Research Modules for the Creation, Cognition and Perception of Matter

For the Cluster's newly formed doctoral cohort the year started with an intensive workshop on interdisciplinary collaboration hosted by »Matter of Activity« under the supervision of Karola Dierichs and Franziska Wegener. The workshop »MATTER. Research Modules for the Creation, Cognition and Perception of Matter through Design, Materials Science and Cultural Science« that was held from February, 5-10th, 2023, invited Pre-Doctoral Candidates to engage in an interdisciplinary discourse and practice diving deeply into the challenge of how to learn and appropriate each other’s scientific language for more productive research collaborations. In doing so, the format tested methods from materials science, design disciplines, and cultural studies in equal parts. Participants were introduced to the basic methodological approaches of all three disciplines involved. Short exercises and the transfer to the topic field of their own PhD supported the application of the new fields.

In the second half of the workshop, smaller collaborative projects were carried out based on the research priorities. At the end of the week, the results were presented in a plenary session with Cluster Director Wolfgang Schäffner as an internal and architect Mirco Becker as an external reviewer.