Program
Table of contents
Thursday, November 06, 2025
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10:00-10:30 |
Welcome
Moderation: Dr. Julia Gabler (HSZG) and Prof. Dr. Christian Prunitsch (TUD) Location: Town Hall Zittau |
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10:30-12:00 |
Keynote 1: Transformation as an aspiration? On the relationship between science and society Keynote 2: Contested transformation - contested knowledge? On the politicization of transformative knowledge Prof. Raj Kollmorgen (HSZG) Moderation: Dr. Lucas von Ramin Location: Town Hall Zittau |
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12:00-13:00 |
Lunch break |
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13:00-14:30 |
Panel 1: Governance of regional transformation processes - challenges for science and politics Short description: By their very nature, transformations are highly political processes. With the intention of change, they intervene in a targeted manner in existing social, economic or political structures with the perspective of creating a new general binding force. How well and sustainably this succeeds depends in no small part on the governance of the transformation process - on how these processes are politically steered and shaped in concrete action. This panel would like to look into this field of action between science, politics and transformation practice in dialog with each other, focusing on the following three key questions: What insights does transformation research provide with regard to the procedural management of transformation processes? Does it understand and take into account political frameworks and logics of action - within which transformations take place - sufficiently well? From the perspective of science and politics, is transformation research really able to exert a constructive influence and develop practical relevance? What is the reality of past and current transformation processes? How should transformation knowledge be structured in relation to process governance? Where and how can transformation research become more effective in terms of its practical relevance? Advisors:
hosted by Dr. Sebastian Heer (DZA) Location: 1.01 in House Z IV Panel 2: Knowledge transdisciplinary and cooperative: transformation processes and everyday practices Short description: Using selected collaborations and projects as examples, we will focus on different forms and formats of knowledge, their generation and dissemination as well as the stakeholders involved in these processes. The following parameters are of particular relevance: What characterizes the cooperation between research, art and civil society stakeholders in transition regions? How and in what contexts can transformation knowledge be identified and made accessible? What prerequisites and needs guide the actions of research partners on the ground, what disciplinary logics do scientific projects follow, and what influence do these interactions have on knowledge production in the research process? Advisors:
hosted by Dr. Julia Gabler (TRAWOS), Prof. Ira Spieker (ISGV), Dr. Katharina Schuchardt (ISGV) Location: 1.02 in house Z IV |
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14:30-15:00 |
Coffee break Location: Foyer conference rooms house Z IV, HSZG |
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15:00-16:30 |
Panel 3: Knowledge Stuck at the Border? Transnational Cooperation versus National Conflicts over (the Future of) Coal Mining in the 'Black Triangle' Abstract : Since the end of the Cold War the Czech-German-Polish borderlands - as an important site of local coal mining - are experiencing environmental, political and social reconfigurations. As one of Europe's most polluted and most environmentally damaged regions before 1989, the fall of communism triggered urgent calls for the environmental transformation and recovery of this border zone. New environmental policies alongside cross-border cooperation between the three nations played an important role in the restoration of the region's ecology. This border region has indeed made progress, albeit slowly, in transitioning towards the environment's rehabilitation. However, in recent years these borderlands also witnessed major conflicts in the field of energy politics, which simultaneously mirror larger European struggles over appropriate responses to the climate and energy crises. On this basis, this interdisciplinary panel seeks to explore both the transnational circulation of knowledge about the necessary environmental transformation and protection of the borderlands while also identifying the different developmental trajectories of the neighboring countries and local communities. Instead of just focusing on recent discourses, the panel aims to also incorporate historical perspectives that explore the postsocialist experiences in and of this border region. Advisors:
organized by PD Dr.in Friederike Kind-Kovács, Dr.in Maren Hachmeister (HAIT) Location: 1.01 in House Z IV Panel 4: Lusatia as a cross-border real laboratory? - Possibilities and limits of transdisciplinary and transformative research Short description: Real-world laboratories are on everyone's lips. As an approach to sustainability research, they claim to make contributions to sustainable development in addition to transformation knowledge, i.e. to have a transformative effect. The spectrum of content and methodological approaches in real-world laboratories is diverse. A key characteristic is the interaction between scientific and non-scientific stakeholders in the co-production of knowledge and practical solutions. Since the effects of real-world laboratories are difficult to measure, a critical discussion is worthwhile. We would like to discuss with representatives from state and local government and civil society what opportunities transdisciplinary research offers for a transformative restructuring of cities and regions and what limits need to be recognized and taken into account against the background of different logics of action. Advisors:
Hosted by Prof. Robert Knippschild (IZS, IÖR) Location: 1.02 in house Z IV |
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16:30-17:00 |
Coffee break Location: Foyer conference rooms house Z IV, HSZG |
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17:00-18:30 |
