Transnational Research in a Multipolar World

Transnational research plays an essential role in global knowledge production. It also fosters mutual understanding and trust among the countries involved. This is especially true for transnational research in the social sciences and humanities, which explicitly aims at bridging and combining different national perspectives on issues of shared interest.

The conference “Transnational Research in a Multipolar World” will discuss the impact of the growing geopolitical tensions on transnational research with a particular focus on “closing spaces”, i.e. the limitations to free scientific research in autocratic regimes. We also take a look at how national research organizations and universities have responded to these challenges. Taking the example of gerontology and gender studies, we then explore how research in the humanities and social sciences responds to societal challenges and how research, in turn, feeds back into society.

The second day of the conference will look at research on and in specific regions – Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. Taking into account geopolitical shifts, it will explore common topics as well as new venues and formats of transnational research. The conference will end with a keynote speech on world history made in Japan, a field that has increasingly drawn public attention against the background of global history research and history activism in a multipolar world.