From March 23–27, 2026, the IMPRS "Global Multiplicity" Spring School took place at MLU Halle-Wittenberg, bringing together doctoral researchers and supervisors from four partner institutions to collaborate and exchange ideas. The programme centred on interdisciplinary dialogue between anthropology, law, sociology, and history, alongside practical workshops on publishing strategies, data analysis, and grant applications.

Since July 2025, Simon Schneider has been conducting research on reconstruction in Turkey. Here he describes his impressions.

In my research project ‘Between Encounter and Distancing,’ I examined the affective-emotional experiences as well as the relationship dynamics and processes of knowledge transfer in a civic encounter format – mentorships with refugee children and young people – from a psychological anthropology perspective. During my research, these children and young people came mainly from Syria. The format aimed to overcome segregation along socio-cultural and socio-spatial lines of difference as well as educational inequality.

On June 18th 2025 the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg hosted Michael Rothberg as part of the ANTON WILHELM AMO LECTURES series.

During a seminar on psychological anthropology led by Prof. Dr. Anita von Poser, we had the opportunity to talk to Alexandra Bauer. She had been invited to talk about her exciting research. Alexandra Bauer is a social and cultural anthropologist. She received her PhD from the Freie Universität Berlin.

Why focus our attention on plants as actors, and what can we learn from Vanuatu's People-Plant interactions about understanding human-environment relationships elsewhere?

From January 14 to 16, 2026, the workshop "Envisioning (un)democratic futures" at the University of Gothenburg gathered international researchers from Sweden, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Finland, Romania, and Argentina to discuss new approaches in the study of populism, illiberalism, and authoritarianism. The event was organized by the Research School FUDEM and supported by a research grant from the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.The contributions presented there made it clear that we must move away from simplistic notions about right-wing populist actors: Instead of a crude rejection of modernity and science, we are observing a sophisticated appropriation of progressive concepts aimed at restructuring the existing social order according to (eco-)nationalist and moral ideas.

Bridging university research and public participation

Does the German energy transition really suffer from transformation fatigue? No, but its lacking the right participation formats. Particularly in the east German mining districts people are tired of bullshit.

The interdisciplinary seminar Chemoethnography: Textual and Textile Engagements with the Consequences of the Synthetic Fiber Industry in Wolfen, attended by students of ethnology and textile design, resulted in the creation of both textiles and texts. Under the title POLY!, these works were presented at the annual exhibition of Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in the summer of 2025.