Uni Bamberg News http://www.uni-bamberg.de/typo3conf/ext/etthemeunibamberg/Resources/Public/Images/rss-logo.png https://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/news/ 2019-06-20T19:19:18+02:00 http://www.uni-bamberg.denews-11645.atom/ Bavaria’s First “Digital History” Professorship Samira Rosenbaum 2019-06-06T09:15:26+02:00 2019-06-06T09:34:54+02:00 The University of Bamberg announces new professorship

The University of Bamberg announces new professorship

Whether it’s handwritten manuscripts, letters, official records or images, historians use myriad sources to study the past, and progressive digitalisation means that a sound working knowledge of digital technologies has become a crucial aspect of their work. Developments in digitalisation free researchers from the constraints of time and location and provide new possibilities for the investigation of their chosen topics. And now, the University of Bamberg is the first Bavarian university to create a professorship for Digital History. The appointment procedure is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2020 summer semester.

“This new professorship will allow the university to further narrow the gap between the fields of applied computer science and the humanities,” explains University President Prof. Godehard Ruppert in reference to the strategy behind its creation. The Faculty of Information Systems and Applied Computer Science is already home to the Chair of Cultural Informatics, and the new professorship of Digital History will represent a counterpart in the Humanities Faculty.

The professorship is envisaged as a way to explore historical topics with the help of computer-aided processes. This means, for example, that multiple editions of a given text can be more easily compared and evaluated or that historical data can be visually rendered. Large volumes of text can also be processed quickly and reliably. “We see this as a chance to expand our methodological spectrum and are looking forward to promoting scholarly exchange with this promising branch of our field,” says Prof. Mark Häberlein, Director of the Institute of History and European Ethnology. The professorship will also forge a new path in university teaching. “Particularly our master’s students will be able to develop their skills in digital fields of application. Together with our professorship of Auxiliary Sciences of History, Digital History will provide students at the University of Bamberg with a broad education in the field’s methods and modes of operation.”

Further information for media representatives:

Media contact:
Samira Rosenbaum
Research communication
Tel.: 0951/863-1156
forschungskommunikation(at)uni-bamberg.de

http://www.uni-bamberg.denews-11454.atom/ Why does the EU matter? - 2019-05-14T11:34:50+02:00 2019-05-14T11:46:30+02:00 Experts comment in advance of the European Elections on 26 May

Experts comment in advance of the European Elections on 26 May

The United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union (EU) and right-wing populist parties are on the rise and calling the EU’s central concepts into question. Amidst of all these challenges, the European elections will be held on 26 May 2019. Europe Day, May 9th, is meant to commemorate the same day in 1950 when the French foreign minister Robert Schuman unveiled his plan for the foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community. This plan would become the cornerstone of the EU. So why does it matter today? Three political scientists from the University of Bamberg sat down to answer this and other questions, and beginning 27 May 2019, they will also be available to answer questions concerning election results.

Why should EU citizens vote in this election?

Dr. Ariadna Ripoll Servent, Assistant Professor of European Integration: “The elections on 26 May are more important than ever. It is a chance for citizens to decide which kind of Europe they desire and whether they want extreme and populist political forces to have a say in decisions that concern all of us. The European Parliament can now decide on highly relevant topics for our future, including climate change, energy, migration and terrorism. It also shapes international policies on development and trade. A rise in populist parties in the next European Parliament could make it more difficult to reach agreements and, thereby, could harm transparency and democracy inside the only directly elected EU institution.”

Email: ariadna.ripoll(at)uni-bamberg.de, Tel.: 0951/863-2425

Specialisation:
- European institutions, especially the European Parliament
- Euroscepticism and populist parties
- Decision-making processes in political institutions
- Domestic and security policy, particularly migration, borders and data protection policy

What effect is the impending Brexit having on the European elections?

Dr. Thomas Saalfeld, Chair of Comparative Politics: “There’s a great deal of uncertainty, because the government in London hasn’t yet reached an official decision on Britain’s participation in the European election. It’s likely that Great Britain will participate in the election and that candidates will have to be selected very quickly. Voters will elect a total of 73 British representatives and the recently established Brexit Party is expected to fare quite well. What’s not clear is how long the newly elected British representatives will remain members of the European Parliament. This depends on the date of the United Kingdom’s exit. Only after the actual Brexit would the European Parliament be scaled back to the planned 705 representatives. Continuing UK participation means that new British representatives would have a say in the selection of the Commission President. The expected increase in parties critical of the EU could complicate the Parliament’s legislative tasks.

