruitment Committee held its second meeting to select 15 new 2-year Postdoctoral Fellows for the Zukunftskolleg. On the same day the “Workshop on Future Research Directions” for the candidates applying for a 5-year Research Fellowship took place. In its most recent call for applications (closing date for applications was March 15, 2013), the Zukunftskolleg received more than 180 applications for the 2-year Postdoctoral and 5-year Research Fellowships, as part of the Marie…

The Zukunftskolleg is warmly welcoming Senior Fellow Adelheid Godt from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bielefeld. She has been nominated by Malte Drescher, Daniel Summerer, Dominik Wöll and Filip Wojciechowski and will be our guest for two months. Prof. Godt is an organic chemist working in the field of synthesis of molecular rulers for spectroscopy. Her work contributes directly to research projects of all four nominating Fellows.

Congratulations to Ulrich Sieberer! He passed his habilitation and received the venia legendi in Political Science at the University of Konstanz. Title of his habilitation thesis: “MPs, Parties and Institutions. Rational Choice Institutionalist Studies of Parliamentary Behavior in European Democracies”.

The Zukunftskolleg is warmly welcoming Nora Strejilevich from the Department of Literature at the San Diego State University, California. In the last call for the Mentorship Programme she has been nominated by Liliana Ruth Feierstein, Postdoc in the research group of Zukunftskolleg Alumna Kirsten Mahlke, who works on the project “Narratives of Terror and Disappeareance. Fantastic Dimensions of Argentina’s Collective Memory since the Military Dictatorship”. Nora Strejilevich is professor, writer…

The Zukunftskolleg is warmly welcoming Anne Imberty from the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in Grenoble, France. She has been nominated by Alexander Titz within the scope of the Zukunftskolleg Mentorship Programme and will be in Konstanz from June 9 to 12, 2013. Anne Imberty is a chemist by training and received her PhD in chemistry from the University of Grenoble. After a postdoctoral stay in Toronto, she moved to Nantes (INRA and CNRS) and then to Grenoble, where she is…

„Forschen und Bangen“ („Research and tremble“) is the title of a radio report on SWR2 Wissen that analyses the situation of young researchers in Germany. To show good examples for supporting up-and-coming scientists journalist Beate Krol has visited the University of Konstanz and the Zukunftskolleg and interviewed Anda Lohan and Agata Nörenberg. The whole report you can download here: http://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wissen/archiv/-/id=660334/w9hse1/index.html

We welcome Aline Steinbrecher (History) and Magdalena Balcerak Jackson (Philosophy) at the Zukunftskolleg. Aline Steinbrecher is one of a total of 16 2-year Postdoctoral Fellows and Magdalena Balcerak-Jackson one of a total of eight 5-year Research Fellows that were selected in the last call for applications. Both started their Fellowship in June.

Associated Fellow Aswin Mangerich from the department of Biology, who recently won a Mentorship of the Zukunftskolleg, developed – in cooperation with colleagues from the University of Konstanz and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, USA – a new method that allows to quantify poly(ADP-ribose) in cells. This can help to develop new chemotherapeutics.
Aswin Mangerich´s future mentor, Peter C. Dedon from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was also involved in the…

After having finished his PhD, former Associated Fellow Junaid Jameel Ahmad from the department of Computer and Information Sciences, has now moved to Switzerland and started his Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, commonly known as École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). During his PhD studies, he was supervised by former Fellow Shujun Li, and received two Fellowships from the Zukunftskolleg: A one-year Fellowship in 2009/2010 to work as a student…

In its last meeting on May 6 the Executive Committee decided about the winners of the Mentorship programme (application deadline was on April 30). We congratulate Liliana Ruth Feierstein (Literature) who will be mentored by Nora Strejilevich from the San Diego State University, Lorna Gregory (Mathematics and Statistics) who will be mentored by Francoise Delon from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, Aswin Mangerich (Biology) who will be mentored by Peter C. Dedon from the…

Another Senior Fellow arrived at the Zukunftskolleg: We are warmly welcoming Sandeep Verma from the Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur. He has been nominated by Daniel Summerer and will be our guest until July 15, 2013. A main part of Sandeep Verma´s research deals with the use of nucleobases, nucleotides, as well as oligonucleotides which provides a direct link to Daniel Summerer´s research programme. For Sandeep Verma it´s already his second stay at the…

The Zukunftskolleg is warmly welcoming Senior Fellow Viktor V. Kabanov from the Department of Complex Matter at the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has been nominated by Jure Demsar. After his last stay in Konstanz in autumn 2012, this time the Senior Fellow will be our guest until June 11, 2013. The theoretical physicist is an expert in superconductivity and ultrafast phenomena in complex solids. During his stay he will join forces with experimental colleagues at the…

We congratulate Zukunftskolleg Alumnus Wolfgang Freitag who has been offered a professorship in “Epistemology and Theory of Science” at the University College Freiburg. Wolfgang Freitag was a Fellow from December 2006 until January 2012. We wish him all the best!

The Zukunftskolleg congratulates Helen Gunter who was appointed as teaching deputy in the department of Biology at the University of Konstanz. In summer term 2013 and winter term 2013/14 she will substitute for Prof. Ph.D Axel Meyer from the chair of Zoology and Evolutionary Biology in teaching.

During the Jour Fixe on April 25 the assembly of members elected Margaret Thomas as a new member for the Executive Committee. She replaces Dominik Wöll. We congratulate Margaret Thomas and thank Dominik Wöll very much for his work in the Executive Committee.

On April 18 and 19 the new members of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Zukunftskolleg held their first meeting in Konstanz. The first day started in the evening with a guided tour by historian Harald Derschka through the historic premises of the Steigenberger Inselhotel, a former cloister. On Friday morning the rector of the University of Konstanz, Ulrich Rüdiger, opened the meeting in the Senatssaal and welcomed the new board members as well as the director and the Fellows of the…

Associated Fellow Roland Weierstall was involved in a study that analysed the attractiveness of veterans. For this he and his colleagues interviewed more than 1.000 women, which type of man - out of four different types with and without posttraumatic stress disorder and aggression - they would prefer for a long-term or short-term relationship.

The study was published in the journal “Evolutionary Psychology”. Read more about it in the press release (in German).