The School aims to train prospective Ph.D. students in the history and philosophy of science, technology, and medicine (HPSTM) in the analysis of knowledge, its resources, and the multiple interplays between the two categories. Key to its agenda is a "historical-political epistemology", an approach highlighting how knowledge is shaped historically by a great variety of sources - political systems, technological infrastructures, material objects, social interaction, and media technologies.
Dissertations will reshape the field of history of knowledge at the intersections of HPSTM with regional and global studies, Science & Technology Studies (STS), all fields of history, media studies, museum studies, archaeology, art history, literary studies, philology, environmental studies, and digital humanities research. Students will be trained to apply innovative methodologies to their research. They will become experts who can bring a much-needed comparative perspective, reflection, and historical depth to the shaping and sustaining of knowledge societies around the globe, within a wide spectrum of occupational fields including journalism, social media, art, museum, and archive curatorship, and science and education policy.
The IMPRS-KIR is governed by the Principal Teaching Faculty consisting of nine professors from all four partner institutions involved. It is represented by the Speaker, Prof. Dr. Dagmar Schäfer (MPIWG), together with the Co-Speakers Prof. Dr. Viktoria Tkaczyk (HU) and Prof. Dr. Christine von Oertzen (MPIWG/HU). They promote and preside over the establishment of the new Research School.
The IMPRS-KIR will fund a total of 15 doctoral positions, of which ten students have started in 2022 and 2023. Please find further information in the FAQ on the IMPRS webpage.
Contact
Academic Coordinator, IMPRS
sschwarzmaier@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Dedicated IMPRS website