Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has developed various actions and offerings to support the integration of refugees. Central Website

Support for at-risk academics at post -doctoral level

• Philipp Schwartz Initiative  launched by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
  Fellowships and promotion of the awareness of the scientific community of situations faced by threatened and displaced researchers. Read more
   
• Scholars at Risk Global Network (SAR)
  KIT is one of the twenty founding members of the German Section of SAR, and is also represented in the section's steering group. Read more
  SAR's annual report on attacks on higher education communities: Free to Think 2017
   
• More information on initiatives, platforms and networks in support of refugees and threatened researchers at KIT and other universities or entities -  please see here.
   
• Workshop - Threatened Researchers - The Power of Science. The meeting, which took place on December 12, 2017, 2 pm, was aiming to raise and sustain the awareness about this important topic and to address the needs of this especially vulnerable group of mobile researchers. Even more so we hoped to promote the dialogue and mutual understanding among fellow researchers and fathom out the possibilities of supporting threatened researchers e.g. via networks such as the Humboldt network.
  Program. Report. Panel Speakers. Photos.

Upcoming events

• Struggling for Academic Freedom in Times of Oppression - 18th - 19th May, 2018, Frankfurt, Germany

Oppressions and constraints on academic freedom and freedom of expression has been intensifying all over the world with the acceleration of right-wing populist politics enforced by states. Defending freedom of speech, criticizing the state politics against human rights violence and telling the truths is a part of academic responsibility. Since January 2016, a group of academics, Academics for Peace, of Turkey have gone through many various types of repressions by their own state because of fulfilling their academic responsibilities and raising voices against the war politics of the state.
The experiences of Academics for Peace group are not consequences of one single state’s anti-democratic politics rather a long-standing story of precarization and neo-liberal politics of the world system and need to be discussed in academia all over the world. That is why, with this workshop it is not only aimed that sharing the experiences of Turkish academics but also discussing different aspects of state politics against academic freedom and finding ways of organization and solidarity together with colleagues from different academic
grounds.

More information

Since the winter term of 2016/17, the ZAK, in cooperation with the International Scholars & Welcome Office (IScO) has been hosting a new series of events during which refugees report about their scientific work. In line with the title-giving café concept, a brief outline will be followed by a discussion about the state of academia in the speakers’ country of origin, in dialogue with a partner who is familiar with the situation in the respective country. What are the consequences a society faces when scientists are unable to continue research in their own country? How can threatened scientists be enabled to continue their work in Germany? How do they enrich and amplify the academic world and German society?

Next Lecture:

Neoliberal Regimes and Their Gendered Body-Bio-Politics: The Case of AKP in Turkey
Prof. Dr. Betül Yarar - Educational Sciences, University of Bremen
Wednesday, 20 June 2018, 6pm

Past Lectures:
 

Refugees and Migrants – Social and Economic Integration
Afaf Rahim - Institute for World Economics, University of Kiel
Wednesday, 7 February 2018, 6pm

The Syrian Crysis - A Philosophical and Legal Overview
Dr. Anan Alsheikh Haidar - Institute for International Peace and Security Law, University of Cologne
Tuesday, 12 December 2017, 6pm

Wandel der Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Unterdrückung der Meinungsfreiheit
Dr. Zafer Yilmaz - Fakultät für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Universität Potsdam
Mittwoch, 19 Juli 2017, 18 Uhr

On Refugee Lives, or A Note on Human Condition
Prof. Dr. Hande Birkalan-Gedik - Institut für Soziologie, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Mittwoch, 15 Februar 2017, 18 Uhr

Das syrische Kulturerbe in Krisenzeiten
Prof. Dr. Ammar Abdulrahman - Institut für die Kulturen des Alten Orients, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Mittwoch, 01 Februar 2017, 18 Uhr

Beteiligung ausländischer Gruppen im Konflikt um Syrien: Status Quo und Zukunftsperspektiven
Prof. Dr. Hussein Almohamad - Institut für Geographie, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
Mittwoch, 30 November 2016, 18 Uhr

• International Affairs bringing together people at KIT

On the occasion of Diversity Day on June 5, 2018, initiatives to support refugees introduced themselves at an information market in the foyer of the casino at Campus Nord. Together with the International Student Office and the coordinator for the integration of refugees at KIT, they presented their services at several booths and explained the possibilities for voluntary work. The International Scholars and Welcome Office (IScO) provided the visitors with insights on how KIT welcomes endangered researchers and helps them to continue their scientific work. Formats for international mobility and cooperation, which KIT actively contributes to shaping, play an important role in this regard. The booths also offered interesting information about the worldwide Scholars at Risk network and the Philipp Schwartz Initiative, in which KIT is a member, as well as about the event series World Science Café.

• Scholars at Risk Network 2018 Global Congress – 23^th -  26^th April, 2018, Berlin, Germany

KIT participation:

Session „Creating opportunities and managing expectations: Synergies between academic hosts and administration”  

Moderator: Dr. Petra Roth, Head International Scholars & Welcome Office, KIT, member of the steering group SAR Germany

Podium

• -Professor Dr. Annie Powell, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Institute of Nanotechnology, KIT – successful and experienced host of numerous international researchers among them  10 Humboldt- fellows as well as of persecuted scientists
• -Professor Dr. Peter Nick, Botanical Institute, Molecular Cell Biology, KIT – experienced host and scientific mentor of two Philipp Schwartz fellows at KIT
• -Dr. Arnim Heinemann, Director International Office, University of Bayreuth – member of the steering group SAR Germany

• Program

Also a presentation of the World Science Café format, focusing on the academic work of persecuted researchers, as the best practice model at the General Assembly of the SAR Germany Section

More: https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/

​

• Threatened Researchers Workshop 2017
   
• The first Workshop of the German SAR Section “aiming at facilitating the exchange of expertise and best practices amongst institutions in Germany” will be held on 27^th -28^th . April  2017 in Berlin.
   
• Presentations about Philipp Schwartz Initiative and Scholars at Risk at
  • 12th Humboldt-Tag at KIT 27th Oktober 2016
  • 9. Annual Meeting of the German Society of Humboldtians   28th -29th  October 2016, at KIT

 





Impressions of the 12th Humboldt-Tag on 27th Okt. 2016
 

• Workshop on Philipp Schwartz Initiative in the frame of International Networking Days at KIT on September 28th