TUD Global Citizenship Lab

Program TUD Global Citizenship Lab Summer term 2025

Friday, June 13, 2025

You can find the exact schedule (including information on the start and end of the two workshop days) in our OPAL course.

Workshop: „Sustainability challenge!“

We live in unprecedented times. In this current ‘Anthropocene’ era, human activity is undermining the planetary systems on which we all depend, with disastrous and unpredictable results.  Education has a unique role to play in helping people to understand the values, beliefs, and behaviours which drive unsustainability, and to explore alternative ways of seeing, thinking, and acting in the world, individually and collectively. This one-day workshop is designed to develop participants' competencies for sustainability (e.g., Brundiers et al., 2021; Bianchi et al., 2022). Through participation in interactive, creative, and critical activities, participants will experience a reflective-action process related to a sustainability challenge of their choice. Key themes include: personal identities and values, sustainability definitions and perspectives, sustainability issues and their local and global roots and impacts; sustainable futures, and feasible and impactful actions. Learn how to find your framework for action with our renowned speakers Dr. Rachel Bowden, Flor de Matos and Sita Buchberger.

Dr. Rachel Bowden is a research associate at the Centre for Teacher education and education research, where she coordinates the Erasmus+ Teacher Academy-Teaching Sustainability and the state-level ESD initiative “SDG 4: ESD in university teacher education in Sachsen”.  Before coming to Germany, Rachel lived and worked in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India and Nicaragua among other places. 

Flor de Matos (they/them) is an educator and youth worker, passionate about diversity and inclusion. Their work is applied in several fields across art, culture, social, and environmental actions, with a main focus on creating safe spaces for people to grow together.

Currently, they are involved with CAMBIO e.V. under a Federal Volunteering Service (BFD) where they develop educational projects in international contexts as well as local actions, this includes initiatives supported by Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programs.

As a Global Learning and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) facilitator in Saxony, Sita Buchberger supports educators and multipliers in exploring topics such as the UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals, global justice, sustainability, gender equity, and postcolonial perspectives. 

Additionally, she is part of the Eine Welt-Promotor*innen program operated by arche noVa – Initiative für Menschen in Not e.V. 

She believes in shaping a just and sustainable future together — starting from local experiences and reflecting on our roles in global contexts.

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Short introduction to the TUD Global Citizenship Certificate program 

The GCC team will give you a comprehensive overview of the TUD Global Citizenship Program, how it benefits you as well as the requirements for your participation. Afterwards, you will have the opportunity to ask questions about the program.

Online Short Introduction to EUTOPIA Certificate of Internationalisation and UNESCO Stories Circles 

Our guest Lewis Beer from the European University Alliance EUTOPIA, who works at the University of Warwick, will give you a brief introduction to a GCC partner program: the EUTOPIA Certificate of Internationalization (EUCI). In addition, Werner de Wit (Stellenbosch University, South Africa) is going to share an inspiring method to foster respectful and goal-oriented interaction with people in a global context, the UNESCO Story Circles. You will learn how to approach others without prejudice and be aware of existing bias. 

Pitch session and panel discussion “Partnership and Participation & Engagement”

The TUD Global Citizenship Lab’s motto this summer semester is: “Global Citizenship Education - Partnership and Participation”. In order to show you how partnership and participation are lived not only in civic society, but also in an academic and voluntary context, we have invited interesting guests to a pitch round followed by a discussion. You will have the opportunity to learn more about our guests, their work, and motivation as well as gather inspiration for your own voluntary work (as part of your participation in the GCC program or in your free time).

Dr. Sebastian Spitzer is a researcher at the Institute of Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology (ILK) at TU Dresden, where he focuses on the development of innovative lightweight structures for future mobility and energy applications. Until April 2024, he led the Lightweight Design Group at ILK before taking over the professorship for Lightweight Design at the University of Rostock for one year. In April 2025, he returned to TU Dresden to continue his research on advanced materials and sustainable engineering solutions.

His interest in Asia began with a study stay at Tohoku University in Japan in 2009 and has since evolved into a strong academic collaboration with South Korea. Since 2015, he has been working closely with Dr. Soon Ho Yoon from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in Jeonbuk. Together, they carry out joint research projects, co-author publications, and promote student exchange between Germany and Korea. Dr. Spitzer actively contributes to TU Dresden’s National Network Korea and exemplifies how engineering cooperation can foster global understanding and responsible innovation.

