At present at the institute

The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: Science & Society

»Europe after the Russian invasion of Ukraine«
Lecture series
beginning 2022

The European Union is a product of war and has, since its founding, been a source of peace in Europe. The invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops on February 24, 2022, not only shattered the expectation of a war-free Europe, but also abruptly and violently interrupted the constructive development of an integrated Europe. The European Union as a political community is challenged to defend democracy and integration as never before. This is happening at a time when the geopolitical order is in flux, posing additional challenges for the Union.

The new interdisciplinary discussion forum at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften asks: What new role can and must the European Union develop in order to secure freedom and stability in Europe and in the world? Experts will discuss current and future developments of the European Union in a regional and global context.

Events

26. April 2022
Panel discussion
»Europa nach der Invasion Russlands in die Ukraine«
Gunther Hellmann (Goethe University), Stefan Kadelbach (Goethe University)

11 July 2022
Lecture
»Europe from an age of idealism to an age of war«
Nathalie Tocci (Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome)

15 November 2022
Lecture
»Die Nachbarschaftspolitik der EU nach der Invasion Russlands in die Ukraine: Ende oder Neuanfang?«
Kirsten Schmalenbach (Paris Lodron University Salzburg)

Scientific lead
Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, Director of the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, Professor of Philosophy, Goethe University (e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Gunther Hellmann, Professor of Political Science, Goethe University (e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Stefan Kadelbach, Professor of Public Law, European Law and International Law, Goethe University

The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: Science & Society

»Sinophone Classicism. Chinese Cultural Memories in a Global Space«
Lecture series
beginning 2021

In the Chinese-speaking world, artistic positions that draw on classical Chinese traditions have recently gained in popularity. The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften is dedicating a lecture series to these contemporary and multi-layered forms of expression in art and literature, in digital media and in the lifestyles of individual communities. The series was developed by Goethe-Fellow Zhiyi Yang, Professor of Sinology at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, as part of her research project at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften.

Events

04 November 2021
Lecture | online
»A Story of the Red Seed. Classicism and Modernist Crisis«
David Der-wei Wang (Harvard University)

26 November 2021
Lecture | hybrid
»A Tower Built Downward: The Creative Transformation of Chinese Classical Lyric Aesthetics«
YANG Lian (Poet)

17 December 2021
Lecture | online
»Piety without Obedience? Popular Discourse on Filial Piety as a Resource for Morality in Contemporary China«
Marius Meinhof (Bielefeld University)

21 January 2022
Lecture | hybrid
»From Platform to Lying Flat: Youth, Technology, Hipsters, and the Question of Chineseness«
Jeroen de Kloet (University of Amsterdam)

10 February 2022
Lecture | online
»Translating Calligraphy«
Markus Nornes (University of Michigan)

28 April 2022
Lecture | online
» ›Romance of the Three Kingdoms‹ as Early Modern Text and Contemporary Video Game«
Paize Keulemans (Princeton University)

19 May 2022
Lecture | online
»The Body that Counts: On the Digital Techniques of the Chinese Modern Dance«
Chieh-Ting Hsieh (National Chengchi University, Taipei)

09 June 2022
Lecture | hybrid
»Xiqu 2.0: Deconstructing Chinese Classical Theatres in Digital Times«
Rossella Ferrari (University of Vienna)

10 June 2022
 Workshop | online
»Classicism in Digital Times. Harvard-Frankfurt-Lingnan Symposium«
David Der-wei Wang (Harvard University), Zhiyi Yang (Frankfurt University/FKH)

06 July 2022
Lecture | online
»Classicist Drama in Digital Times«
Michelle Yeh (University of California, Davis)

27 October 2022
Lecture | online
»Surface Classicism & Large-scale Multimedia Tourist Performance in the PRC«
Tarryn Chun (University of Notre Dame)

24 November 2022
Lecture | hybrid
»Castration Redux: A Genealogy of Sinophone Transtopia«
Howard Chiang (University of California, Davis)

13 December 2022
Lecture | hybrid
»Zwischen postdigital und Tradition. Klassische chinesische Kunst im Metaversum«
Lei XUE (artist, Darmstadt and Peking)

27 April 2023
Lecture | hybrid
»Archaeology and Futurology in Contemporary Sinophone Science Fiction«
Mingwei Song (Wellesley College)

25 May 2023
Lecture | hybrid
»The Neo-Avant-Garde and the ›Future‹ of China’s Literary ›Past‹«
Fangdai Chen (Lingnan University)

21 June 2023
Lecture | hybrid
»›Do You Hear the People Sing?‹ – The Power of Silence, the ›Classic of Songs‹ and Traditions of Protest in China«
Barbara Mittler (Heidelberg University)

7 November 2023
 Lecture | hybrid
»Sinophone Cine-feminisms«
Zhen Zhang (New York University)

25 January 2024
 Lecture | online
»Brushing Through Time: Classical Elegance and Contemporary Expressions in Chinese Calligraphy«
Shi-siang TEO (National Taiwan University)

10-11 May 2024
Vorkshop
»Global Sinophone Classicisms. Hybridity, Agency, and Critical Challenges«
Zhiyi Yang (Frankfurt University), David Der-wei Wang (Harvard University, USA) et al.

