The PhD-Colloquium of this semester has been a wonderful event with interesting presentations from different realms of our department. Many thanks to all contributors!
Vignette 1:
In our PhD colloquium, held once per semester, doctoral candidates present their yearly progress. This summer term, the colloquium spanned 1.5 days (25. & 26.04.2024) and featured one 1st year talk (Manuel Bruns), three 2nd year talks (Manuel Jung, Philipp Mehl, and Camilla Tetley), and six 3rd year talks (Cindy Rentrop, Akanksha Bisoyi, Svenja Breuer, Sophia Knopf, Nadine Osbild, and Theresa Willem).The doctoral candidates’ talks spanned a wide range of STS topics. On the first day of our colloquium, Manuel Bruns discussed the role of AI in education, Manuel Jung elaborated on the concept of living labs as a technique of futuring, Philipp Mehl explored the role of legal design in information security cultures, and Camilla Tetley examined questions of decision-making and power in African-European research collaborations for sustainability. On day two, Sophia Knopf discussed enactments of vision and the production of power in digital urban twins, Akanksha Bisoyi presented on the affordances of the rule of law for shaping Blockchain, Cindy Rentrop investigated how regional identity is mobilized, constituted, and performed through visibility, and Svenja Breuer analyzed German policy imaginaries of healthcare technologies. After a lunch break with homemade specialties contributed by our participants and some traditional Butterbrezn contributed by our school, Nadine Osbild explored the co-stabilization of innovation and creative culture in urban development projects, and Theresa Willem presented on embedding ethics and social science in artificial intelligence for healthcare. The colloquium was lined by two keynotes by internationally renowned STS researchers Gabriela Bortz and Nina Klimburg-Witjes. Their talks gave us inspirational insights on peripheral promises and innovation imaginaries in COVID-19 vaccines in Argentina (Gabriela Bortz) and – as a goodie for all the new and old(er) PhD candidates, the dis/continuities of academic life or: How to enjoy the PhD journey. What a colorful mix of topics! We thank all the participants for their insightful presentations and look forward to the next PhD colloquium!
Vignette 2:
On the 25-26 April 2024, the *cough*ieth PhD Colloquium took place on Marsstraße in central Munich. PhD presenters from their first, second, and third years gathered under the guiding hands of Cindy Rentrop, Michael Nitschmann, and Markus Stöhr. Research topics included, among others: AI, mobility, regional visibility, organizational design, power dynamics, Blockchain, and innovation. All PhDs brought important research contributions to the STS field. The new PhD representative is M.Sc. Marlise Schneider, and the PostDoc representative is Dr. Georgia Samaras. In October, the wider department may be physically closer together in a new building. More details on this to come. Thanks to the generous efforts of many volunteers, the audience was well fed and caffeinated. Thanks also to the guests, Dr. Gabriela Bortz and Dr. Nina Klimburg-Witjes, who together brought additional insights, including important perspectives from the global south, and how to enjoy the doctoral journey. The event flowed seamlessly, even with the change of rooms, thanks to the tremendous effort of Cindy, Michael, and Marcus. So, there you have it, another helpful and successful PhD Colloquium for the books.