News & Blog

Here and on Facebook, we announce events and share UCF news and developments.

Erasmus Prize Award Ceremony 2024 (July 15)

On July 11, UCF awarded the Erasmus Prize for the Liberal Arts and Sciences for the 12th time. This year, the Erasmus Prize was awarded to Solveig Degen and to Dr. Stefan Conrad, both from the University of Freiburg. Please see the press release for further information.

We were honored that Heike Schmoll, responsible for school and university topics and editor for the “Bildungswelten” page for the F.A.Z., gave this year's keynote speech: "Politik und Wissenschaft am Beispiel der Corona-Pandemie". We thank her for a very interesting and inspiring lecture.

Finally, UCF thanks all guests, friends and supporters, and especially the Sparkasse Freiburg-Nördlicher Breisgau for their tremendous support.

Here are some impressions from the award ceremony in the beautiful Meckelhalle (photos by Patrick Seeger).

This year's laureats Dr. Stefan Conrad and Solveig Degen.

Cake, fun & games – LAS goes soccer (July 5)

Just in time for the 2024 European Championship, LAS students reactivated their soccer / football skills! With engaged fundraising (selling most tasty cake and cookies at the Open Days), diligent team planning (quibbling over jersey design), and with great enthusiasm (as always!), the “Shooting Stars” (un)successfully participated in the Uni Sommerliga 2024.

The Shooting Stars will be back with more cake and goals in 2025! If you’re interested in joining, get in touch with Jonas at j.schumann@mail.de.

Sophia Wong, in Kooperation mit der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, präsentiert: Scapegoat (June 20)

God Dionysus: "Ich möchte enthüllen, was passiert ist. Die Sterblichen müssen die Wahrheit erfahren."
Gott Apollon: "Aber, aber – Zeus! Die Konsequenzen!"
Gott Dionysos: "Sehe ich so aus, als würde es mich interessieren?"
Gott Apollon: "Wenn die Wahrheit unbequem ist, hören sie einfach nicht zu…"

Sophia Wong, Studentin der Philosophie im Studiengang Liberal Arts and Sciences an der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, lädt zur Premiere des gesellschaftskritischen Stückes 'Scapegoat', auf Deutsch 'Sündenbock', ein. Das Stück spielt im antiken Griechenland, wo sich inmitten der Festspiele zur Ehrung der Götter, der sogenannten Dionysien, ein Skandal auftut. Dieser konfrontiert die göttliche mit der menschliche Welt. Aber was die griechische Mythologie nicht aufgezeichnet hat, ist die Geschichte hinter dem Tod des Asklepios. Wo liegt die Gerechtigkeit? Wo steht die Wahrheit? Nach dem tragischen Tod des Asklepios wird alles ans Licht kommen.

"Aslk… – Wer?" (Gott Zeus)
Gott Dionysos möchte ein Stück über den Prozess des Asklepios, Sohn des Apollon und Gott der Medizin, inszenieren. Asklepios, dessen Heilung Tote zum Leben erweckte, wird angeklagt sich der göttlichen Ordnung entgegengesetzt zu haben. Solch fehlenden Respekt lassen Zeus und seine Götterfamilie nicht auf sich sitzen, und so entfacht ein ursprünglich guter Wille eine Debatte über Macht, Moral und den Wert des Menschenlebens aus den Augen der Götter.

Griechischer Chor
Rhythmische Balladen, ein charakteristischer Bestandteil des griechischen Theaters, zeichnen sich als Replikationen der Dynamiken antiker Festspiele durch ‚Scapegoat‘. Anhand selbstgeschriebener Musik und eigenen Choreographien preisen und hinterfragen der Chor und die Sterbliche ihre Götter.

Übersetzung
'Scapegoat' ist ein englisches Stück im Original und wird mit englischen und deutschen Übertiteln zum Mitlesen aufgeführt.

Einladung und weitere Informationen
Sie sind hiermit herzlich zu den Aufführungen eingeladen, besonders zur Premiere am 18. Juli, und erhalten gerne Freikarten, wenn Sie uns eine kurze Nachricht mit der gewünschten Anzahl zukommen lassen.

