idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
Yesterday evening, 22 May 2025, it was confirmed that the »Imaginamics. Practices and Dynamics of Social Imagining« Cluster of Excellence, submitted under the leadership of Friedrich Schiller University Jena, has been awarded funding within the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. This is also significant for the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, which is involved in the project through three of its leading researchers.
The Cluster of Excellence is supported by numerous regional partners and plans to research a highly relevant topic, focussing on what binds societies together: shared ideas, narratives, images, and visions for the future. »Social Imagining« is the process by which societies create a shared idea of their surroundings, imagine the future together, and look back at the past together. Creating imagined worlds, however, not only presents opportunities, it also harbours risks: it can hold societies together and promote solidarity, but it can also generate conflicts and divisions. The Cluster of Excellence is investigating how these social imaginations come about and how societies deal with them.
The three participating researchers from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar are all based in the Faculty of Media: Prof. Henning Schmidgen, Professor of »Medientheorie und Wissenschaftsgeschichte«; Prof. Sabine Wirth, Junior Professor of Digital Cultures; and Prof. Bernd Fröhlich, Professor of Virtual Reality and Visualisation. These three will be contributing to the Cluster in leading positions as Principal Investigators. Their research will pursue highly topical questions, such as: Does the use of social media like Facebook contribute to a polarised view of society? Are virtual reality technologies creating new forms of community? The research conducted in Weimar will be centralised in the newly established »Digital Hub«, which is intended to be an outpost of the Cluster based in Jena.
Prof. Guido Morgenthal, Vice President for Projects and Research, stresses the importance of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar’s successful participation in the Excellence Initiative: »I’m thrilled – this is a significant recognition of the outstanding research at our university. There is no doubt that the question of how digital technologies influence our imagination and intervene in the way we think, speak, and create is one of the most pressing issues of our time. Thanks to our special expertise in media studies and media informatics, our outstanding academic work in areas such as digital cultures, visualisation and virtual reality, as well as our growing focus on digital humanities, we are in an ideal position to respond to these questions. The approval of the ›Imaginamics‹ Cluster of Excellence will raise these research activities to a new level and provide them with increased visibility.
Prof. Schmidgen explains the collaborative nature of the Cluster: »We are contributing our recognised expertise from the interdisciplinary research of Weimar media studies and media informatics in the field of digital media to the project.«
The »Digital Hub« independent research unit will act as a platform for the research projects that Prof. Bernd Fröhlich, Prof. Henning Schmidgen, and Prof. Sabine Wirth will collaborate on with researchers in Jena. The basic conditions for excellent research are also being expanded, including a newly established Professorship of »Algorithmisches Imaginieren« and an independent junior research group, among other things.
The »Imaginamics. Practices and Dynamics of Social Imagining« Cluster will receive up to 30 million euros in funding over 7 years.
The press release from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena on the awarding of the Cluster of Excellence on 22 May 2025 can be found here: https://www.uni-jena.de/en/320078/jena-receives-two-clusters-of-excellence
For more information on the Cluster of Excellence, visit: https://www.uni-jena.de/265518/exzellenzcluster-initiative-imaginamics
About the Excellence Strategy
The Excellence Strategy was adopted by the federal and state governments in 2016 and promotes outstanding research at German universities. The initiative aims to strengthen Germany’s position as a science and research hub and enhance its international competitiveness. The funding initiative is not only intended to enable top scientific results, but also to enhance the profiles of the participating universities and inspire cooperation in the science community.
Questions can be directed to Claudia Weinreich, Press Officer by e-mail at presse[at]uni-weimar.de or by phone at +49 / 36 43 / 58 11 73.
https://www.uni-jena.de/en/320078/jena-receives-two-clusters-of-excellence
https://www.uni-jena.de/265518/exzellenzcluster-initiative-imaginamics
The numerous partners of the Cluster of Excellence »Imaginamics. Practices and Dynamics of Social Im ...
Source: Claudia Weinreich
Copyright: Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
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