Prelude
Good and fair: SHAPE field of activity invites you to play an active role in shaping social change
The SHAPE initiative team around (top row) Professor Stefan Zielke (centre), (middle row) Professor Maria Behrens, Professor Dominik Bartsch, Professor Kristian Wolf, (bottom row) Dr Sylvia Bach and Professor Rita Casale (also Vice-Rector for Sustainable Organisational Development and Diversity) at the kick-off with workshop moderators Dr Tobias Schönwitz-Palm and Dr Thomas Bruhn (top left and top right) and Vice-Rector for Research and Digital Affairs Professor Stefan Kirsch (bottom right). Missing from the initiative team in the picture: Prof Stefan Diestel, Luisa Hieckel, Prof Katharina Peetz, Julia Schumacher and Prof Birgit Spengler // Photo Karsten Kukulies
The Shaping Sustainable Societal Transformation (SHAPE) field of activity brings together researchers at the University of Wuppertal who want to play an active role in shaping social change. We are looking for solutions that can move societies - both locally and globally - towards a sustainable way of life and that take ecological, social, economic, technical and cultural dimensions into account.
Plenty of potential for interdisciplinary collaboration
To kick things off, the ten-member initiative team of the field of activity organised a co-creative networking workshop, which was primarily aimed at bringing together scientists interested in the topic. "It's important to us that the field is open to everyone. Even if you don't yet have any points of contact with the topic but would like to have some in the future, this is the right place for you," reports Dr Sylvia Bach. The engineer from the School of Mechanical Engineering and Safety Engineering is part of the initiative team and was enthusiastic about the workshop, which was prepared and moderated externally by Dr Tobias Schönwitz-Palm and Dr Thomas Bruhn.
A total of around 40 BUW researchers came together. The range of subjects was broad: from natural sciences, humanities, cultural studies, engineering and social sciences to representatives from the school of art and design. This provided numerous opportunities to look at socio-ecological change from very different perspectives. Project ideas emerged in individual small groups, which will now be pursued further.
A good life - for everyone
In future, SHAPE wants to view Wuppertal as a pilot area. Research will be conducted in and with the urban community with the aim of designing tried and tested solutions in such a way that they can be transferred to other cities and societies in the long term. "We are striving to identify potential for improvement together with the citizens and also want to allow ourselves to question the established in order to create space for new, creative and more sustainable solutions," summarises Sylvia Bach.
New accents through fields of activity
As part of the work on the new University Development Plan 2026 to 2035, the Rectorate has defined four strategic focal points for BUW's research landscape in a joint process with researchers, committees and central institutions. Organised by researchers, the fields of activity invite all BUW employees with a corresponding interest in the topics to network. The formats used to implement these activities are individual and are the responsibility of the respective coordination/initiative teams.
Overview of the four fields of activity:
- Technology Towards Zero-Waste and Zero-Carbon
- Next Generation Learning, Teaching, Knowledge Transfer
- Shaping Sustainable Societal Transformation
- AI for Empowering the Future
Further information: https://www.uni-wuppertal.de/en/research/research-profile/aktivitaetsfelder/