• Premiere: 18. Juli 2024, 19:30 Uhr

• Weitere Aufführungen: 19., 21. und 22. Juli 2024, 19:30 Uhr
• Spielort: TheaterFISTung (Friedrichstraße 39, Freiburg)
• Spieldauer: 2 Stunden 20 Minuten (inklusive Pause)
• Instagram: universitycollegefreiburg, artsliberated
• Abendkasse: 5 €
• Vorverkauf: Mensa Institutsviertel (Stefan-Meier-Str. 28) & Mensa Rempartstraße & Online
• Rückfragen an: lasartsliberated@gmail.com
• Studierendentheatergruppe: Arts Liberated von University College Freiburg unter FIST* (Freiburger Interessenverband für studentisches Theater)

"Governmentality Studies" and "Racializing Terrorism" – Events at UCF (June 19)

Next week, the Professorship in Epistemology and Theory of Science at UCF is co-organzing two events:

1. Podiumsdiskussion "Was waren die Governmentality Studies?"

25.6.2024, 18-20 Uhr, Raum HS 1098, KG I

Aus Anlass von Michel Foucaults 40. Todestag diskutieren Brigitte Bargetz (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien), Ulrich Bröckling (Universität Freiburg), Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Sven Opitz (Universität Marburg) über den Zustand der Governmentality Studies als letzte institutionell einschneidende Rezeptionsspur Foucaults diskutieren.

Wie stellen sie sich ca. 20-30 Jahre nach dem großen Hype Ende der 1990er/Anfang der 2000er Jahre dar?

Stimmt die mit dem Titel provokant lancierte These, dass dieses Forschungsprogramm mehr oder minder an sein Ende gelangt ist? Warum?

Welche Anschlüsse an andere Theorieprogramme bräuchte es? Was wäre eine spannende Agenda für die nächsten 20 Jahre? Und wie verhält sich dies zur Foucaultrezeption im Allgemeinen?

2. Vortrag Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign): Racializing Terrorism

26.6.2024, 18-20 Uhr, Haus "Zur Lieben Hand", Großer Saal

In her talk, Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson explores the racialization of terrorism in the United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through changing discursive formations of race. She illuminates its function as a tool of social exclusion in the service of white supremacy and examines the continued relevance of contestations of terrorism as a means to preserve white rule and a practice of resistance against white supremacy.

Registration for EPICUR Autumn/Winter Courses 2024/25 now open (June 12)

The EPICUR Course Catalogue for Autumn/Winter courses 2024/25 is now open!

This Autumn, EPICUR offers a diverse portfolio of 65 courses that are easy to combine with your schedule and provide an international and enriching experience.

Boost your academic skills, acquire new knowledge and meet other students from 9 European universities! Work in an interdisciplinary intercultural team and gain insights beyond your field of study! You are not as flexible and still want to participate in EPICUR courses? No problem, you can do that from home since online courses are also offered in EPICUR to allow everyone the same unique learning experience.

EPICUR Autumn courses range from Sustainable Transformation, European Values and Global Health to Future Intelligence. Additionally, EPICUR provides courses designed to enhance your Transversal Skills and facilitate Language Acquisition across a diverse range of languages.

Courses start from September 2024.

Registration is open from 10 June until 1 July 2024 for courses starting before October. For courses starting later, registration is open until 5 September 2024. New courses will be added in July, so be sure to check back regularly to stay updated! 

Please visit the EPICUR Course Catalogue to sign up and for further information. 

LAS Team at the 2024 Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition (June 5)

Under Dr. Stoyan Panov's coaching, the 2024 UCF Moot Court team successfully reached the final rounds of the Helga Pedersen Moot Court Competition, an international human rights law competition hosted by the European Law Student Association!

In the past 8 months, the team dealt with the limits of freedom of expression under the European Convention of Human Rights and qualified in the St. Gallen Regional Rounds as one of the top 18 teams in Europe to advance to the highly competitive final oral rounds in Strasbourg. At the Council of Europe, the team had the chance to showcase their legal arguments and persuasive advocacy skills in front of human rights experts and judges to the Court of Human Rights! The competition was a challenging yet enriching experience fostering legal reasoning, practical skill and team spirit.

The LAS application period 2024 starts in a few days! (May 28)

The Liberal Arts and Sciences application period starts on June 1 and runs until July 15. We are very excited and are looking forward to your application.

• We have detailed Application Guidelines on our website. There are two different application processes (and guidelines) – depending on your citizenship and where you acquired your University entrance qualification. Please read and follow "your" guideline carefully.
  
  
• Have a look at our Online Study-Choice Assistant (OSA). With videos of UCF staff and students, it is not only informative (and fun!). It also counts as a so-called study-orientation test for your LAS application.
  
  

• If you have questions about LAS, join our Online Open Day Q&A Sessions with a focus on the Application&Admissions process on:
  
  • July 5, 2024: 3-4 pm
  • July 12, 2024: 10-11 am
  Kindly register for the sessions at open-days@ucf.uni-freiburg.de.
  
  
• Join us on our in-person Open Day at UCF on Friday June 14, 12am - 3pm.