Dr. Soon Ho Yoon is a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in Jeonbuk, where he leads research on advanced composite structures for next-generation mobility systems. He earned his PhD at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon. His research focuses on the development and optimization of lightweight composite components and structures for electric and hydrogen vehicles, ships, urban air mobility, and aerospace systems. He also works on novel design methodologies and simulation tools that integrate multiphysics phenomena and leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning.

In 2015, Dr. Yoon spent a year at the Institute of Lightweight Engineering and Polymer Technology (ILK) at TU Dresden, where he established a strong professional and personal partnership with Dr. Sebastian Spitzer. Today, they are the principal coordinators of the ongoing collaboration between KIST and TU Dresden. Together, they promote academic exchange, mutual research visits, and the joint development of new research topics that bridge Korea and Germany in the field of advanced lightweight technologies.

Charlotte Müller works for the volunteering agency ehrensache.jetzt. The agency is a project of Dresden’s Community Foundation Bürgerstiftung Dresden. It is an information centre for non-profit organisations and all Dresden residents who want to volunteer. The team at the agency advises people who would like to volunteer. It gives information about the wide range of volunteering opportunities in Dresden and helps to find a matching volunteering position. The agency's main tool is their online platform, which was launched in Dresden in 2019. The volunteering agency also offers personal counselling on all aspects of volunteering. In addition, it organises various projects and events on the topic of volunteering in Dresden. For example, the annual “Ehrenamtsbörse”, a fair where non-profit organisations can present themselves.

Kristina Krömer completed her studies in political science, sociology and peace/conflict studies in Marburg. Since graduating, she has been researching ways of establishing democracy as a way of life and developing it further. With metro_polis, she uses the everyday space of the tram/train as a dynamic agora (Greek: central market place) and discusses the challenges of our time with passengers: controversially and yet constructively.

Workshop: Democracy work in everyday life – learnings from the "metro_polis" project and exercises

metro_polis takes place where society gathers daily: in trams. In discussions with 12,000 passengers, the project has found answers to the following questions:

• How can people of different backgrounds and attitudes be brought into contact with each other?
•  How can social controversies be discussed in a way that the exchange does not divide but unites?
• How can complex political issues be presented in a way that truly enables broad participation?

In the workshop, we will discuss the experiences from the metro_polis project and practice facilitating democratic discourse between strangers.

Speaker: Kristina Krömer, Project metro_polis, winner of the German Volunteering Award 2023)

Workshop: All of us... – Performative methods for transcultural exchange

An equal exchange at eye level, listening to each other, and taking the skills and biographical narratives of others seriously are prerequisites for participation and social exchange.

In this workshop, we are going to playfully explore performative research and communication methods that can be used in public spaces and in transcultural contexts.

Katja Heiser has been working for many years as a theater maker as well as an artist committed to cultural work on and off the stage. The starting point for her creative production, directing, and screenwriting work are the expertise, personal experiences, and biographical narratives of those involved, which are transformed into a theatrical or performative form for the stage. Additionally, she focuses on performative research and communication methods in public space and in transcultural contexts. She is passionate about developing and testing playful formats of encounters as well as voicing opinions in different contexts.

Workshop: Placemaking at Alten Gärtnerei – Applied Transformation

Challenges arising from the current need for transformation must be negotiated, tried out, and put into practice. We have been doing this at Alte Gärtnerei in Dresden-Pieschen since 2019, transforming the formerly abandoned horticultural land into a promising place with a future, focusing on healthy ecology as well as local people. We're navigating to manage combining changes in the way food is being produced with good food, productivity with aesthetics, educational ambition with quality of life.

During an explorative tour of the premises, you will get to know your own points of interest as well as the place itself. Insights into the modules and history of the project repeatedly bridge our initial conceptual considerations on the one hand and the numerous practical experiences on the other. Is it now a made place?

Afterwards, there will be plenty of space for any questions you may still have.

Sebastian Kaiser is a permaculture designer, founding member, and co-director of Alte Gärtnerei in Dresden-Pieschen.

Besides the ever-continuous gardening and making of the place itself, his work is driven by considerations of urban development, spatial justice in mobility, aesthetics and the good life as well as Italian cuisine.

Program TUD Global Citizenship Lab WiSe 2025/2026

You can find the detailed schedule (including information on the start and end of the two workshop days) in our OPAL course.

Friday, January 30, 2026

On the first day, you will immerse yourself in three interactive workshops that show how peace and conflict skills can be strengthened on an individual, interpersonal and societal level.