Email: thomas.saalfeld(at)uni-bamberg.de, Tel.: 0951/863-2555

Specialisation:
- Organisational characteristics of parliaments and political parties, parliamentary conduct
- Governing in coalitions
- Political representation: governing in the interest of the electorate
- Impact of electoral systems

Can the EU govern efficiently and democratically?

Lara Panning, Political Science research assistant for European Integration: “What a lot of citizens don’t know is that the bulk of EU legislation takes place in informal negotiations. A small group of political experts from the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission meet to broker legislative compromises. When an agreement is reached, they publicly put these results to a vote in session. Because informal doesn’t automatically mean undemocratic, we are working with Dutch, Danish and Scottish colleagues to study these complex procedures. We’re also assessing these institutions’ ability to negotiate successfully, to encourage or supress political competition and to avoid the influence of particular interest groups.”

Email: lara.panning(at)uni-bamberg.de

Specialisation:
- Informal negotiation processes at the EU level
- EU Institutions, particularly the European Commission and the European Parliament
- Rising populism and Euroscepticism

Further information for media representatives:

Media contact:
Patricia Achter
Pressereferentin
Tel.: 0951/863-1146
patricia.achter(at)uni-bamberg.de

 

This pressrelease was translated by Benjamin Wilson.

http://www.uni-bamberg.denews-11272.atom/ Joint Diagnoses by Humans and AI - 2019-04-24T12:20:19+02:00 2019-04-24T13:00:26+02:00 Bamberg research team develops a medical companion

Bamberg research team develops a medical companion

Suppose that a software program presents a serious diagnosis, like cancer, without providing any rationale for the decision. Would humans trust a machine’s judgement in such a case? “Machine learning processes help make diagnoses. But if their decisions are not comprehensible to doctors and patients, they have to be taken with a grain of salt and might even have to be ignored in sensitive fields like medicine,” says Dr. Ute Schmid, Professor of Cognitive Systems at the University of Bamberg. Since September 2018, Schmid’s research team has been involved in an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional project aimed at using a number of particular samples to make automated diagnoses more transparent. The so-called “Transparent Medical Expert Companion” comprises two prototypes: one model uses video material to recognise pain experienced by patients unable to communicate their discomfort themselves and to explain their classification; another prototype currently in development creates confirmable colon cancer diagnoses on the basis of microscopy imaging data.


A system that learns to recognise symptoms and explain diagnoses


In order to enable the software to both recognise an illness and justify its decisions, the research team has combined various computer science methods. With the aid of deep neural networks, or “deep learning,” it is possible to classify enormous volumes of imaging material. However, these processes do not provide information on how decisions are reached. Additional processes are employed to look within the deep neural network and make crucial traits comprehensible to humans. They highlight things like conspicuous areas in the intestinal tissue or use text to explain why a particular section of the tissue structure was classified as abnormal under the microscope.
Various research groups are involved in the development of the “Transparent Medical Expert Companion.” The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Erlangen and the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI in Berlin are using deep learning processes to create a software program. In individual use cases, the expertise of the University of Erlangen’s Pathological Institute, in collaboration with Professor Arndt Hartmann, and the expertise of the University of Bamberg’s pain researcher and Professor of Physiological Psychology, Dr. Stefan Lautenbacher are also required. “This research project calls for knowledge from various fields,” explains Privatdozent and project coordinator Dr. Thomas Wittenberg of the Fraunhofer IIS. “Thanks to the interdisciplinary cooperation, it’s possible for us to develop companions for different medical experts that meet important criteria like transparency and explicability while providing sound diagnostic results.


