Berlin University Alliance

This Research Group offers an innovative exploration into the representation of diverse intersectional identities using creative methodologies. Students will learn about arts-based methods and get the space to explore them further through their own project surrounding affect and representation. This course aims to provide new methodological skills, fostering a deeper understanding of how creative practices can enhance social scientific inquiry within the thematic framework of representation. Through hands-on projects, students will learn to use artistic practices to uncover and express complex social dynamics that traditional methods might overlook. The curriculum includes foundational readings, practical applications, ethical considerations, and project development. Students will work in groups to develop ideas, conduct fieldwork, and analyze creative data. Targeted towards social sciences students with an interest in qualitative research, this course is designed for master’s and advanced bachelor students. While experience in creative practices is beneficial, the key requirement is a motivation to explore collaboratively.

This course is an introduction to sovereign credit rating. We will discuss the methodology of a major rating agency, comparing it with those of competing approaches. The methodological will be discussed in the context of related issues regarding financial markets, economic policies and political economy.

If you want to join the course, use the codeword "rawls".

Best, Alex Stomper

For many decades, urban and community studies have analyzed the relevance of space for social diversity and integration. What does social diversity induce (in terms of social networks, belonging, everyday life practices)? How can we understand the role of public places (space) in creating new opportunities of meeting (un-)familiar others? How can we approach space as an active participant of sociability as well as community building? In order to answer these questions, we will work with the concept of ‘third place’ which has been firstly conceptualized as a mechanism of sociability between home and work. Today, it is necessary to expand this definition. We talk about how third places open space for women, LGBTI+, immigrants, ethnic minorities, and subculture groups, by looking at book clubs, parks, skateparks, mosques, shisha bars etc. In this course, we will use the concept of third places to address urban complexities in community construction while learning how to do research on these sites. Students will develop their own research project and work on it during the course, for example answering questions about the role of their selected third places on the ways in which people develop a sense of belonging to a group, share, help and seek support from its inhabitants. Overall, they would ask how place itself has a direct impact on their daily practices and networks. We will go on excursion to study and understand how we would use third places to find innovative ways of doing research on social integration or community construction. Additionally, we experience and understand Berlin as a sum of various third places.

The detailed syllabus for this course is available on the Berlin Perspectives website:  https://hic.hu-berlin.de/en/berlin-perspectives/courses

Ziel des vorliegenden Projekts ist es, verschiedene Arten von Reifenabrieb und Alterungsvorgängen zu vergleichen und die Risiken von Reifenabrieb für Umwelt und Biota zu quantifizieren. Zu diesem Zweck werden Reifenpellets nach Gewicht sortiert, um die Vergleichbarkeit der Pellets zu gewährleisten. Diese Pellets werden dann durch Oxidation, UV-Strahlung und/oder Hitze gealtert. Die gealterten Pellets werden mit Toluidinblau O auf die Menge an funktionellen Carboxylgruppen analysiert, um die Veränderungen in der Oberflächenstruktur zu quantifizieren. Anschließend werden die Pellets mit der Infinite-Sink-Methode getestet, um Veränderungen der Auswaschung von Benzothiazol in Verbindung mit der Alterungsmethode herauszufinden. Bei der Infinite-Sink-Methode wird Aktivkohle, die in Filterpapier verpackt ist, genutzt, um auslaugende Verbindungen aus einem flüssigen Medium zu adsorbieren. Aktivkohle ist ein Adsorptionsmittel, das in der Abwasserbehandlung zur Entfernung von Schadstoffen aus dem Wasser Verwendung findet. Sie hat eine sehr große Oberfläche, so dass das Medium nicht mit den Verbindungen von Interesse gesättigt werden kann. Anschließend können die adsorbierten Verbindungen aus den Aktivkohlesenken durch das Soxhlet-Verfahren extrahiert werden. Hierbei werden durch Verdampfen von Lösungsmitteln, bestimmte Verbindungen eines festen Materials extrahiert. Die entstandenen Extrakte werden massenspektrometrisch untersucht, um die Konzentration an Benzothiazol zu messen.