New Leibniz ScienceCampus in Regensburg

The Area Studies in Regensburg will be further strengthened thanks to the German Leibniz Association: Starting in May 2019, a new Leibniz ScienceCampus will promote research on "Europe and America in the Modern World. Transformations and Frictions of Globalization Past and Present." For doing so, the Senate of the Leibniz Association has just granted the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (Leibniz-Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung; IOS) and the Universität Regensburg – both key partners of the Graduate School – a funding of 1.14 million euros for the next four years. 

European-American relations are subject to constant change, which is by no means confined to the person of US President Donald Trump. It is therefore all the more important to explore the regions on both sides of the Atlantic and their relationships with each other. Accordingly, this is also the goal of the new interdisciplinary Leibniz ScienceCampus "Europe and America in the Modern World": It brings together researchers from various disciplines - including historians, cultural, literary and linguists, economists and political scientists - who deal with questions Europe and North and South America, and how these regions are different and how similar they are. Particular attention will be paid to Eastern Europe, which has hardly been explored in this regard. Research fields at the new ScienceCampus include political, social and cultural transformations, migration or trade relations.

The ScienceCampus builds on the regional research at the Universität Regensburg and the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies. The latter is a non-university area studies institute focusing on Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Both institutions are already working together intensively over a longer period, for example as part of our Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, which will also support the ScienceCampus. On the Universität Regensburg's side, the Regensburg European American Forum (REAF) and the Spanish Center are also taking part in the ScienceCampus.

The Leibniz ScienceCampus model is the Leibniz Association's answer to the often lamented parallel existence of university and non-university research (“pillarisation”) in the German research system. The Leibniz ScienceCampi promote cooperation on an equal footing between Leibniz institutions and universities in the form of thematically-focused, complementary regional partnerships. The objective is to create networks to drive the respective research field and to strengthen the scientific environment for the relevant themes.

Further information

Please see the joint press release by the Universität Regensburg and the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (in German only).