The science night 2024

Freedom has many areas of action: What social, technological and economic challenges do markets face in the area of tension between business, politics and society? How do we as individuals impact society and how does society in turn influence our actions? What role do institutions play here and how can they be designed so that they sustainably ensure equal opportunities and social cohesion in the age of globalization and digitalization? The scientists of the Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) 'Individuals, Institutions and Societies' conduct research at these interfaces.

• May 16 & 17 (all day)
• Participants of all ages
• Contact: 
  • TRA 4

Barrier FREEDOM as a human right to make society accessible is a central topic for the future, but has not yet been a prominent topic in humanities research. There is great potential here for socially engaged humanities to make a decisive contribution to the transdisciplinary treatment of global grand challenges. Research perspectives focus on technologies and cultures of accessibility from a global, cross-cultural perspective. In this way, human-technology-world relationships come into view as constellations of scientific, political, legal, economic and (media) technological innovation. We offer the opportunity to discover the topic of (digital) accessibility in a practical and playful way. On the occasion of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on Thursday May 16, 2024 and in conjunction with the Bonn Lab for Analog Games and Imaginative Play, we are presenting analog and digital assistive technologies in the gaming sector, which can also be tried out in practice (e.g. Microsoft Adaptive Controller for the X-Box). Selected low- to high-tech solutions for improving accessibility in the workplace can also be experienced in practice.

• May 16, 2024 (all day)
• Participants of all ages
• Contact: 
  • Prof. Dr. Adrian Hermann
  • Anna Hollstegge
  • Julia Lindenberg

Future? What is that? How does it work? How do we want to live? Freedom and justice are indispensable. We need them for family and friendship. Climate protection, animal protection, peace. All of that is part of it and much more. We show the highlights of the story. And we ask: What goes through people's minds? What is important to young and old people? We want to hear your opinion and yours!

• May 16, 2024 (all day)
• Participants of all ages (especially older students)
• Contact:
  • Prof. Dr. Cornelia Richter

The interdisciplinary research project “Practical Challenges of Climate Change: Intergenerational Justice and Freedom” (PRACC) is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the funding priority “Ethical, legal and social aspects in the life sciences” (ELSA). The overarching goal of the project is to develop an ethical and legal framework for society to appropriately deal with the consequences of climate change, based on the basic concepts of intergenerational justice and freedom. This framework is intended to serve as a basis for, on the one hand, designing adaptations for production processes and consumer behavior based on bioeconomic analyzes and, on the other hand, to provide analyzes for nature conservation measures in view of the loss of biodiversity caused by climate change.

• May 16 (9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.)
• Older teenagers & adults
• Contact: 
  • Prof. Dr. Dirk Lanzerath
  • Dr. Marius Bartmann

The philosopher Aristotle divides people into two classes: some are destined to rule from birth, others are born as slaves and have to serve the rulers like tools.
At the time of the “discovery” of America, the Europeans quickly knew that they belonged to the ruling class and that the Indians had to serve them as slaves in order to exploit the country.
In a role play we want to get to know these arguments - and the arguments that the FREE spirit Bartolomé de Las Casas developed to defend the dignity and rights of the indigenous population of America.
The freedom and dignity of ALL people was “discovered” for us in America.

• May 16 (09:00 a.m. - 01:00 p.m.) / May 17 (6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m)

• Older teenagers & adults
• Contact: 
  • Prof. Dr. Michael Schulz

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that privacy in its decisional, local and informational situation is particularly at stake in exceptional situations. With it also the values of autonomy and freedom, with which privacy is unavoidably linked in liberal-democratic societies, since it is assumed that a literal and metaphorical space in which we can try out and develop ourselves unobserved is essential for the development of individuals in a society democracy is. The same requirements also apply to free spirit: as Virigina Woolf pointed out, people need their own space in order to be able to think (and write productively) for themselves.

• May 17 (9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m)
• Teens & adults
• Contact: 
  • Dr. Julia Mönig

In the 'Metaflammation Game', participants can put their health at risk throughout different eras: from the Stone Age through advanced culture to modern times, it becomes a strategic adventure and playful experience, the health of the individual through food, exercise, stress and sleep to keep things in balance and to get to know the different living conditions of the era. How FREE are we in our decisions? For example, what roles do the contexts into which we are born play?

• May 17 (9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.)
• Participants of all ages
• Contact: 
  • Prof. Dr. Clemens Albrecht
  • Annelen Reimer
  • Corvin Rick
  • Bassel Essa

The Center for Life Ethics (CLE) presents selected freedoms in their historical and current dimensions and invites guests to enter into a creative exchange about freedom and its individual meaning. The focus is on communicating the gains in freedom and the social discussion about preserving, defending and shaping freedoms for the present and future.
The CLE also presents its work and in particular presents the formats of the House for Young Thinking. The House for Young Thought has set itself the task of bringing science into society and serves as a place for joint design by science and society - for example on the question of what role science has in the perception and development of freedom from the perspective of a wide range of disciplines .

• May 17 (7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m)
• Participants of all ages (especially: young people & adults)
• Contact: 
  • Prof. Dr. Christiane Woopen
  • Dr. Björn Schmitz-Luhn

Since the 1960s, liberal values have become increasingly important in society. These include, for example, the equal participation of everyone on a social, political and cultural level as well as the self-realization and freedom of the individual. However, although processes of democratization have flattened many hierarchies in recent decades and ensured greater visibility of minorities, trends towards de-democratization have recently become apparent on many levels, which increasingly seem to endanger freedom and equality. The interdisciplinary project “(De)democratization and Power Structures” deals with the shifts in social hierarchies and power structures in societies in the 21st century and how these are negotiated linguistically, discursively, aesthetically and socially.

• May 17 (all day)
• Participants of all ages
• Contact: 
  • Prof. Dr. Svenja Kranich
  • Prof. Dr. Daniela Pizrazzini
  • PD Dr. Simone Knewitz
  • Hanna Bruns