Do you want to know what it's like to study LAS at UCF? Then have a look at our LAS Stories and the LAS course experiences! And follow our LAS students on Instagram for more fun facts and insights.

EPICUR Call for Course Proposals Autumn/Winter 2024/25 (May 14)

The Call for Course Contributions for the EPICUR Autumn/Winter Semester 2024/25 is out now, and we are very much looking forward to your contributions!

Deadline for proposals is 27 May, 2024.

Please consider contributing your course! We particularly welcome course proposals that take an innovative approach to teaching by integrating multiple fields of study and fostering collaboration among students. Ideal courses for EPICUR help students acquire competencies to tackle real-world problems. Courses might engage students in:

• hands-on, project- and challenge-based learning
• developing the ability to communicate clearly across borders and cultures, and
• acquiring transversal skills that can be applied across disciplines

If you would like to increase the diversity in your classroom, become part of an international community of academics and get access to EPICUR's teacher support, take the opportunity to offer an innovative course in your expertise.

Feel free to also invite your colleagues interested in contributing to innovative, international education by offering a new course or opening up EPICUR seats in existing courses by forwarding this call to your networks. 

Please submit your proposal in the spreadsheet by 27, May 2024 and send it, along with any questions you have, to the UFR EPICUR team at epicur@ucf.uni-freiburg.de.

Landed on this page and not from Uni Freiburg? Click here to find the email address for your university.

In case of questions, please contact us by email at epicur@ucf.uni-freiburg.de

SustainAbilities: Research Perspectives beyond Disciplines – 
FRIAS Lunch Lecture Series 2024 (May 2)

The program for the FRIAS Lunch Lecture Series 2024 is online. The overarching topic for the summer semester 2024 is "SustainAbilities: Research Perspectives beyond Disciplines". The series includes lectures on...

• Potentials of and Learnings from the interdisciplinary Climate Related Research Project Intelligence for Cities (I4C).
• Visions of Sustainability: A Transdisciplinary Research Project on Documentary Film
• Transdisciplinary sustainability research and impactful career opportunities: The role of transacademic interface management

The lectures offers both undergraduate and graduate students and, essentially, everyone interested a first-hand account of the research projects of current Fellows at FRIAS and colleagues from across the University. Current and past series are listed on the FRIAS website.

Liberal Education Student Conference May 9-11 in Freiburg (April 29)

The LESC 2024 is organized by students of University College Freiburg in cooperation with Adam Mickiewicz University.

We are honoured to have guests across Europe coming to Freiburg and sharing their perspectives on the topic of (inter-/trans-)disciplinary education from epistemological, cultural or political lenses (Conference Program).

This conference is open to online visitors for the sake of inclusivity. If you are interested, please register by 7 May 2024 or stop by at the conference! (seats are on first come, first serve basis).

For more information, the complete program, insights into the speakers and panelists, please refer to LESC Freiburg website. Also, we reported on the LESC in a previous blog post from February 21.

"The Epistemic Injustice of Genocide Denialism" – Dr. Altanian's book out (April 23)

Dr. Melanie Altanian's book "The Epistemic Injustice of Genocide Denialism" rethinks the relationship between dignity, truth, and memory in relation to genocide denial by adopting the framework of epistemic injustice. This framework performs two functions. First, it introduces normative vocabulary into genocide scholarship through which we can gain a better understanding of the normative impacts of genocide denial when it is institutionalized and systematic. Second, it enriches current scholarship on epistemic injustice with a further, underexplored case study.

By focusing on the case of Turkey's denialism of the Armenian genocide, the book shows the consequences of this kind of epistemic injustice for the victim group and society as a whole.

More information about the book is available at Routledge.

Call for Lectureships: EPICUR Pop-Up Courses (April 18)

Are you a researcher eager to make a difference? Do you want to share your research with students while gaining valuable teaching experience? Look no further than our EPICUR Early Career Researcher Pop-Up course lectureships!

EPICUR Freiburg offers compensation for small lectureships (0 or 1 ECTS)

EPICUR particularly welcomes proposals for pop-up courses that set focus on interdisciplinary learning in EPICUR's priority areas Sustainable Transformation, European Values, Global Health, Future Intelligence and Transversal Skills.

What are pop-up courses?

• brief interdisciplinary educational opportunities aimed at tackling current trends in academia and society, promoting collaboration among students and faculty from diverse academic backgrounds
• more info here

Who can apply?

• academic staff members of UFR, associated institutes and EPICUR partners (especially Early Career Researchers, Postdocs and PhDs)

What's in it for you?

• present your research to an intrigued audience, experiment with fresh teaching methods and gain teaching experience

Deadline

• please submit your proposal by April 30, 2024.

