Herder Institute Research Academy (HIRA)

Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Peter Haslinger

Vice Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Bömelburg

Coordination: Jana Gleich M.A.

Funding: Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe – Institute of the Leibniz Association (from 1/1/2014). 2010-2013 the Leibniz Graduate School under the name “Cultures of Knowledge in Central European Transnational Contexts“ was supported by the Pact on Research and Innovation of the Leibniz Association.

Partners: International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC) and Giessen Centre for Eastern European Studies (GiZo)

The Leibniz Graduate School „History, Knowledge, Media in East Central Europe” (LGSch) is an interdisciplinary graduate school at the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe in cooperation with the Justus Liebig University Gießen. As an institution at the interface between research and education its task is to support graduates of social, cultural or historical science with the implementation of their PhD or postdoc projects.

The Graduate School supports research projects that focus on the formation and reorganization of knowledge spaces, constellations, and cultures. For the purposes of historical epistemology not only the history of ideas of the processes of the history of knowledge is studied, but also the physical / instrumental and media practice of knowledge acquisition and dissemination in its social and cultural contexts is considered. Therefore, the research projects rooted at the LGSch aim to present a historical perspective on the agents, practices and discourses of knowledge and science production. Special consideration is given to questions of circulation, the transfer and the importance of different media up to digital formats in these processes.

The regional focus is on East Central Europe, including its neighboring regions. The historical foundations of the region (e.g. the characteristic ethnic and religious diversity in many spheres of life, dramatic geopolitical turning points, the formative internal and external links) can be regarded as a sounding board for communication and design of modern knowledge. Corresponding processes are located in the context of pan-European and global dynamics.

The main instruments of support are the thematic mentoring of individual research projects, an intense discussion of theories and methods from the disciplines involved, the offer of an additional qualification for research-oriented career fields as well as strategic support within the framework of the Graduate School mentoring programme. Within the third-party funded research projects PhD student training is also provided.

The library and the collections of the Herder Institute (with archive items such as images, maps and newspaper collections) offer perfect working conditions as well as the organization of master classes, workshops and an annual conference. Thematically relevant work in other locations in Germany is open to the possibility of associated membership with its own travel budget.