21 January 2015
The University of Tübingen’s Institutional Strategy provides funding to expand teaching in English and to develop teaching skills among young post-docs or PhD students at an advanced stage of their studies. Through the Teach @ Tübingen (T@T) programme, candidates from Tübingen’s partner universities can benefit from an exceptional opportunity to expand their teaching experience and individual research horizons with a working stay in Germany. T@T candidates are asked to teach classes in English for two hours per week (or more) in the Tübingen Faculty where they are based, at the same time as pursuing research collaboration with a Faculty member.
In 2014 a special call was issued for applications from MNU partner universities and we are delighted to announce that six awards were made: to Daniel Becker, Marc Botha, Michelle de Gruchy and Joshua Furnal from Durham, and Ashley Cook and André Muller from Otago. All six candidates will take up their awards during the course of 2015 and 2016 and we hope that their visits will help both to strengthen existing links and develop new links between members of the Matariki Network.
Dr Daniel Becker (Durham) will spend one (or two) semesters at the Institute for Ethics and the History of Medicine and work with Prof Dr Urban Wiesing and Dr Hans-Jörg Ehni in the area of biomedical ethics and research ethics, also in the framework of the Tübingen Matariki Research Ethics initiative. He will give a course on the development and application of bioethics in Europe, open to medical students and students of the “Basic Ethical-Philosophical Studies (EPG)” program organized by the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW).
Dr Marc Botha (Durham) will spend two semesters at the Institute of English Studies and work with Prof Dr Russell West-Pavlov in the area of literary cultures. He will give courses in literary studies and will be involved in two larger interdisciplinary research projects: one with Prof West-Pavlov on the “Global South”, the other with Prof Dr Ewald Frie (History) on “Threatened Orders”. He is also planning to initiate a research group on “Risk Cultures” (Matariki Risk Humanities Network) and will work on this with both Tübingen project groups during his stay.
Michelle de Gruchy (Durham) will return to Tübingen, following a short visit made in 2013 (supported by a grant from them Baden-Württemberg Foundation), and this time will stay for two semesters. Once again, she will be hosted by the Institute of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology and will work with Prof Dr Nicholas J. Conard, Prof Dr Peter Pfälzner and Dr Simone Riehl in the fields of scientific archaeology (archaeobotany and geoarchaeology). She will give courses on the archaeology of mobile populations and the archaeology of routes.
Dr Joshua Furnal (Durham) will spend one semester at the Faculty of Catholic Theology and work with Prof Dr Johanna Rahner, Chair of Dogmatics, History of Dogmatics and Ecumenical Theology. He will give a course on religion and film, opening up the possibility of collaboration with researchers from media studies and the Global Ethic Institute Tübingen. Dr Furnal, who is an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham, is currently a Visiting Scholar and Lecturer in the Department of Religion at Dartmouth College.
Ashley Cook (Otago) will spend two semesters at the Institute of English Studies and work with Prof Dr Ingrid Hotz-Davies. She will give courses on fairy tales in the fin de siècle era and on “Writing a nation: New Zealand literature and culture”; there will also be the opportunity to connect with Prof West-Pavlov in the framework of the projects mentioned above.
Dr André Muller (Otago) will spend one semester at the Faculty of Protestant Theology, where his host will be Prof Dr Christoph Schwöbel, Chair of Systematic Theology and Philosophy of Religion. He will give a course on the doctrine of creation, and there will be further collaboration opportunities with the Institute of Ethics of the Faculty, with Prof Dr Elisabeth Gräb-Schmidt and others.