How to apply?

• Pop-up course description (250 words) and learning outcomes (key words)
• Personal motivation (250 words)
• Title of lecture / seminar and theme of the lecture
• Time frame
• Delivery mode: virtual, hybrid, blended, in person
  
  

In case of any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us by email at epicur@ucf.uni-freiburg.de. 

Find more info about the priority areas and the call here.

LAS Application Season 2024 (April 3)

Last week, we published the 2024 LAS application essay question: What is the difference between truth and opinion? Describe a situation from your own life in which this difference made a difference.

Our web pages for Prospective Students including the Application & Admissions information are now updated for 2024. Application period is June 1 – July 15. Until then, you are warmly invited to explore:

• Until July 15, we have a series of online and in-person LAS Open Days. The next dates are April 26 on Zoom and May 17 live and in-person here in Freiburg. Join us!
• Our Online Study-Choice Assistant (OSA) is an interactive tool that provides insights into studying LAS and includes helpful videos, links, and information on student orientation.
• The University Student Service Center (SCS) will host an information event for local schools and school students on June 15; UCF will give a session on studying LAS. Please see the full SCS advising offer here.

Registration for EPICUR Summer Programmes 2024 now open (March 13)

The EPICUR course catalogue for summer 2024 is now online!

This summer, EPICUR offers a diverse portfolio of 25 courses that are easy to combine with your schedule and provide you an international and enriching learning experience.

Boost your academic skills, acquire new knowledge, and meet other students from 9 European universities! Work in an interdisciplinary intercultural team and gain insights beyond your field of study! You are not very flexible but still want to participate in EPICUR courses? No problem, you can do that from home as EPICUR also offers online courses to allow everyone the same unique learning experience.

EPICUR Summer Programmes range from Sustainable Transformation, European Values and Global Health to Future Intelligence. Additionally, EPICUR provides courses designed to enhance your Transversal Skills and facilitate Language Acquisition across a diverse range of languages.

Courses start from April 2024. Registration is open from 11 March until 08 April (23.59 CET), 2024. 

Please visit the EPICUR Course Catalogue to sign up and for further information.

LAS Course Catalog Summer Semester 2024 (February 28)

The new LAS Course Catalog for the summer semester 2024 is out now. Have a look at the courses that will be offered this summer, such as:

• Advanced Mathematics
• Anthropology of the State: Ethnographic Perspectives

• Comparative Governments of the Global South

• Consciousness, the Psycho-Physical Problem and Exceptional Experiences

• Environmental Chemistry

• Governing Mobility: Policy-Making for Migration and Displacement

• Introduction to the Philosophy of Science 28 Law, State, Society

• Neuroscience: From Brain to Behaviour
• People, Landscape, Management: Planning for Ecosystem Services

• Studying Conflicts: Historic and Interpretive Research

• The Bicycle

The latest information on individual courses is available on ILIAS. Regarding course registration, please carefully read pages 3 and 4.

University of Freiburg Senate against racism and anti-Semitism (Feb 26)

In its meeting on 21 February 2024, the Senate of the University of Freiburg passed a resolution against racism and anti-Semitism. As an open and international higher education institution, UCF values respectful exchange and wholeheartedly endorses the statement.

"The University of Freiburg Senate strongly condemns anti-democratic endeavours and the contempt for humanity associated with them and endorses the statement by the Executive Board of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) of 23 January 2014 'Science needs liberal democracy and the rule of law.'"

The complete statement as well as further information is available on the central University website. There you can also read the Statement by the University of Freiburg for diversity and mutual respect.

Liberal Education Student Conference May 9-11 in Freiburg (Feb 21)

After a pandemic pause, the Liberal Education Student Conference (LESC) is being revived. This is a conference for students to exchange on their Liberal Education programs. It is a significant opportunity for students to rethink and reconnect in the evolving landscape of Liberal Arts and Sciences, both locally and globally.

The LESC 2024, organised by students of University College Freiburg, will be held on 9-11 May 2024 in Freiburg. The theme is "Liberal what?" Liberal Education: Rethink and Reconnect. With this conference, we want to re-establish and promote connections between Liberal Education programs, exchange views, and discuss the future of Liberal Education. The theme is expressed by four tracks:

Track 1 Integrating Liberal Education with Individual Journeys (networking universities)
Track 2 Students and our impact on communities (career related)
Track 3 How history created modern society (interdisciplinary)
Track 4 The future is interdisciplinary (futuring education)

How to participate? The LESC is opening the second round of call for paper. To register, students need to write a paper, no more than 600 words, responding to one of the conference topics. The registration deadline is March 01 2024, 23:59. Our offer is to provide free meal and travelling to students, while accommodation support is encouraged to be requested from students’ home university, before applying from us. More information can be found here on the LESC Freiburg website.

