Research on pressing issues of the future and the relationship between science and society: Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) now has a dedicated research building for these topics. The new “Forum Wissenschaftsreflexion” research building was inaugurated on June 17. Located on Im Moore in Hannover’s Nordstadt, the building brings together research groups focused on the study of science and higher education, which were previously spread across different locations.
"Today is a special day for our university and also for Hannover as a center of science,” said University President Prof. Dr. Volker Epping in his welcoming remarks. “With the Forum Wissenschaftsreflexion, we have one of the very few research buildings dedicated to the humanities and social sciences—and the only one at a technical university in the TU9 network.” The new building serves as a visible symbol to the outside world that LUH not only has a strong profile in engineering and the natural sciences but also, through the Forum Wissenschaftsreflexion, a major research focus in the humanities and social sciences. Questions about the future can only be answered collectively—through close collaboration between engineering, natural sciences, and life sciences on the one hand, and the humanities and social sciences on the other—as an indispensable part of a comprehensive scientific perspective.
At the Forum Wissenschaftsreflexion, scholars from philosophy, sociology, economics, political science, and law will collaborate under one roof. No other university in Germany currently has a comparable number of professorships in the fields of science and higher education research. At LUH, there are currently around 20.
The focus is on interdisciplinary research perspectives that examine the relationship between science and society and address current challenges—such as attacks on academic freedom. In general, considerable expectations are placed on scientific knowledge to solve the major challenges of our time—whether climate change, global food security, energy supply, or health care development. Today, researchers find themselves caught between the demands of successful research, development, outreach, and application. This field is characterized by diverse and often conflicting interests, particularly by economization, politicization, and mediatization. Consequently, the multifaceted roles of universities are also brought into focus.
“Just as the natural, technical, and life sciences primarily need laboratory space and large-scale equipment, we in the humanities and social sciences require outstanding communication structures: spaces for interaction and ongoing exchange that make many forms of collaborative research possible in the first place,” explains Prof. Dr. Eva Barlösius, spokesperson for the Forum Wissenschaftsreflexion. These needs are being addressed in the new research building with its many communal spaces and a large “knowledge workshop.”
Dorothee Bär, Federal Minister for Research, Technology, and Space, who joined via video link, emphasized: “The first new research building dedicated to the humanities and social sciences at a technical university in Germany—a very, very strong signal and a highly timely one. The major technological upheavals we are currently experiencing require precisely this kind of analysis.” Lower Saxony’s Minister of Science, Falko Mohrs, as well as Belit Onay, Mayor of the City of Hanover, also expressed their delight in their welcoming remarks over the successful completion of this research building for the humanities and social sciences, dedicated to this socially and politically important topic.
Construction of the Forum Wissenschaftsreflexion, with its 2,200-square-meter usable floor space, took about three years (groundbreaking: July 6, 2023). The building offers office space for 142 people, as well as seminar and meeting rooms and an event hall. It was designed by Michel+Wolf Architekten (Stuttgart). The federal government covered part of the total construction costs of approximately 19.3 million euros (about 7.37 million euros), while the state of Lower Saxony is covering the remainder, primarily through the “zukunft.niedersachsen” program.
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For further information, please contact Mechtild Freiin v. Münchhausen, press spokesperson for Leibniz University Hannover and head of the Communications and Marketing Department, by phone at 0511 762 5342 or by email at kommunikation@uni-hannover.de.