Transparent companions support medical work


The Bamberg team’s principal task is to program those components which coherently explain the deep neural network’s decisions. In particular, the researchers utilise what’s known as inductive logic programming. Their goal is a system that, for example, not only reports that a person is experiencing pain, but that also displays on a monitor the reasoning behind this assessment. A text presents the rationale: the patient’s eyebrows are lowered, the cheeks are raised and the eyelids are pressed together. An image indicates the relevant parts of the face with coloration and arrows. The system would also estimate the degree of certainty of its diagnosis.
“The attending doctors decide whether or not they agree with the assessment,” says University of Bamberg research assistant Bettina Finzel. “They can influence the algorithms by making amendments and corrections in the system. In this way, the software continues to learn and incorporate the experts’ invaluable knowledge.”  Ultimately, responsibility lies with the person who is being assisted – not replaced – by the transparent companion. Furthermore, transparent companions can be used to help train doctors in the future. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has funded the project through August 2021 with a total of 1.3 million euros, of which approximately 290,000 euros have been allocated to the University of Bamberg.


Please find additional information at www.uni-bamberg.de/en/cogsys/research/projects/bmbf-project-trameexco


Bild „Mikroskopie“(1.6 MB): Microscopical images of the human large intestine illustrate the new system’s functional structure.
Source: Virtuelle Mikroskopie der Universität des Saarlandes (https://mikroskopie-uds.de/)


*The images used in this prototype are taken from the Saarland University’s virtual microscopy programme. They serve only an illustrative purpose and are not actually being handled in this project. The images presented feature only healthy tissue.


Further information for media representatives:


Contact for content-related queries:
Prof. Dr. Ute Schmid
Cognitive Systems
Tel.: 0951/863-2860
ute.schmid(at)uni-bamberg.de


Media contact:
Patricia Achter
Pressereferentin
Tel.: 0951/863-1146
patricia.achter(at)uni-bamberg.de

http://www.uni-bamberg.denews-11073.atom/ No Day Care for Migrant Children? - 2019-03-29T11:07:36+01:00 2019-03-29T11:48:58+01:00 Education study on early childhood care

Education study on early childhood care

Many young parents have taken to signing their children up for day care within days of the child’s birth. Waiting lists for childcare facilities are long and ever more parents are enrolling their children in day care even before their third birthdays. This, however, does not apply to families with a migration background; their children are seldom placed in childcare so early. In a current study, Dr. Lars Burghardt of the University of Bamberg has shown that this clearly does not correspond to families’ wishes. Burghardt, a research assistant in Early Childhood Education, explains the findings, saying, “Parents of children with a migration background indicate at a higher-than-average rate that they did not receive a childcare place. They have no choice but to care for their children at home.”

In his study, Burghardt used data provided by the National Education Panel Study (NEPS) which is managed by the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) at the University of Bamberg. Of the 3,481 children considered in the study, 326 of them did not attend a childcare facility. Of these, 36 percent of parents with a migration background stated that they did not receive a place for their child. By comparison, to only 14 percent of parents without a migration background made the same claim. The study defines families with migration backgrounds as those in which the primary spoken language is not German. Scholars previously assumed that these numbers could be explained by the fact that parents with a migration background and don’t know a great deal about the availability of childcare in their areas. “We were surprised to discover that a large portion of the families would actually quite like to utilise childcare opportunities and are well-informed about available programmes,” says Burghardt. “Nevertheless, they did not receive a place.”

Based on available data, it’s still not possible to determine whether this discrepancy is based on factors like late or rushed applications or on an actual lack of space in day care facilities. “I do assume though that parents often don’t realise just how early you have to apply for a day care space in many areas,” says Burghardt. For this reason, he suggests trying some new approaches: “Midwives and paediatricians have the earliest contact with young families. They could easily and inexpensively bring the local childcare situation to the parents’ attention and make sure they know how important it is to start looking into day care early.” Additonally, communities and childcare facilities should see to it that important information is made available in various languages, because particularly children from families that don’t speak German at home reap considerable benefits from early, high-quality childcare. “The foundational development of grammar is achieved by age four. In order for children to be successful in school, it’s crucial that they come into contact with the German language from a young age.”

Photo: Dr. Lars Burghardt
Copyright: Foto Kohler

Further information of media representatives:

Contact for content-related queries:
Dr. Lars Burghardt
Early Childhood Education
Tel.: 0951/863 1988 (Mon. and Tue.) or 0951/863 3476 (Wed.-Fri.)
lars.burghardt(at)uni-bamberg.de


Media contakt:
Samira Rosenbaum
Research Communication
Tel.: 0951/863-1156
forschungskommunikation(at)uni-bamberg.de

This pressrelease was translated by Benjamin Wilson.