Call for applications: EPICUR student board assistant (Feb 14)

Are you passionate about shaping the future of European higher education? The EPICUR Student Board is currently on the lookout for enthusiastic new members to actively contribute to our dynamic international project.

What?

• You will be hired as a student assistant at the University of Freiburg with a contract for 24h/month.
• We are looking for students who are in the midst of their studies (with a commitment of at least 1 year to fully immerse in the project).

You are

• willing to proactively contribute to the development of the Student Board
• experienced in student representation work
• willing to travel within Europe (expenses covered)
• flexible to invest the necessary time and motivated to be creative

If you are ready to contribute to the transformation of higher education within our Student Board, we invite you to apply (positions available as of now)! Be part of the EPICUR journey and help shape the future of European university alliances with us.

Find more information here.

Contact: Charlotte Langowski – EPICUR Coordinator University of Freiburg: charlotte.langowski@zv.uni-freiburg.de 

LAS Bachelor Projects Student Conference on February 13 (Feb 8)

Every year, UCF students organize a student conference to present and discuss their ongoing Bachelor theses projects. The winter 2024 conference will take place on Tuesday, February 13 at the Uni Freiburg Peterhof, in rooms 1 and 2.

The 2024 program can be downloaded here and includes panels on

• Global Health and Diseases
• Environment and Economy
• Cognitive Studies
• Media Analysis
• Ethics in Context
• Environment and Human Action

The conference is part of the LAS Module "Research Design Across Disciplines" and open to all!

Meet the LAS Interns – February 2 Showcase Event at UCF (Jan 25)

LAS students can undertake internships and practical projects for credit in the LAS Electives. In pre-COVID times, we hosted an information event by students, for students about experiences in preparing, doing, and receiving ECTS for such projects. This format is now being reactivated!

When? Friday, February 2, as of 16:00

Where? Max-Kade II at UCF

What?

• Presentations by Awa, Eva, Karla, Lena, and Mara; you can find the 2024 presentations and those from previous events on the LAS Electives page.
• About AWI, IKA, sinny&ooko, uniCROSS, and Wathi
• Fun [!] Q&A as well as wine & snacks

For information about the curricular integration of internships and practical projects, see the ILIAS pages.

For more information about past events, please see LAS Electives.

Eucor/Uni Basel: Sustainable Eucor Cities? 12.-16.02. (in presence and via zoom)

Hybrid Seminar: Sustainable Eucor Cities? Exploring Your City through the Lens of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Mapping – Analysis – Action.

The United Nations 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 sub-goals forms the framework for realizing a future-proof and sustainable society. In order to make the goals set by the global community for all countries more tangible, they are introduced in this course as a tool for analyzing developments in your own city. Where does the relevance of certain SDGs become particularly tangible? Where can the SDGs be used to observe developments towards sustainability, where can grievances be revealed? Where and in what way can each and every individual take action to implement the SDGs? These questions are at the heart of the course. The aim of the course is to develop a guideline for the elaboration of SDG city exploration tours by students for students in the Eucor cities and to develop and test prototypes of these tours.

Find a detailed course description here.

• When? 12.02.2024-16.02.2024, 10:15-17:00
• Format

• Hybrid block course, Working Language English
• Practice-oriented collaboration in interdisciplinary teams
• 3 ECTS

• Location
• On Site: Petersgraben 27, Hörsaal 215 (Sociology), University of Basel
• Zoom: The meeting link will be provided via mail upon registration.

• Target group: Interested Eucor-students at all levels of study.
• Registration: Registration is possible until February 5th. Please register by e-mail to Marc.Frick@unibas.ch

For more information about studying in the Eucor area, please see the Uni Freiburg International Office.

Happy Holidays and all the best for the New Year 2024

We thank all UCF supporters – students, staff, professors and many friends – for their commitment and engagement in 2023.

We wish you a peaceful festive season and the very best for the New Year 2024.

We thank our UCF alumna Vera Brandes for the photo of this year's card.

With 2023 coming to an end, we can announce our tentative list of LAS Open Day activities for the UCF Liberal Arts and Sciences Program.

LAS Open Days 2024

• Starting on January 26, we will host a series of Online Open Days.
• In-person Open Days at University College Freiburg are planned for May 17 and June 21 14

Application & Admissions 2024

The application period for starting the LAS Program in October 2024 is June 1 – July 15. For more information, please see our Application and Admissions pages, which we will update early 2024.

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