22 May 2024
 Lecture | hybrid
»Gao Xingjian’s Politics of Resistance and Nonconformist Poetics: The Portrayal of Huineng in the Play and the Production of Gao Xingjian’s Snow in August«
Tsu-Chung Su (National Taiwan Normal University)

7 June 2024
Workshop
»Sini-style Islamic calligraphic workshop«
Haji Noor Deen (artist)

Project lead
Zhiyi Yang, Professor of Sinology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and Goethe-Fellow at Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften (e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: Science & Society

John McCloy Transatlantic Forum
beginning 2022

The John McCloy Transatlantic Forum facilitates and promotes exchange and conversation between academia and the public. It aims at stakeholders from politics, business, culture, and the media who are interested in transatlantic relations under the banner of a shared understanding of democracy. The impetus for the founding of the forum is an insight that has grown out of the current crises in the world, such as the Ukraine war, tensions with China, populist movements in Europe and the United States: Democratic orders cannot be taken for granted but require maintenance and development. The forum intends to be a place of debate that explores the forms, varieties, challenges, and potentials of democracy.
The forum belongs to the research focus »Democratic Vistas: Reflections on the Atlantic World« based at Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften.

John J. McCloy I
John J. McCloy I was the U.S. High Commissioner to the young Federal Republic. John McCloy’s commitment to Germany's integration into Western alliances and his strong commitment to building civil society through education and science decisively paved Germany's way to a stable democracy after World War II. From 1949 to 1952, John J. McCloy and his family lived in Bad Homburg, in the immediate vicinity of the area where the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften is located today.

Events

04 November 2022
Formal inauguration of the John McCloy Transatlantic Forum
Keynote:
Charles A. Kupchan (Georgetown University): »The Liberal Anchor of the World To Come: The Enduring Strengths and Vulnerabilities of the West«
Welcome remarks:
Uwe Becker (Staatsminister für Bundes- und Europaangelegenheiten in Hessen), Alexander Hetjes (Mayor, Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe), Matthias Lutz-Bachmann (Director of Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften), John J. McCloy II (son of U.S. High Commissioner John J. McCloy), Enrico Schleiff (President of Goethe University)
Introductions:
Gunther Hellmann und Johannes Völz (Heads of program of the John J. McCloy Transatlantic Forum and the research focus »Democratic Vistas. Reflections on the Atlantic World«)

20 April 2023
Second John McCloy Lecture
»Deutschland, die EU und die transatlantischen Beziehungen nach der ›Zeitenwende‹«
Sigmar Gabriel (Chairman of the Atlantik-Brücke, Former Federal Minister of the Republic of Germany)

16 April 2024
Third John McCloy Lecture
»Flirt mit der Diktatur? US-Präsidentschaftswahlen im Krisenjahr 2024«
Podcast of the event
Constanze Stelzenmüller (Brookings Institution, Washington D.C.)

10 September 2024
Book launch
»Die zerrissenen Staaten von Amerika«
Arthur Landwehr (Journalist)

23 September 2024
Lecture
»It Was the Best of Times: The Bright Future of the Transatlantic Alliance«
Michael Kimmage (The Catholic University of America; Center for Strategic and International Studies)

21 November 2024
Panel discussion
»Die USA nach der Wahl«
Podcast of the event
Manfred Berg (Heidelberg University), Christian Lammert (FU Berlin), Greta Olson (Giessen University)

01 April 2025
Fourth John McCloy Lecture
»The Return of the Future and the Last Man: Politics of Demographic Imagination«
Ivan Krastev (Sofia/Wien)

29 April 2025
Lecture
»Nach Trumps Abspaltung: Deutschland und Europa in einer neuen Welt«
Gunther Hellmann (Goethe University)

Publications
Booklet:
Inauguration of the John McCloy Transatlantic Forum, 4 November 2022. Keynote by Charles A. Kupchan: »The Liberal Anchor of the World to Come: The Enduring Strengths and Vulnerabilities of the West«.
Download

Booklet:
Das John McCloy Transatlantic Forum: Rückblick 2023 (contents: The second John McCloy Lecture; the Fellows; the activities of the research focus »Democratic Vistas. Reflections on the Atlantic World«
Download

Booklet:
Das John McCloy Transatlantic Forum: Rückblick 2024 (contents: The third John McCloy Lecture; the Fellows; the activities of the research focus »Democratic Vistas. Reflections on the Atlantic World«
Download

Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees was established in April 2023. Its members are:

Cameron Abadi (deputy editor, Foreign Policy)
Dr. Werner Brandt (chairman of the supervisory board, RWE AG)
Dr. Bettina Gentzcke (Head of the Department of Culture and Education, City of Bad Homburg v. d. H.)
Prof. Dr. Gunther Hellmann (Goethe University, Frankfurt)
Dr. Ingrid Hengster (CEO, Barclays Germany)
Felix Hufeld (former president, Federal Financial Supervisory Authority)
Iris Helene Koban (managing director, Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften)
Prof. Dr. Christian Lammert (Free University Berlin)
Jay McCloy (grandson of John J. McCloy)
Prof. Dr. Shalini Randeria (president, Central European University, Vienna)
Prof. Dr. Johannes Völz (Goethe University, Frankfurt)

The chairman of the Board of Trustees is the director of the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften, Prof. Dr. Dr. Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, his deputy is the former divisional board member and advisor of Deutsche Bank AG, Dr. Bernd von Maltzan.

Contact
Gunther Hellmann, Professor of Political Science, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Johannes Völz, Professor of American Studies, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)