03.07.2008
“Asia and Europe in a Global Context” excellence cluster selects grant recipients
The heads of the “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” excellence cluster and the selected grant recipients. (Copyright: F. Hentschel)
The “Asia and Europe in a Global Context. Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flows” excellence cluster selected 13 PhD students from a total of 29 applicants for its graduate programme. As of the coming winter semester, the selected seven international and six German candidates will be able to focus on their doctorates with the aid of a three-year grant. The excellence cluster not only offers the grant recipients a structured doctoral programme – as members of the cluster they also profit from its international network, the expertise of individual scientists with impressive credentials in their respective fields, and a wealth of projects in the research association.
How does the re-import of European forms of ayurveda affect the Indian health system? What can we learn about 18th-century Europe’s image of Japan from the reception of Japanese travel accounts of the 16th and 17th centuries? Those are but two of the thirteen doctoral thesis topics that will be explored in depth by the graduate programme for transcultural studies of the “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” excellence cluster starting in October 2008. The grant recipients were determined by members of the excellence cluster in a multi-stage, international selection process.
A total of 29 candidates from China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Serbia and Taiwan were invited to Heidelberg. The topics of all of the applicants revolved around the cultural interchange process between Asia and Europe. In keeping with the focus of the excellence cluster, the topics were allocated to its four research fields – government and administration, publicity and the media, health and the environment, as well as history and cultural heritage. The candidates used individual posters as their presentations and small groups gathered in lively discussions of the projects of their fellow applicants. The selection discussions thus often developed into intercultural contact zones in which candidates from South and East Asia and Europe took their first steps in a transcultural dialogue.
More:
http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/ http://www.vjc.uni-hd.de/
