University of Heidelberg

Summer School participants inspired by knowledge on the move

16. Aug. 2010

The Summer School "Knowledge on the Move" was highly successful: 30 young scholars from 15 countries assembled at the Karl Jaspers Centre for Advanced Transcultural Studies, eager to discuss the many perspectives on encounters between European and Asian knowledge.

The Participants were highly enthusiastic about the event and their experiences in Heidelberg. Huang Yen-Chi from Huafan University, Taiwan, said: "The arrangement of the lectures was wonderful. It was great to listen to experts of different fields and to meet people with different academic backgrounds."

Yumin Ao from Otago University, New Zealand, commented: "At the Summer School, I liked especially that people were not looking only from one, but from many different perspectives."

While describing his experience Jan Maas from Nijmegen University underlined that the summer school demanded a lot of energy from its participants "but it gives even more energy in return. I got loads of impressions for my future research."

The programme of the Summer School combined lectures with seminars and workshops. The list of international speakers included Prof. Rivka Feldhay from Tel Aviv University, Prof. Hugh Shapiro from the University of Nevada, and Prof. Dhruv Raina from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

A special feature of the Summer School was the course on "Digital Storytelling in the History of Science and Thought". It introduced new methods in the presentation of research results through digital narrative techniques such as podcasts and short films.

Alongside the new media feature another highlight for participants was as Jule Nowoitnick from Heidelberg University pointed out “the group work on the final day. In the small group discussions, we were thinking even more deeply about knowledge.”

Organiser Prof. Joachim Kurtz's concluding remarks on the proceeding of the Summer School further reflect the success of the event for all involved: "We are proud that so many renowned scholars held lectures at our Summer School. We also appreciate that so many young and gifted scholars from so many countries participated in it. Our discussions had a very high level throughout and opened up new perspectives for all of us."

The Summer School "Knowledge on the Move" was held by the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" from July 25 to 29, 2010. It was organised by Prof. Joachim Kurtz, Cluster Professor for Intellectual History. 

Further Links:

Summer School Homepage
Calendar Entry
Press Release
Calendar Keynote Lecture
Cluster Professorship Intellectual History
Profile Joachim Kurtz

University Heidelberg Press Release
University Heidelberg Calendar Entry (German)  
Informationsdienst Wissenschaft Article (German)