 

 

http://www.uni-bamberg.denews-10898.atom/ Seeing Through the Stones of Cathedrals - 2019-03-07T09:49:11+01:00 2019-03-07T10:09:55+01:00 Bamberg heritage conservationists develop new imaging process

Bamberg heritage conservationists develop new imaging process

The cathedrals of Cologne, Pisa, Ghent, Vitoria-Gasteiz und Vienna are up to one thousand years old, and they are all victims of the ravages of time. Even the Oslo Opera House, which is only ten years old, is already in need of conservation work. As part of the international Nano-Cathedral project, conservationists treated a portion of its stonework with nanomaterials. The particles used are 1,000 times thinner than the diameter of a human hair, and they are said to represent a rapid, promising development. So do they work? In order to find out, Dr. Rainer Drewello, professor of Building Preservation Sciences at the University of Bamberg, together with his colleague Max Rahrig, developed a process known as “Opto-technical Monitoring” which combines various imaging methods.

“Imaging technology is already being used in heritage conservation,” explains Drewello, “but until now, it had been all but impossible to test new materials used for stone conservation without destroying at least part of the stonework by extracting samples.” Using the new lighting technology, Drewello can effectively execute a non-destructive and contact-free analysis of an approximately two-square-metre surface. Opto-technical Monitoring is based on a combination of high-resolution 3D imaging and VIS, ultraviolet, and infrared photography.

Whereas high-resolution 3D images serve to measure a surface and record its condition with an accuracy of 0.3 millimetres, the VIS colour photography reveals variations in surface colouring. UV fluorescence photography and infrared photography make inorganic and organic foreign substances present on the surfaces visible. These can be preservative coating materials or biological growth such as bacterial films, lichens or mosses. Together, these four techniques provide a complete image that had never before been possible in heritage conservation. By layering images that were rendered at different times, scholars are able to make comparisons and recognise changes in the stone.

The researchers are hoping that the international, interdisciplinary Nano-Cathedral project and its 6.3 million euros in EU funding will make a significant contribution to the preservation of Europe’s cultural heritage. The project, in which Drewello and Rahrig collaborated with 18 partners in six European countries, was completed in 2018 after a three-year runtime. The nanomaterials developed in the project are currently being made market-ready and the new monitoring techniques will be used as a quality assurance mechanism involving ongoing measurements to determine the materials’ long-term benefits. The cathedral conservation and maintenance workshops also share an interest in the continuation of this work as they will receive the qualifications necessary to carry out the measurements themselves. And last but not least, this method will be disseminated throughout the world: Rahrig is currently employing similar methods in a project examining centuries-old wall materials in Sri Lanka.

Furter information for media representatives:

Contact for content-related queries:
Prof. Dr. Rainer Drewello
Building Preservation Sciences
Tel.: 0951/863-2402 (department office)
rainer.drewello(at)uni-bamberg.de

Media contact:
Samira Rosenbaum
Research communication
Tel.: 0951/863-1156
forschungskommunikation(at)uni-bamberg.de

 

This pressrelease was translated by Benjamin Wilson.

http://www.uni-bamberg.denews-10819.atom/ Early-Career Job Loss Negatively Affects Long-term Health - 2019-02-20T09:35:09+01:00 2019-02-20T09:57:40+01:00 Sociologists at the University of Bamberg analyse employment biographies

Sociologists at the University of Bamberg analyse employment biographies

Numerous studies have suggested that job loss and unemployment lead to poorer health. Sociologists at the University of Bamberg are now continuing this research and have set out to answer whether job loss still has health-related consequences even if it occurred decades ago and subsequent employment may have been found. Jonas Voßemer and Professor Michael Gebel, Chair of Methods of Empirical Social Research at the University of Bamberg, have shown with their current research that involuntary loss of employment early in a person’s career has long term health implications. Even more than 30 years later, negative health impacts can be traced back to early-career job loss.

