New publication: The limits of universal rule

The field of „comparative imperiology“, i.e. the comparative study of empires, is both relatively old and very new. It was inaugurated by S.N. Eisenstadt in a pioneering study published almost 60 years ago (1963). In the 21. century, however, it has become one of the fastest growing fields of historical research worldwide. In a collaborative effort, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Free University of Berlin and the University of Erfurt, now joined by the University of Munich, are pursuing a project funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation that provides a systematic look at empires.

It elaborates on problems that imperial political structures have faced around the world: How did empires in different parts of the world and in different periods address these problems?

The project is based on a series of thematic workshops bringing together scholars working on different empires. They cover the five major centres of civilisation in the Old World (East Asia, Europe, Inner Asia, the Middle East and South Asia) where imperial formations developed through interaction and cross-fertilisation. For each of these macro-regions, a distinction is made between the first wave of empire formation (mostly in the second half of the first millennium BC), the second wave (in the middle of the first millennium AD) and the third wave triggered by the formation of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century.

A first volume with research results has now been published by Cambridge University Press: The Limits of Universal Rule: Eurasian Empires Compared, edited by Yuri Pines, Michal Biran (Hebrew University) and Jörg Rüpke (Max Weber-Kolleg, University of Erfurt). Based on a conference held in Erfurt and Eisenach in 2015, it examines the factors that facilitated the expansion and contraction of Eurasian empires: from ideology to ecology, from economic and military considerations to the changing composition of imperial elites.

More information about the publication

Call for application: PhD Position (m/f/d)

Max-Weber-Kolleg – at the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) Transregio 294 “The Structural Transformation of Property”

Pay category E 13 TV-L (65 %)

At the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) Transregio 294 “The Structural Transformation of Property”, which is hosted at the Universities of Jena and Erfurt, the following academic research position is advertised at the University of Erfurt, part of the project JRT02 “Clash or Convergence of Capitalism: Property Conflicts over Chinese Direct Investment in Germany and the EU“ (Project leader: PD Dr. Stefan Schmalz). The part-time position (26 hours per week) is available as soon as possible.


1 PhD Position (m/f/d)
(Pay category E 13 TV-L; 65 %)

Area of Responsibility

The project aims to analyze the expansion of Chinese corporations in the EU and Germany, in particular the conflicts arising from Chinese direct investment and the political responses to takeovers and increasing competition. The successful applicant will:

  • Participate in the research tasks as well as the preparation and realization of events of the interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Centre „The Structural Change of Property“
  • work on a PhD project on the internationalization of Chinese companies and Chinese direct investment in the EU and Germany
  • create a data set with Chinese company data on the internationalization of Chinese firms, thereby analyzing corporate networks using tools for social network analysis, from findings the researcher will prepare high quality publications along with the team
  • participate in an international research collaboration (primarily with Naná de Graaf, VU Amsterdam)

Please, find the complete call here.

Call for application: Scientific employee

Max-Weber-Kolleg – in the scope of the DFG-Kollegforschungsgruppe „Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations“

Pay category 13 TV-L (100 %)

Am Max-Weber-Kolleg der Universität Erfurt ist – im Rahmen der DFG-Kollegforschungsgruppe „Religion und Urbanität: wechselseitige Formierungen“ – zum nächstmöglichen Zeitpunkt folgende Stelle im Umfang von 40 Wochenstunden zu besetzen: Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in

Zur Ausschreibung geht’s hier.

University of Erfurt awards internationalisation prize again

The internationalisation of teaching, research and administration is a task that all universities must face today. However, this is not a process that runs on its own, but requires committed actors. The University of Erfurt has therefore announced a prize for international commitment for the second time in 2020/21. A total of six projects applied. The winners were announced today.

The first prize, endowed with 3000 euros, goes to the Master’s programme „Global Communication: Politics and Society“. The programme, which was established in 2018, makes a significant contribution to the internationalisation of the University of Erfurt through its content-related focus on media systems and communication cultures in international comparison, but also in particular through English as the language of instruction. Now in its third year since re-accreditation, the programme has 40 German and 50 international students practising global learning and understanding in formal university and informal settings. The demand is enormous; in each of the last two years there were almost 300 applicants, from whom the most suitable candidates are selected in an elaborate selection process. The students of the degree programme at the University of Erfurt are correspondingly motivated and committed. They participate in university groups and the student council, push processes, network and are visible everywhere. For example, the DAAD prize winner 2020, Dilara Ekinci from Turkey, also came from the Global Communication programme. Students of the programme wrote a paper on communication and racism prevention in Thuringia, which attracted a lot of attention from the state government. To promote the international mobility of students, the programme also maintains numerous exchange partnerships with foreign universities, works with institutions in Germany and abroad to arrange internships and offers guest lectures by international academics. And: the first international students have meanwhile embarked on the fast-track programme for doctoral studies. All this was reason enough for the jury to award the first prize to the Master’s programme.

