About us

The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften

A laboratory for innovative knowledge in society

The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften is an Institute for Advanced Studies of the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. It was founded and opened in 2009 by the university in collaboration with the Werner Reimers Foundation on the foundation’s premises next to Bad Homburg’s Kurpark. The university and the foundation operate and maintain the Institute together as a center for the promotion of research in the humanities and social sciences.

The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften is a site of reflection, debate and dialog on the processes of change our social reality is undergoing in an age of globalization and digitalization. It provides a space in which new avenues of understanding and critical analyzing of this reality can be established and explored.

Fellows
Each university semester, the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften hosts between ten and fifteen fellows made up of scholars from all over the world and from different disciplines. Living and working at the Institute frees its Fellows from the obligations associated with their home institutions and provides them with access to a research environment in which they can intensively pursue their individual projects and critically reflect on their work in consultation with other Fellows.

Projects
The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften contributes to current scholarly and social debates and provides forums for critical reflection: Internationally renowned scholars present their views and work for discussion in public lectures, experts engage in discussions in various types of workshops, and individual researchers are provided with scholarships that allow them the time to expand and hone their positions on particular issues.

Integration in research at the Goethe University
As an institution attached to the Goethe University, the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften works closely with research projects in the humanities and social sciences that are based at the university. These include the research group »Justitia Amplificata. Rethinking Justice,« which is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Cluster of Excellence »The Formation of Normative Orders,« and the PhD program »Theology as an Academic Discipline.«

Dialog with the regional public
At regular intervals the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften invites the public to attend evening lectures. In this context, Fellows working at the Institute provide insights into their research theses and enter into dialog with interested members of the public.