Outreach & Knowledge Transfer
Philosophers have only interpreted the world; the point is to change it.
Besides the academic responsibility of respecting and fulfilling the common principles of good scientific work, the self-understanding of the researcher's group also included the responsibility towards society. Thereby the own goal was to provide impulses for a broader public debate that goes beyond the academic horizon (outreach) and to present the findings of the research to the public (third mission, knowledge transfer).
Workshop for Practitioners "Religiöse Vielfalt: Handlungsfelder für die öffentliche Verwaltung"
25 September 2014, Center for Religious Studies (CERES)
As final event of the young researchers' group, a workshop was organised in September 2014. The workshop Religiöse Vielfalt: Handlungsfelder für die öffentliche Verwaltung/Religious Diversity: Field of Actions for Public Administration was especially designed for officials of public administration in the field of religion and migration. During the workshop the team of the young researchers' group introduced their findings to the pracitioners and discussed their relevance in regard to their work. The approach of workshop was influenced by a practice-oriented perspective: The participants discussed those areas relevant, which are influenced by the growing religious diversity in Germany. One of the central questions was, which kind of knowledge of religions the publica adminstration need to have in order to deal with differnent challenges in this field. In conjuction, it was also debated what relevance future research project in religious studies might and should have for the public administration.
Art Project "Sondernutzung"
17 & 18 September 2010, Willy-Brandt-Platz, Essen
In collaboration with the Global Young Faculty (funded by the Mercator foundation) the researchers' group was engaged in an art project about religious diversity in the German public. The project's aim was to put religious migrant communities from society's periphery and invisibility into it's very center in order to visualize religious plurality. For that reason an interfaith pavillion was constructed in the city centre of Essen. It provided space for a collegiate exhibition and offered a platform to discuss religious validity claims in the public sphere.
Mediating
Another aim of the young researcher's group was to mediate between the social claims and interest of religious migrant communities and other religious or political actors on a communal level. This mediator role of members of the researcher's group became especially visible on interreligious meetings or events for religious communities organised by the public sector, for as example by the communal authorities, by political institutions or NGOs. Only to give one example, the group's leader Prof. Dr. Alexander Nagel gave a keynote speech on the final conference of the project REKORD of the International Organisation for Migration's (IOM) German office.