Guests

Associate Scholar, January 2026–present
onur.erdur[at]hu-berlin.de

I am a historian specializing in global intellectual history, the history of knowledge, and contemporary history. I was an assistant professor at HU Berlin from 2017 to 2024 and then held guest professorships in Berlin and Flensburg. My publications include Die epistemologischen Jahre (2018) and Schule des Südens (2024).

Photo: Christoph Bombart

Associate Scholar,
Winter 2024/25–present
jhaid[at]mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de

I am a doctoral candidate, focusing on the intersection of media studies and the history of science. At Humboldt-Universität Berlin, I work in the DFG-funded research project “Raw Materials of the Humanities.” I am part of the International Max Planck Research School “Knowledge and Its Resources: Historical Reciprocities” at the MPIWG Berlin.

Photo: Sabine Mittermeier

Associate Scholar, August 2025–present;
Praxis Fellow, April–July 2025
ina.heumann[at]mfn.berlin

I am a historian of science and co-lead the Center for the Humanities of Nature at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. I study the politics of natural history and am particularly interested in issues of natural history and empire, economies of collections, and the social and political responsibilities of natural history museums.

Photo: MfN

Associate Scholar, April 2026–present
karsten.lichau[at]hu-berlin.de

As a historical anthropologist, I have worked extensively on body history, particularly on the histories of sounds and silences, of emotions, and of the “political body.” In my project for the CAS Applied Humanities, I explore how early-twentieth-century theologians explored the new technical possibilities of the radio sermon.

Photo: Anja Berkes

Guest, Summer 2026

Guest, Summer 2026
ethel.matala[at]hu-berlin.de

I am a professor of German Literature at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. My current research focuses on the interrelations between democracy and popular culture, the literary and journalistic genealogies of social reportage, and the theory and aesthetics of small forms.

Photo: Lidia Tirri, Berlin

Associate Scholar, April 2025–present;
Fellow, October 2024–March 2025
oertzenc[at]hu-berlin.de

I am a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin and a professor in the Media Studies Department at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. At the MPIWG, I am a member of Department Benson, where I lead the research group “Data, Media, Mind.” At the HU, my teaching focuses on media practices.

Photo: Arne Sattler

Associate Scholar,
Winter 2024/25–present
lotte.schuessler[at]hu-berlin.de

I am a media and theatre scholar, currently conducting postdoctoral research in the DFG-funded project “Raw Materials of the Humanities” at the Department of Musicology and Media Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. I also co-direct the theatre historiography working group of the Gesellschaft für Theaterwissenschaft e.V.

Photo: Sabine Mittermeier

Guest, Winter 2025/26
monika.ankele[at]charite.de

Monika Ankele is head of the Berlin Museum of Medical History and professor of medical history and medical museology at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. She is co-founder and co-director of the Institute for Medical & Health Humanities and Artistic Research, affiliated with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Ottersberg.

Photo: Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Artur Krutsch

Guest, Winter 2025/26
ruth.conrad[at]hu-berlin.de

After vocational training in publishing, I studied theology and philosophy in Tübingen, Berlin, and Aarhus, and was ordained as a pastor in 2004. Since 2018, I have been professor of practical theology at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, where I work primarily on the cultural theory and history of the Christian sermon, religion, and literature.

Guest, Winter 2025/26

I am Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) in Essen, Germany, and full professor of English literature at the University of Duisburg-Essen. My research interests include the contemporary literary industry, science policy, and the institutions and frameworks that enable literature and literary studies.

Photo: KWI Essen, Alexander Muchnik

Guest, Winter 2025/26
katrin.koeppert[at]hu-berlin.de

An art and media scholar, I am acting professor of media theory at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and junior professor of art history and popular cultures at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig. I co-lead the VW-funded research project “Digital Blackface: Racialized Affective Patterns of the Digital.”

Photo: private

Guest, October 2025
mathias.grote[at]uni-greifswald.de

Mathias Grote is Heisenberg Professor of the History of Knowledge at the University of Greifswald, funded by the DFG. After his PhD in microbiology, he retrained as historian of science and knowledge. He researches the recent life and earth sciences, and modern encyclopedic projects from handbooks to computers.

Photo: University of Greifswald

Guest, October 2025
sarine.waltenspuel[at]unilu.ch

I am a historian of media, science, and technology at the University of Lucerne, specializing in scientific films, cultural heritage, visual collections, and archives in digital contexts. Alongside my academic work, I am also active as a filmmaker and curator, with a particular interest in practice-based research.

Photo: David Dick

Guest, Summer 2025
philipp.felsch[at]hu-berlin.de

Philipp Felsch, Professor of Cultural History at Humboldt-Universität Berlin, examines the social life of the ideas that have shaped the postwar period up to the present. Among his recent books in English are The Summer of Theory: History of a Rebellion, 1960–1990 (2021) and How Nietzsche Came in From the Cold (2024).

Guest, Summer 2025
sekretariat[at]zfl-berlin.org

I have been director of the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research and Professor of European History of Culture and Knowledge (HU Berlin) since 2015. Among my publications are Aus dem Leben der Form: Goethes Morphologie und die Nager (2016) and The End of Art: Readings in a Rumor after Hegel (2006). 

Guest, Summer 2025
steffen.martus[at]rz.hu-berlin.de

Steffen Martus is Professor of Modern German Literature at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. His research focuses on literary and cultural history from the eighteenth century to the present day and the history and theory of science. His most recent book is Geistesarbeit: Eine Praxeologie der Geisteswissenschaften (2022, with C. Spoerhase).

Guest, Summer 2025
benno.nietzel[at]hu-berlin.de

During the academic year 2024–25, I am a guest professor of German history at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. My research focuses on the history of the social and historical sciences, the restitution of cultural property, and public representations of history.