An interdisciplinary pioneering project
Prof. Dr. Birgit Menzel, postdoctoral fellow at the Kolleg 1991-1994, today Prof. em. for Slavic Studies at the JGU Mainz
Image Credit: privat
Dr. Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, PhD student in the College 1994-1997, now Associate Professor of Applied Anthropology at Bournemouth University.
The Research Training Group at the OEI not only belonged to the first generation of DFG Research Training Groups, it also did pioneering work in interdisciplinary research on Eastern Europe. When the GRK was evaluated in January 1994 - at that time still publicly - Karl Eimermacher, as a DFG reviewer, succinctly summed up the central challenge of the Kolleg's work: "Where is the benefit of interdisciplinarity?" Almost thirty years later, we posed this question again to former Kollegiat* members Prof. Dr. Birgit Menzel, Dr. Jule Reuter, and Dr. Stephanie Schwander-Sievers. Their answers reflect both the immense potential and the resistance of working in a dialogue of disciplines.
Audio recordings (in German):
- Prof. Dr. Birgit Menzel, ehemalige Postdoktorandin am Kolleg, über die Interdisziplinarität des Kollegs
- Prof. Dr. Birgit Menzel über das Kolleg als Pionierprojekt