Second prize this time goes to the „Summer Program in Communications Erfurt“ (SPICE) of the Department of Communication Studies under the direction of Prof. Dr. Patrick Rössler. The second prize is endowed with 2000 euros. In the summer programme, which has been running since 2006, around 200 students from the USA have so far spent three months studying at the University of Erfurt and 200 Erfurt students have completed seminars on communication science topics according to international standards and in English. An accompanying cultural programme with excursions provides the American students with knowledge of the country. The fact that the programme takes place in the summer months meets the trend of American students towards short-term mobility. Partners are the University of West Virginia, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Oklahoma, which regularly send lecturers to Erfurt. In addition, the Erfurt participants gain their first experience of the Anglo-American study system, and quite a few later decide to spend a semester abroad in the USA. There are numerous synergy effects between the universities, the participating students and other activities, so that the programme intensifies the cooperation of the University of Erfurt with universities in the USA in an outstanding way, according to the jury’s statement.

The collegiate research group „Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations“ (KFG) at the Max Weber College of the University of Erfurt with its spokesperson Prof. Dr. Susanne Rau receives the 3rd prize and thus 1000 euros. Since 2018, the KFG has been bringing together international and Erfurt researchers and young academics from different disciplinary contexts who are working on a common topic related to the mutual shaping of cities and religions. By 2020, 17 fellows from abroad had already conducted research at the University of Erfurt and were also active in teaching. Secondly, numerous digital cooperation and internationalisation formats such as blogs, newsletters and digital workshops had already been developed before the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic, so that the pandemic did not lead to any interruption of the collaborations. The jury also emphasised that KFG cooperates with numerous universities and research institutions abroad, which are of great importance as partners for conferences and publications or as hosts for young scientists.

Contribution by Benno Werlen selected for publication by the Canadian UNESCO Commission and the Canadian Science Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities

The Canadian UNESCO Commission and the Canadian Science Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities have released a new publication entitled „Imagining the Future Knowledge Mobilization. Perspectives from UNESCO Chairs“. It brings together selected contributions from various UNESCO Chairs on the topic of knowledge mobilization. Among the contributions is the paper by Benno Werlen (Fellow at the Max Weber Kolleg at the University of Erfurt), Joanne Kauffmann and Karsten Gäbler entitled „Future Knowledge Mobilization for Deep Societal Transformations“.

The article addresses key issues of knowledge generation and distribution for sustainable development in a global context and considers them against the background of profound societal changes. In a first part, the conditions under which knowledge mobilization takes place in the 21st century are analysed. One focus is on the question of why knowledge distribution is necessary and what hurdles it has to overcome. In the second part, strategies are presented to overcome constraints to knowledge mobilization. These strategies concern working with communities, institutional and organisational reforms, and education and teaching. The proposals are based on interviews with a total of 15 experts from transdisciplinary sustainability research and science policy.

The German UNESCO Commission will soon publish the article in German translation on its website.

Doctoral scholarships at the Max-Weber-Kolleg

The Max-Weber-Kolleg for Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt is once again awarding two doctoral scholarships.

The term starts on 1 October 2021, the scholarships are awarded for three years. The application deadline is 15 April 2021. For details, please see the call for applications.

Doctoral Preparation at the Max Weber Kolleg

The Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt (MWK) offers a six-month doctoral preparation programme for applicants at the MWK as part of its study programme. Applications are possible until 28 February.

This offer is aimed at early stage researchers who have completed an excellent Master’s degree and who wish to pursue an interdisciplinary doctorate in the context of the Weber research programme at the Max Weber Kolleg, which can be supervised by members of the Kolleg. A one-semester preparation period for the doctorate is offered to suitable early stage researchers, which enables individualised supervision by a mentor, so that at the end of the doctoral preparation an exposé is available that enables application to the doctoral programme of the Max Weber Kolleg. The doctoral preparation is oriented towards the individual needs of each participant. It consists of mentoring with regard to the research question of the dissertation project and the state of research, participation in selected colloquia and the opportunity to participate in seminars and in the qualification programme of the University of Erfurt. Certificates are issued for participation in the university’s qualification programme. The admission procedure as a doctoral candidate to the Max Weber Kolleg remains unaffected.

