Interdiscipli­nary Summer School T*ECO*LOGIES from 17. to 18. August 2023

© Summer School T*ECO*LOGIES

Historical, social and ecological revisions of human-technology-nature relations

Location:
Helmholtzstraße 14 (Merkel-Bau), Room 118,
TUD Dresden University of Technology

Why is today's world the way it is and who has contributed to it? What role does/did technology play in it? Who has shaped technology in the past? What can technology do in the future? What kind of world do we as humans want to live in? What responsibilities do we have as future and established engineers and technology researchers? How do we have influence? Who or what do we consider, overlook or exclude? What do we hope for? What do we consider possible and feasible and where do we see limits to what is possible and feasible?
Young and experienced technology researchers, engineers and people interested in technology and social issues from technical, social science and humanities disciplines are cordially invited to consider and discuss answers to these questions together over two days.
We will take a look at the past to understand who has influenced our socio-technical world and create scenarios of how future human-technology-nature relationships beyond exploitation, subjugation and exclusion become possible, so that a socially and environmentally just coexistence will be achieved for many. We have invited inspiring guest speakers who will provide new impulses and open up unusual perspectives in various workshops. We look forward to going on a journey of discovery with you to rewrite the past and reinvent the future!
The workshops will be held alternately in German and English. Participation in the Summer School is free of charge thanks to the financial support from gender equality funds of the School of Engineering Sciences and the Eleonore Trefftz Program of TUD! We look forward to receiving your applications until the deadline: 27.07.2023!

Highlights

• Searching for traces on the TUD campus of influential female scientists and their contributions to technology research and development
• Guests are the art and design research duo MELT (Ren Loren Britton & Iz Paehr) and Ines Weigand, Research Associate of the Design, Diversity & New Commons Group at the Weizenbaum Institute/University of the Arts Berlin
• Get together with all speakers and participants on Thursday evening

Schedule
On the first day of the Summer School, we will dive into the history and present of TUD with Prof. Dr. Cornelia Breitkopf, Professor of Thermodynamics and Head of the Institute of Power Engineering at TUD, and turn our attention to women in engineering, past and present. Did Zeuner and Mollier really draw their well-known diagrams themselves, write their publications and papers alone? When was the first female mechanical engineering student at the faculty and what became of her? In which technical developments were and are female researchers from the engineering sciences involved? What experiences have they gained in their scientific and professional careers? A journey of discovery across the TUD campus will provide deeper insights. We will enjoy the rest of the evening together with the invited speakers.
In the second part of the Summer School, we will learn together and build alongside considerations coming from queer, Trans* and disability studies for technology research with the art and design research duo, MELT from Berlin. We will question what kinds of social and relational norms are inscribed into technologies and consider possibilities for more just and more inclusive human-machine relations. Then we will look at circulation processes from a different perspective. Together with Ines Weigand from the Weizenbaum Institute/University of the Arts Berlin, we will explore the interrelationships between humans, nature and technology using critical design methods. How can we move from theologising ways of thinking and neoliberal mantras in which humans control, dominate and domesticate their environment to symbiotic models in which humans are understood as part of ecological processes and human and planetary (survival) conditions are considered equally? And what role does our urine play in all this?

Who can participate?

• Interested persons of all levels of qualification and experience from technical, social science and humanities disciplines,
• Engineers and technology researchers within and outside the TUD Dresden University of Technology
• Students, doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers, research assistants and professors

To include perspectives that are often missing in engineering and technology, we particularly invite applications from women, queer people, LGBTQIA-identified people, people with disabilities and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPoC). Applicants from these groups will be given preference in the selection process.

Application until 27.07.2023
Due to the limited number of participants, please send an email with the following details and information to

• First name, last name, pronouns³
• Field/discipline
• Qualification and experience level
• Motivation statement (150 - 200 words)
• Access needs We want to make the Summer School a safe and accessible space for everyone. Please do not hesitate to let us know your wishes and needs in this regard.

Download: Call for participation and poster (not barrier-free)

Organisers and contacts

• Dr. Sandra Buchmüller (she/her),
• Annika Léonie Jung (she/her),

¹ The use of pronouns serves to respectfully and correctly address persons according to their self-perception and gender ascription, especially trans and non-binary persons.