For their study, the researchers used data from the SHARELIFE survey which is the third wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The transnational study interviewed approximately 28,000 Europeans over the age of 50 about their social and familial networks, health, and socio-economic status over the course of their lives. The analyses, carried out by Voßemer and Gebel in cooperation with Dr. Olena Nizalova of the University of Kent in England and Olga Nikolaieva of the Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine, reveal that people who involuntarily lost their jobs within the first ten years of their professional lives were on average 6 percentage points more likely to rate their own health as fair or poor compared to those who had not experienced a loss of employment in the same phase, but had otherwise similar characteristics.

The researchers were also able to show that the effects were the same for employees who were laid off and for those whose jobs were lost due to plant closures. This suggests that the data analyses could avoid the effects of confounding factors, because in the case of a plant closure, all employees are affected and it is less likely that the job loss could be explained by personal characteristics that would also affect health. So what conclusions can be drawn from these findings? Voßemer says, “Consistent with earlier studies, we have shown that losing a job and periods of unemployment have more than just financial consequences. Moreover, our study indicates that these consequences may be long lasting.” These findings, if replicated in future studies, suggest that policy makers should consider both health implications and their persistence when evaluating the costs of job loss and unemployment.

The study is part of the international and interdisciplinary EXCEPT project (Social Exclusion of Youth in Europe: Cumulative Disadvantage, Coping Strategies, Effective Policies and Transfer) which received approximately 2.4 million euros in funding from the European Union.

The study is available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2018.01.001.

Further information on the EU-project EXCEPT can be found at https://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/empsoz/research/except-project/.

Further information for media representatives:

Contact for content-related queries:
Jonas Voßemer, M.A.
Methods of Empirical Social Research
Tel.: 0951/863-2868
jonas.vossemer(at)uni-bamberg.de

Media contact:
Samira Rosenbaum
Research communication
Tel.: 0951/863-1156
forschungskommunikation(at)uni-bamberg.de

This pressrelease was translated by Benjamin Wilson.

http://www.uni-bamberg.denews-10664.atom/ Foreign Solutions as Possible Models for the Deutsche Bahn - 2019-02-13T11:01:47+01:00 2019-02-20T09:34:54+01:00 Political science study on disruption management systems in seven European rail networks

Political science study on disruption management systems in seven European rail networks

In Germany, nearly every third long-distance train arrives at its destination later than scheduled. Now, the German rail service, Deutsche Bahn, has pledged to improve punctuality. Professor Lasse Gerrits, Chair of Governance of Complex and Innovative Technological Systems, has conducted a multi-year research project analysing the ways in which railways across Europe deal with delays.

Using the network governance concept common in political science, Gerrits particularly focused on social relationships and their effects on operating procedures in Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands. This meant that for the first time, he was able to systematically analyse which disruption management solutions work and under which conditions. “There is no single best way to approach disruption management, but these countries can definitely learn something from each other,” says Gerrits.

The Deutsche Bahn could, for example, look to Sweden or Belgium for inspiration. In these countries, railway employees use simple, informal notification systems to quickly and precisely inform individual colleagues of disruptions. In Germany, similar communication requires filing specific forms and the use of prescribed channels.

The Dutch rail system has over 1,500 emergency plans that clearly define what should be done in specific cases. This often helps the responsible employees make split-second decisions and avoid more extensive impairment of rail services. The Deutsche Bahn only has a few contingency plans on hand and tends to rely on employees’ judgement and experience in cases of emergency. Gerrits, however, points out that this can also be an advantage, stating, “Plans can turn into traps. It’s impossible to anticipate everything, so it depends on whether or not a person is capable of spontaneously deviating from a plan and adapting it to a concrete situation in real-time.”

Advantages of the Deutsche Bahn: decentral organisation and extensive rail network

Gerrits’ research also shows that, contrary to popular opinion, the rail system in Germany functions better than many seem to think. For example, the Deutsche Bahn stands out due to its decentral organisation – a feature that provides clearly defined authority in operational disruptions and helps to avoid responsibility disputes.

Moreover, the Deutsche Bahn has one clear advantage over neighbouring countries: being Europe’s largest rail network with over 30,000 kilometres of tracks. This usually means that there are various options available for dealing with unforeseen disruptions. A train can often be re-routed, say, if another locomotive breaks down and blocks a certain section of track.

