Universität Rostock - Research - Research spectrum - Academic profiling - Knowledge – Culture – Transformation

The Academic Senate of the University of Rostock originated the fourth profile line named “Knowledge – Culture – Transformation” officially on the 2. June 2010. The provisional management was assigned to Prof. Martin Rösel (THF), Prof. Clemens Cap (IEF), Prof. Christiane Reitz (PHF) and Prof. Franz-Josef Holznagel (PHF).

Keywords as “Information society”, “Media society” and “Lifelong learning” are under public discussion. Universities are an important interface in such debates, producing knowledge by research work, providing knowledge by academic education, keeping knowledge in archives and libraries, reflecting upon acquisition, use and modification of knowledge. Under the terms of globalisation, the influence of cultural characteristics on knowledge acquisition and handling has become very much obvious. Simultaneously, the different university faculties demonstrate that there are very different forms preserving knowledge, each of them guiding different understandings of the world.

Within the context of this new profile line, these topics shall be processed interdisciplinary. Under the headline “Knowledge and Mediality” it shall be investigated how the distribution of knowledge in media modifies the ideas of what is worth knowing and how the claim on knowledge affects on media and their development. Under the heading “Knowledge and Power” shall be interrogated how knowledge is determined by power structures, in politics, public media and also in religions. The cultural impacts on and relations to knowledge are considered here, but also long-term modifications of science and the modifications of conceptions of the world initiated by scientific insights. Extensive preparatory works on these subjects have already been made at the university, based on single modules of institutions such as post graduate programmes and thematically shaped institutes.

All university members are invited to cooperate on the new profile line; there will be one consistent admission procedure (application pdf).

Further information on the department are provided at http://www.inf.uni-rostock.de/departments/wissen-kultur-transformation/.

The radio station Deutschlandfunk broadcasted a report on the University of Rostock’s fourth profile line in its education and science magazine “Campus & Career” on the 2. July 2010. Statements by the university’s rector, Prof. Dr. Schareck, and by the provisional head of the profile line, Prof. Dr. Rösel, are shown there. The broadcast can be read and listened here as well.