The Max Weber Kolleg offers financial support for participation in the doctoral preparation for the duration of usually 6 months in the form of a scholarship, which is awarded according to the scholarship statutes of the University of Erfurt. The doctoral preparation usually starts on 1 April. Direct follow-up funding in the case of acceptance as a doctoral candidate from a doctoral scholarship can only be made possible if the full 6 months are not required for the preparation of the exposé.

As the Max Weber Kolleg would like to support women in a special way, applications from women will be accepted preferentially. More information you can find on the website of the MWK.

Rafael Barroso-Romero presents a working paper on ‚Reconsidering unusual burials‘

In this paper I present the starting premises of my project. I try to justify the relevance of my research and why I consider that my approach is suitable. To this end, first I describe the different theoretical approaches from which the recognition of funerary diversity in the Archaeology of Death has been addressed and how from there the popular notion of „deviant burial“ along with every assumption it implies, as well as the arguments that have been considered when applying it in the Roman funerary world (1). Next, I briefly describe how the use of the concept of deviant in Religious Studies suggests that it is not the most appropriate one to call this type of burial (mainly necrophobia and paleopathologies) (2). In the following section I put the Roman funerary world into a cultural context by explaining the main ideas that exist about the fate of the deceased after death (both those that arise from ritual action and from the texts) (3). In the final section, I suggest that the direct recognition of funerary diversity is the most appropriate way to understand the Roman funerary world in all its complexity, and I suggest an approach focused on the study of religious materiality of grave goods and how the material culture transforms the way in which the self relates to the world (4).

Richard Lim presents a working paper on ‚Public Spectacles and Christianizing Urban Cultures in Late Antiquity‘

This Kolloquium text is part of an ongoing study of the transformations in public life in Roman metropolitan cities during Late Antiquity. The culture of public spectacles long continued to play a constitutive role in the cultural self-identities of the Roman urban populace despite Christianization and ecclesiastical condemnations. I show in this paper how the plebs urbana assumed participatory roles in making themselves ‘belongers’ in urban spaces by engaging with the culture of spectacles throughout the city notwithstanding their typical characterization as passive spectators in ancient and modern accounts.  I examine, in particular, the phenomenon of urban talk and related forms of sociability that came into being around the culture of Roman public spectacles even beyond the dedicated entertainment structures of the hippodrome, theatre and amphitheatre and explore how these persistent cultural forms shaped even the lives of urban Christians, a prime case in the reciprocal formation of religion and urbanity. How ordinary Late Antique Christians came to regard themselves as at once sophisticated urban inhabitants, proud members of a Roman metropolis and, at least by their own lights, upstanding followers of Christ in the context of their interactions with this urban culture of public spectacles has important implications for the way we conceptualize the processes of Christianization, secularization, de-paganization and de/re-sacralization in Late Antiquity.

New junior research college ‚EIPCC‘ is launched

‚Effective and Innovative Policymaking in Contested Contexts‘ (EIPCC) is the title of a new junior research group that the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt has launched together with colleagues from the Faculty of Economics, Law and Social Sciences and the Max Weber College as part of the Christoph Martin Wieland Graduate Forum at the University of Erfurt.

The key theme of EIPCC is the investigation into effective and innovative forms of policymaking particularly in contested contexts. It covers research on the four dimensions of: Public Policymaking; Socio-economic Development and Effective Policymaking; Socially Innovative Policymaking, and Policymaking in Conflicted and Contested Orders. Contestations may arise due to the globalization of economic and social relationships and its consequences for the economic, social and even physical wellbeing of societies; the significant structural and political challenges in the course of ageing societies or international migration; new political forms of contestation such as populist or even extremist parties; and unresolved, violent conflicts.

Andreas Goldthau, holder of the Franz Haniel Professorship for Public Policy at the University of Erfurt and one of the initiators, explains: „The Young Researchers‘ College sees itself as a platform that brings together international young researchers with a focus on (or from) the Global South. And we are very pleased to now have a structured and EPPP-certified programme for early career researchers.“