Project Details
Projekt Print View

GSC 208:  Graduate School for Integrated Studies of Human Development in Landscapes

Subject Area Ancient Cultures
Geography
Term from 2007 to 2018
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 39071778
 
Final Report Year 2019

Final Report Abstract

The interaction between physical and social landscapes is the most profound process that catalyses human activities in space and time. In the last two funding periods, the Graduate School ‘Human Development in Landscapes‘(GS) unravelled the interplay of environments, social relationships, material culture, population dynamics, and human perceptions of socio-environmental change. We conceptualized landscape as a dynamic physical and mental space that encompasses social, cultural, and ecological spheres, and reflected on how it evolves interactively with the human societies who occupy it. The GS pursued a holistic understanding of human-landscape relationships through interdisciplinary research involving the Humanities and the Life and Natural Sciences. This is achieved through the empowerment of a graduate student community that successfully designs and realises its own research and employs a variety of analytical techniques and theoretical frameworks to fulfil research projects. Since 2007, two generations of GS students have successfully tackled interdisciplinary research questions. Thus, cross-linkages between academic disciplines have been strengthened. The research environment has been greatly internationalised, and the growing needs for analytical support and efficient infrastructure have been met. Five Junior Professorships for ‘Environmental Archaeology’, ‘Environmental History’ (both now permanent CAU professorships), for ‘Environmental Anthropology’, “Ancient aDNA” (aDNA) and Anthropological Archaeology complement the research at the core of the overall evolving field. The new training programmes, communication networks, and interdisciplinary research foci have strengthened and enhanced the CAU infrastructure and established the GS as an international research and educational centre. Based on experience and considering general developments in the field, we upgraded the GS concept and set new milestones for a sustainable structure by establishing the Johanna Mestorf Academy (JMA) as the framing structure for education and research on socio-environmental dynamics at CAU. The GS research profile organised in three thematic clusters is further sharpened, ‘hot spots’ as imminent breakthroughs were defined to further encourage high-quality integrated research; a post-doctoral programme attracted and supported young researchers, while, at the same time, further enhanced research activities at the forefront of an international community.

Link to the final report

https://doi.org/10.2314/KXP:169927861X

Publications

 
 

Additional Information

Textvergrößerung und Kontrastanpassung