Transatlantic Interdisciplinary Research Network

Joint Research on Social and Political Contestations

In the fall of 2016, BIGSSS, the Columbia Journalism School, and the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius organized a joint academic event on Booming Populism – On the Language and Practice of Political Polarization in New York City. In a novel two-legged event format, renowned experts in the field of political theory, populism and media communication were challenged during a high-profile public panel discussion by inputs developed in a preceding interdisciplinary think lab of young researchers. Due to the positive feedback from both the young researchers and experts as well as the public audience and sponsors, BIGSSS would like to continue joint research endeavors with transatlantic academic and non-academic partners.

Against this background, the workshop at the German Academy New York in December 2018 will serve as a platform to jointly discuss and enhance the research agenda on the new social and political challenges that Western democracies see themselves confronted with. In the longer run, BIGSSS aspires to acquire with its transatlantic partners third-party funds from European and US institutions to establish an innovative, transatlantic interdisciplinary PhD program. All future projects of the network will pursue the goal to offer early-stage social scientists excellent qualifications to become tomorrow’s active global citizens in academia and beyond, to share excellent German, US, and joint research with a wider US and German academic and non-academic audience, and to enhance transatlantic academic cooperation in a research field of ultimate relevance on both sides of the Atlantic.