DFG-Symposium: “The Impact of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Discussing Germany and Japan.”

Academic research costs money, and it is neither surprising nor inappropriate that researchers and research institutions are asked to justify their use of public resources. What calls for analysis and discussion, however, is the expectation that such justifications be framed in terms of how likely a given individual research project is to meet “societal needs” or what “societal impact” or “output” it has or is likely to have in the future.

The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) will host a two-part symposium on “The Impact of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Discussing Germany and Japan” which brings together high profile speakers from both the academic and research/science policy communities from Japan and Germany in order to seek new insights into the meaning and effects of the discourse of “societal impact” and related administrative practices. The symposium also explores the contributions of pioneering research in German and Japanese social sciences to understanding and addressing the major social, political and regional developments of the global era, with the aim of exploring similarities and differences in meeting contemporary challenges to social integration and political stability.

It will include a keynote speech by DFG-President Prof. Dr. Peter Strohschneider on the topic “Truth – Impact – Power“, as well as roundtable discussions on “The Impact of ‘Impact’” and “The Impact of the Humanities and Social Sciences”.

Organizer: German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), DFG Office Japan
Support: Science Council of Japan (SCJ), Goethe-Institut Tokyo, The German Research and Innovation Forum Tokyo (DWIH Tokyo)
Language: Japanese/English with simultaneous translation

For details please refer to our homepage and the programme.

Please register by mail to Aiko SATO, Assistant, DFG Office Japan (with your full name, affiliation and position).
aiko.sato@dfg.de

For inquiries by phone please call 03-3589-2508.

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