The breadth and variety of topics addressed at CAS require a range of very different formats, which CAS attempts to provide through its various program lines. Opportunities for both interdisciplinary and strictly disciplinary methods of cooperation must be guaranteed, and the chance to address a wider public audience must be available while also accommodating a preference for secluded work. CAS hence offers a toolbox which scholars can make use of according to their own individual requirements.
Meteorologists have once again reported new heat records for the summer of 2024, as global warming becomes a direct health risk for many people. The CAS lecture series “Extreme Heat” addresses the subject from an interdisciplinary perspective: discussions are held on issues such as problems of water management, transnational refugee movements and possibilities for political communication. At the opening event, Karsten Friedrich (DWD), Annette Peters (LMU/Helmholtz) and Christina Berndt (SZ) will illustrate the consequences of climate change for humankind:
Developments in the humanities over the last few decades have often been due to changing standards, concerning both the objects of investigation and the methods used. The literature studies scholar Carlos Spoerhase and the historian Sina Steglich (both LMU) will lead the new CAS Research Focus “Scales”.
Humans live in a social world which essentially consists of societal norms. The Research Group led by Markus Paulus (Psychology/LMU) examines how the notion of normativity and moral action is formed in the course of human development.
The Group led by Sahana Udupa (Media Anthropology/LMU) addresses the issues of “extreme speech” and disinformation, which are posing ever greater challenges for our society. In doing so, it brings together scholars and practitioners from various different institutions to investigate the phenomenon.
science Slam
Access
A question being pondered by the CAS Research Focus “Speciation” (chaired by Axel Imhof and Nitin Phadnis) will be discussed at the first CAS Science Slam: why does natural selection tolerate the development of highly disadvantageous characteristics such as sterility and infertility? At the science slam, scholars will present their research work on this paradox of evolutionary theory as accessibly as possible.
13 February 2025, 6.30 p.m. Science Slam at the Museum Mensch und Natur, Nymphenburg: Rätsel der Fortpflanzung
Junior Researcher in Residence
Theories
Four LMU postdocs are at CAS with their projects in the winter semester: Andreas Bender (Statistics) is concerned with machine learning, survival analysis and AI in the field of biomedicine. Franziska Davies (History) is working on her book project about the end of the Soviet Union from a Polish and Ukrainian perspective. Daniel Sharp (Philosophy) is developing a theory on the nature and value of citizenship. Mathias Twardawski (Psychology) is investigating the question of why people punish each other and is addressing fundamental considerations on the nature of punishment.
At the center of all CAS program lines are the visiting fellows: around 60 world-renowned scholars come to CAS every year in order to work on research questions in cooperation with LMU colleagues. Social anthropologist Libertad Chávez Rodríguez (CIESAS, Mexico) presents her research at the CAS Lecture Series “Extreme Heat”. The chemist Peter Tessier (Michigan) is developing therapeutic antibodies and will be at CAS as a fellow with the CAS Research Focus “Nucleic Acid Therapeutics”.
The Researcher in Residence program also allows for the invitation of fellows in order to initiate or develop cooperation: Andreas Bender is working with Marvin Wright (Bremen) and John Zobolas (Oslo University Hospital), Franziska Davies is cooperating with Botakoz Kassymbekova (University of Zuerich), and Mathias Twardawski is collaborating with Jim A.C. Everett (Kent), Bertram F. Malle (Brown) and Julia Marshall (Brown).
Young Center
Fundamentals
Strokes are one of the leading causes of death in humans and can also lead to severe disability, but we currently have very few effective treatments and an inadequate understanding of its pathophysiology. Young Center member Steffen Tiedt is organizing the international workshop “Biomarkers in Stroke” on this subject along with Mira Katan (Basel), Peter Kelly (Dublin) and John McCabe (Dublin).
In the blog column “Global Worlds”, Amelie Hünnebeck-Wells and Franziska Tanneberger (both Greifswald) demonstrate the role of moors in climate protection. Despite covering just 3% of the Earth's surface, these remarkable landscapes are responsible for storing 30% of the global soil carbon stock.
In the winter semester, the Franz Marc Museum is presenting the famous portfolio “Jazz” by Henri Matisse at CAS. Henri Matisse created the art collection in 1947, the images of which are among the most reproduced motifs of 20th century art. The Franz Marc Museum possesses a copy signed by Matisse himself, which will be displayed at CAS. Of particular interest is the title “Jazz”, what it meant to Matisse, and what ideas he was pursuing with the book.