Kick-off: "Peace and me - personal perspectives"

The GCC team will introduce you to the topic and invite you to engage in personal self-reflection. Your central concerns, learning objectives and key questions on the topic of global citizenship in times of war and conflict will be clarified. In addition, the awareness concept will be presented and a handout on trauma-sensitive communication will be explained.

Workshop: "Conflict management in Saxon municipalities"

How can municipalities deal with rising polarization and conflict in times of crisis? In her workshop Conflict Management in Saxon Municipalities, Dr. Cathleen Bochmann shares insights from years of research and hands-on work with local authorities in Saxony in the "Kompetenzzentrum Krisen-Dialog-Zukunft". From understanding conflict stages and escalation dynamics to using citizen dialogues as tools for de-escalation, this interactive session combines theory, practical examples, and active participation. Participants will learn what makes good conflict moderation and communication and experience a short dialogue format first-hand.

Dr. Cathleen Bochmann is a political scientist and expert in municipal conflict management and citizen dialogues. She works at the intersection of research and practice, advising local authorities on how to deal with polarization, crisis situations, and democratic conflict. Her work focuses on dialogue formats and moderation strategies in highly contested settings. She worked for 12 years as a researcher and lecturer at the TUD. 

Workshop: "Peace as bodily experience: Peace-ability with Qigong"

The peace out there arises within us. There is an old Zen parable about a great master who was asked, what he did for peace in the world. The master answered: „I brew my tea.“
Of course not meant as a mockery, this story just lays emphasis on the importance of inner cultivation, which is inherent to the whole of Far-Eastern philosophy. In German you have the word „Zufriedenheit“ (contentment) which is related to the word „Frieden“ (peace). If I’m contented with my life, I have no grounds for aggression towards other people. I wouldn’t like to get involved in neither bodily nor verbal nor mental violence, neither personally nor politically.

Chinese natural philosophy describes the interrelation between human emotions and the energy state of inner organs. If organ systems are in balance, they produce positive emotions (so-called virtues). If organ systems are energeticaly compromised, they bring about negative sentiments. I would like to advance a thesis: peace arises long before any interaction with others, since it originates from the attitude of any single person towards themselves and life as a whole. In this way peace is understood as bodily competence, an advanced form of self-perception and worldview. First-hand experience of the philosophical and bodily principles of Qigong can lead to a peaceful, harmonious, dynamic and interactive community. „Inner values matter.“

Nataliya Urban was born and grew up in the Urals, on the border between Europe and Asia. At the age of 16, she began with the wholehearted practice of Zhong Yuan Qigong, an ancient qigong tradition. Her diploma study in Linguistics and Translation made her case „even worse“ and predestinated her to become a „bridge builder“ between the cultures and approaches.

Workshop: "Non-violent communication at work and in everyday life for more peace in times of conflict"

In this workshop, we will get to know a little bit of Marshall Rosenberg’s Non-Violent Communication (NVC), which is based on feelings and needs. We will get to know the “famous four steps”, learn about their background and do practical exercises as much as our time allows for. As this method is universal, it is perfect for the international context.

Coming from a family heavily impacted by World War II, Lisa Behnke has found inner peace by Non-Violent Communication. She has encountered NVC by chance 12 years ago and has been practicing it since then. Meanwhile she is passionate about bringing more peace to the world at least in the area she can influence. Thus, she is passing on her knowledge in a practice group in Dresden-East and is giving workshops at TU Dresden like this one.

Brief introduction to the TUD Global Citizenship Certificate program

The GCC team will give you a comprehensive overview of the TUD Global Citizenship Program, how it benefits you as well as the requirements for your participation. Afterwards, you will have the opportunity to ask questions about the program.

Saturday, January 31, 2026

On the second day, you can expect a varied program with a short lecture, a panel discussion, a creative workshop as well as a biografical walking tour and a visit to a café with a discussion and Indian food. The focus of the second day will be on the responsibility of each individual and society as well as key questions on resilience, migration, changing perspectives and the culture of remembrance.

Short lecture: "Recognizing media manipulation and promoting media literacy: Findings from an educational project in Kazakhstan"

What we know about conflicts is strongly influenced by media representations. Especially in times of crisis, the responsibility of the media and media users alike increases. Media literacy is therefore a central competence for global citizenship: it enables people to critically question information, recognize manipulation strategies, bias and disinformation and to orient themselves responsibly in an increasingly interconnected world.