Lasse Gerrits’ project was conducted over a five-year span and received a total of € 600,000 in funding from the Dutch railway company ProRail and the Dutch research association NOW. The railway companies granted him access to the respective control rooms as well as to the employees working there.

Publication:
Lasse Gerrits, Danny Schipper. 2018. Internationale Vergleichsstudie zum Eisenbahnstörungsmanagement. https://doi.org/10.20378/irbo-52592

Further information on the content, methodology and findings of Lasse Gerrits’ study:
www.uni-bamberg.de/en/news/artikel/disruption-management
www.uni-bamberg.de/news/artikel/ergebnisse-stoerungsmanagement-bahn

Additional information for media representatives:

Contact information for content-related queries:
Prof. Dr. Dr. Lasse Gerrits
Chair of Governance of Complex and Innovative Technological Systems
Tel.: 0951/863-2737 od. -2738 (Sekr.)
lasse.gerrits(at)uni-bamberg.de

Media contact:
Tanja Eisenach
Pressereferentin
Tel.: 0951/863-1023
presse(at)uni-bamberg.de

This pressrelease was translated by Benjamin Wilson.

http://www.uni-bamberg.denews-10132.atom/ Michael Gebel among the “Young Elite” - 2018-11-22T10:25:52+01:00 2018-11-22T10:38:14+01:00 Capital recognises Bamberg professor’s substantial achievements

Capital recognises Bamberg professor’s substantial achievements

Effective immediately, Professor Michael Gebel of the University of Bamberg is among the “Young Elite – Top 40 Under 40” in the “Society and Scholarship” category. Since 2007, the economics magazine, Capital, has annually conferred this title on the top 40 talents in this field and in the areas of management, business, and politics and state. The list comprises women and men under the age of 40 who, according to Capital, “have already made substantial achievements and exhibit a great deal of potential.”

Since 2014, Gebel has held the University of Bamberg’s sociology chair of Methods of Empirical Social Research. His main research focuses on the international comparison of educational returns, labour market careers and the processes of family foundation among young adults. He has already co-lead two joint projects in which more than 80 scholars in 12 countries analysed labour market integration of young adults. In April 2018, he began working on his most recent international project concerning the socio-economic effects of temporary employment in Europe, East Asia, Australia and North America. The European Research Council (ERC) is funding this project with an ERC starting grant of 1.4 million euros. This grant is among the most sought after and most prestigious European distinctions.

The editorial staff at Capital spends months conducting research and interviewing managers, politicians, head hunters, consultants numerous social multipliers and alumni. Nominations are considered in several rounds of internal jury selection before the editors announce the recipients.

You can find more information on Michael Gebel and his research at: www.uni-bamberg.de/empsoz/

Additional information for media representatives:

Contact information for content-related queries:
Prof. Dr. Michael Gebel
Lehrstuhl für Soziologie, insbes. Methoden der empirischen Sozialforschung
Tel.: 0951/863-2629
michael.gebel(at)uni-bamberg.de

Media contact:
Tanja Eisenach
Pressereferentin/Leitung Pressestelle
Tel.: 0951/863-1023
presse(at)uni-bamberg.de

This News was translated by Ben Wilson.

http://www.uni-bamberg.denews-9957.atom/ Education 2030: “Policy makers aren’t planning for the long term!” - 2018-11-05T15:44:28+01:00 2018-11-05T16:04:14+01:00 University of Bamberg professor of education analyses international educational policy

University of Bamberg professor of education analyses international educational policy

Over 25 years ago, the United Nations (UN) designated the 17th of October the “International Day for the Eradication of Poverty”. And poverty continues to be a pressing issue: according to the UN, 783 million people currently live below the poverty line. One fundamental prerequisite for poverty reduction is universal education. In the developing world, education is the foundation on which democratic structures can be built and economic growth can be achieved. But analyses conducted by Prof. Annette Scheunpflug, chair of Foundations in Education at the University of Bamberg, reveal that less money is flowing into educational action programmes than political rhetoric would imply. What’s more, particularly needy countries frequently come up short.