Panel 5: Lusatia as a region of knowledge and science: Science between regional development and international competition Short description: The current transformation process in Lusatia is hardly conceivable without the work of scientific institutions. The coal phase-out is flanked by a multitude of analyses. At the same time, a considerable part of the measures to promote structural change itself relates to the expansion or even the establishment of new scientific institutions. The vision of a science region is increasingly taking up space in the regional discussion: an idea that was hardly voiced just a few years ago and is now likely to cause astonishment in the external perception of Lusatia. In this situation, universities and research institutions not only have the task of generating knowledge that can be accessed by politics, administration or business, but they also help to shape regional change in interaction with practice. This takes place in the context of a social expectation that such institutions should always also make central contributions to sustainable regional development. Science is thus caught between the demands of society for successful regional structural change on the one hand and its own academic reputation in international competition on the other. The panel aims to shed light on this conflicting situation with contributions from various perspectives - including municipal action, business, science, science policy and the public. The aim is to make a contribution to how findings from research can be fed into the transformation process even more consistently and, at the same time, how scientific institutions can fulfill their mission for science and society. Advisors:
hosted by Dr. Andreas Otto (DZA) and Clara Hartung (TUD | Lusatia Campus Lausitz) Location: 1.01 in House Z IV Panel 6: Democracy under stress: Transformation experiences Short description: Transformation processes, such as those experienced in East Germany and especially in Lusatia since the years of reunification, produce winners and losers. This is not without consequences for the political mood and the view of democratic institutions as the "housing" and drivers of these transformation processes. Lusatia is a typical case in point: in addition to (socio-)demographic change with an ageing population, an exodus of highly qualified specialists and the so-called "desacralization", the region is facing the (at least perceived) loss of an entire economic sector as a result of the lignite phase-out. At the same time, it is one of the regions in which the crisis of democratic political culture - which is spreading everywhere, and not just in East Germany - is becoming particularly evident at a particularly early stage. The panel will examine how these phenomena are connected and how these relationships in Lusatia compare to Saxony and East Germany. Particular attention will be paid to feelings of insecurity, their social causes and political consequences. This is because the concern of being one of the (modernization) losers of social change manifests itself in a variety of insecurities - from professional and economic worries about the future to existential (decline) fears and increased fear of crime. This does not remain without consequences for satisfaction with democracy, trust in institutions and political participation behavior - and thus influences the political culture in the affected regions. Consequently, a better understanding of the connection between transformation, insecurity and political culture will also help to analytically penetrate and constructively shape the conditions in Lusatia. Advisors: hosted by Dr. Christoph Meißelbach and Dr. Reinhold Location: 1.02 in House Z IV |
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Dinner together |
Friday, November 07, 2025
| 09:00-11:00 |
Excursions:
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| 11:00-12:30 |
Panel 7: Transformative and transdisciplinary energy transition in global comparison/ sustainability Short description: Sustainability and biodiversity are not only ecological challenges, but also central economic and social transformation fields. Companies are increasingly responsible for developing sustainable and resilient economic models. Responsible management combines economic success with societal responsibility and environmental sustainability - an approach that is equally important for companies and regions. In this panel, scientists and entrepreneurs from the region will discuss how responsible management can contribute to the promotion of biodiversity, sustainable value chains and resilient economic structures. Three keynote speeches will highlight practical strategies for biodiversity and sustainability management in companies, the importance of cooperation between science and practice for transformative processes and examples of good practice from the regional economy. In particular, it will highlight how companies can secure long-term value creation through responsible management and at the same time assume ecological and societal responsibility. The subsequent discussion offers space for an exchange between science and practice in order to develop concrete options for action for companies and social stakeholders Advisors:
Organized by Remmer Sassen and Thorsten Claus (IHI) Location: 1.01 in House Z IV Panel 8: Transformation as a cultural process and the role of culture in transformation Short description: In this block we will look at the transformation of Lusatia from a cultural perspective. Transformation is itself a cultural process in which values and world views change and individual and regional identities are redefined. Transformation can be seen as a social field in which stakeholders negotiate competing imagined futures of Lusatian society and in which there is rarely agreement on the processes and paths of transformation to be pursued. The interpretations of the past, the 'cultural heritage', are also closely linked to the cultural struggles to determine the future. The focus here is on the transformation of a regional "industrial culture", which was closely linked to a dominant and normative, unifying identity concept of the (mining) workers, towards a 'post-industrial' culture, however it is defined, which may be able to tolerate more cultural difference. In this context, the treatment of Sorbian/Wendish culture is once again under discussion, and the question of whether it should be seen as a "cultural resource" of Lusatia or as an (unavoidable) victim of cultural change is being renegotiated. The cultural sector as a social sub-sector is itself a stakeholder and target of the negotiated futures. It takes up, transports and communicates ideas about the future and interpretations of the past. The cultural and creative industries as a whole are seen as an area of social innovation in which transformation paths and goals are designed and tested. And the role and significance of culture for the quality of life, but also as part of the regional economy, is also being redefined and renegotiated in the debates on social plans for the future. Advisors:
Organized by Lutz Laschewski and Jenny Hagemann (Sorbian Institute / Serbski institut)) Location: 1.02 in house Z IV |
| 12:30-13:00 |
Lunch break with finger food Location: Foyer Conference rooms House Z IV, HSZG |
| 13:00-14:00 |
Final discussion |