The short lecture will present findings from an education and research project in Kazakhstan that investigated the linguistic mechanisms of media manipulation in the Kazakh and Russian languages to promote media literacy of the population of Kazakhstan in the modern information space. On this basis, the lecture invites us to reflect on our own role as media users and to recognize the shared responsibility that we bear as participants in public and digital communication processes.

Prof. Holger Kuße holds the Chair of Linguistics and History of Slavic Languages at the TUD and is the Managing Director of the Center for Central and Eastern European Studies. His core research areas include pragmalinguistics, historical pragmatics, argumentation theory and cultural linguistics, particularly in relation to Russian and Czech. In numerous projects and publications, he has analyzed linguistic, rhetorical and media strategies in political conflicts and conflict discourses. A particular focus of his work is the Russian-Ukrainian war, especially Putin's war rhetoric, the role of aggression and argumentation in political discourse and mechanisms of media manipulation. These topics are reflected in the projects Aggression and Argumentation: Conflict Discourses and their Linguistic Negotiation (Volkswagen Foundation, 2016-2019) and in the international joint project with the Mukhtar Auezov University in Kazakhstan on media manipulation and media literacy (2023-2025).

Panel discussion: "Academic freedom and global citizenship in times of national and international anti-democratic and anti-scientific tendencies"

A special feature of this year's TUD Global Citizenship Lab is the collaboration with the Philipp Schwartz Initiative.

In this panel, we will discuss ways to protect and defend academic freedom in the face of multiple international crises and anti-democratic political efforts. To this end, in the first part of the panel, we will present the Philipp Schwartz Initiative at TU Dresden. Funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, this program supports scientists at risk due to war or political persecution. We will speak with a fellow, a mentor, and the project lead of the initiative.

Science does not occur in a vacuum. It is based on freedom of research. In turn, the use of scientifically sound knowledge is a central foundation for shaping democratic societies. For this reason, the second part of the panel will broaden the focus to include various political and societal actors. We will discuss how these individuals deal with anti-democratic and anti-scientific efforts. What is already being done by the City of Dresden, the State Agency for Civic Education, and journalists in this regard, and how can individuals contribute to civic engagement?

Creative workshop: "Kintsugi: The beauty of scars. Repair and reconciliation in the face of wounds"

This workshop uses the Japanese art of Kintsugi — the practice of repairing broken pottery with gold as a metaphor for healing wounds, embracing imperfection, and rebuilding after conflict. Instead of hiding damage, Kintsugi celebrates it turning scars into symbols of resilience and beauty. In the context of wars, crises, and refugee experiences, the act of repairing becomes a powerful visual and emotional reflection.

 “Even when things break — relationships, communities, identities — we can mend them with care, empathy, and shared effort.”

Biographical city tour: "Stories of migration in Dresden: Input & insight in a city tour"

Using biographical work to raise awareness about flight and migration: In this workshop, we gain an insight into an empowerment and education project on the topic of flight and migration: in an interactive and hands-on way. The project aimed at social participation and empowerment of people with a migration history, in which they were active as volunteers and shared their very personal stories of migration and flight with their audience in encounter formats: as experts on their own behalf in the format of political education for various target groups.

In the second part, we will walk together from Altstadt to Dresden's Neustadt district, where Tatiana Bogdanova, a medical specialist from St. Petersburg, will give us a taste of her biographical city tour. On the way, she shows places that have parallels with her own biography and talks about the topics of flight, the russian war propaganda and her Jewish origins.

Ivana Pezlarova is an advisor in civic education and head of the "Dresden Migration Stories" project. Tatiana Bogdanova is a specialist in geriatrics and a volunteer city guide in the project.

Conversation with Afropa e.V. at the Weltclub: Migration, culture of remembrance and civil society engagement against racism in Dresden

Afropa e.V. – Association for African-European Understanding – invites you to the Weltclub in district Neustadt to discuss Dresden's diverse urban society and migration history. Joining them will be Marita Schieferdecker-Adolph (board member of the association), Paolo Le van (advisory board member for cultures of remembrance), and Thomas Kollecker (project "Worlds on the Move"). Dr. Hussein Jinah (board member) is cooking Indian food for it.

The discussion will focus on the migration history of the former GDR, how migrants had to organize themselves in the wake of German reunification and how Afropa ultimately came into being. We will explore the diverse activities of migrant organizations today and why they are crucial for the integration efforts of society.

Racism is a key theme in Afropa's work. We will discuss what is being done in Dresden to combat it and why it remains important to remember the racist murders of Jorge Gomondai (1991) and Marwa El-Sherbini (2009) in the city.