According to the UN’s “Education 2030” framework for action, all children worldwide should have access to elementary, primary and secondary education by the year 2030. Scheunpflug, who analysed the data supplied by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, says that “the resolved goals are not represented in financial transfers”. She points out that increases in cash flow for education remain undetectable on both the international and national levels. “Quite to the contrary, the initial emphasis on financial support for primary education has been on the decline since 2010”.

Moreover, considerations regarding foreign, security and economic policy issues frequently figure into the question of which regions will receive funding. Poorer countries outside the main scope of political attention tend to receive less money than states considered politically relevant. Less focus is placed on countries in sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, than on Middle Eastern or Asian countries. “From a European perspective, there’s an objectively great need for increased aid when you consider the refugee situation,” says Scheunpflug. “It’s the seismograph that shows us that in certain of sub-Saharan African countries – Eritrea for instance – something in their education policy has gone wrong and continues to go wrong.”

Scheunpflug also criticises the fact that neither elementary education nor teacher training programmes are being funded at the level required by “Education 2030”. “This is an area where investments truly pay off. Subsequent learning becomes easier. Policy makers aren’t planning for the long term, rather they seem to be more interested in fast results!” She also calls for the availability of more, higher quality data that can be analysed in order to create a stronger foundation for future action. “Only action based on scientific facts will help create policies that can achieve the goals of educational cooperation in our current, complex situation.”

An extensive, German-language interview with Prof. Annette Scheunpflug on this topic can be found at www.uni-bamberg.de/news/artikel/internationale-bildungspolitik-scheunpflug

Contact for questions on content:

Prof. Dr. Annette Scheunpflug
Chair for General Pedagogy, University of Bamberg
Tel.: +49-951/863-1828
annette.scheunpflug(at)uni-bamberg.de 

http://www.uni-bamberg.denews-9887.atom/ Anneliese Maier Research Award goes to Historian Alan Mikhail - 2018-10-23T11:03:34+02:00 2018-10-23T11:15:07+02:00 The University of Bamberg will host and support international research networking

The University of Bamberg will host and support international research networking

For the first time, a scholar from the University of Bamberg successfully nominated a colleague for the Anneliese Maier Research Award. Historian Prof. Cornel Zwierlein, who is currently working at the chair of Early Modern History as part of a five-year Heisenberg fellowship, proposed Prof. Alan Mikhail of Yale University (USA) for receipt of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s award. Alan Mikhail is one of eight exceptional international academics from fields in the humanities and social sciences who accepted the award on 12 September 2018 in Berlin. Cornel Zwierlein recognises him as a “pioneer whose research combines early modern Ottoman history and environmental history.” It’s this combination that has led him, among many other valuable findings, to determine and reveal the complex management of hydraulic farming based on Nile flooding patterns, as well as the treatment of wood as a resource in the in Ottoman Empire from the 16th to 19th centuries.

This year, the University of Bamberg is the only host institution in Bavaria. “This rare and prestigious distinction is a true honour: it certifies that we have been successful in our involvement in international academic networking,” says former University of Bamberg vice-president for research Prof. Maike Andresen. The Anneliese Maier Research Award provides each recipient with five years of funding totalling €250,000 and financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The key objective of the award is to support international cooperation.

Alan Mikhail and Cornel Zwierlein are using the prize money in an unusual way: Mikhail is using only about 20 percent of the money for a 2021/22 winter semester research stay in Germany. With the involvement of other German scholars, particularly those in the University of Bamberg’s Turkish Studies department, he is planning to offer a series of workshops for junior researchers and to meet and exchange ideas with colleagues. He is already looking forward to this collaboration, particularly because “the history departments at the University of Bamberg are right in line with my own interests, especially their research on the early modern period, and Ottoman and Islamic history.”

Mikhail will be using the majority of the awarded money to support other historians’ research projects via annual travel grant programmes. For the first of these, Alan Mikhail and Cornel Zwierlein selected the best 17 projects from 233 international applications. Recipients each receive up to $4,000 which they can use for research travels to European archives, libraries and the like. All of this will help to build up a network around the University of Bamberg that will result in joint conferences and publications.

Further information on the Anneliese Maier Research Award and the research project can be found here:

https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/anneliese-maier-award.html
https://avh.yale.edu 

This News was translated by Ben Wilson.
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