Research Thought in an Interdisciplinary Way

Out of a high number of international applications the Steering Committee of the Sylff Mikrokolleg chosed the three new fellowship holders. Get to know Jack Provan, Selin Altay and Abdirahman Muhamad and learn more about their research at the kick-off on February 7! Find more information here.

Spyridoula Katsoni gave a presentation titled ‘The (In)Significance of Operational Plans for the Determination and Apportionment of Shared Responsibility’ at the Members of the European Parliament Meeting held at the Parliament with the participation of various EU organs’ representatives and other interested stakeholders.

Jan-Philipp Graf was invited speaker at ‘Humanity at the Center: An Evening on International Humanitarian Law’ (original title: ‘Der Mensch im Mittelpunkt: Das Humanitäre Völkerrecht’), University of Münster, 30 November 2022.

During their annual retreat, the membersof the Sylff Mikrokolleg learned about science communication and public engagement with Dr. Annette Klinkert. Our picture shows Sissy Katsoni, Jan-Phillip Graf and Sören Schneider illustrating the stakeholders involved in their research process by using methods of Gamestorming.

Spyridoula Katsoni gave a talk on "Sharing responsibility between states and protection-seekers for the sake on non-refoulement" at the Pre-Conference Workshop at the ESIL 2022 annual conference in Utrecht. The presentation revisited the States’ positive obligation to admit protection-seekers into their territory and highlighted that, in recent jurisprudence, protection-seekers have been excluded from the scope of this obligation on the sole ground of their attempt to irregularly enter the State, even in cases where access to legal means of entry was actually impossible. Against this background, it highlighted the significant role that the principles of shared responsibility can play in sharing the responsibility between States and protection seekers in such cases, leading to a fairer alternative than the absolute exclusion of protection seekers from the scope of the obligation to admit.

From August 2022 to December 2022, Rafael Bohlen conducted a Research Stay (Internship) at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna, Austria. Learn more about his stay here.

The research of the Associate Benedikt Behlert has been made visible to a broader audience in RUB’s magazine RUBIN. Please find the article "Protected from the state" here.

October 2020

During the kick-off of the second cohort, also the members of the first funding cohort and associate doctoral researchers of the Sylff Mikrokolleg on Forced migration presented their research.

April 2020

Using a Sylff Research Abroad (SRA) grant, Benedikt Behlert spent four months from September 2019 to January 2020 as a junior visiting fellow at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, which proved to be highly beneficial for his PhD project on the administrative procedures required to protect human rights. Read more about his research experience in Geneva.

January - March 2020

The SYLFF associate Mais Masadeh launched an art exhibition aims to raise awareness on the migratory routes of refugees at home, in transit and at arrival. The exhibition concept ‘Die Reise’ – The Journey – was opened in January and lasted until March 16 this year, is composed of five original paintings depicting different crossing terrains: the Desert, the River, the Island, the Mountain, and the Indefinite. The work has been inspired by Mais’s PhD research and her previous working experience with refugees and internally displaced persons.

October 2019

On October 1st, Keita Sugai from the Tokyo Foundation visited the RUB Research School. He took the opportunity to exchange ideas with Prof. Dr. Löwenstein, Dr. Christiane Wüllner and Dr. Sarah Gemicioglu on the design of the Sylff Mikrokolleg. At a meeting with fellow students and associates of the Kolleg, he learned more about the activities and the upcoming conferences, organized by the members of the Sylff-Mikrokolleg.

July 2019

The associate Mais Masadeh presented her research on the resilience of victims of war currently living in Germany, at the workshop  “Politics, Identities and Relationships in the Transatlantic World” which took place  at City University New York (CUNY)  between July 8-13 in NY.

The program was organized and funded by the Graduate Center of CUNY, The Ralph Bunche Institute, the EU Studies Center, and the RUB Research School Bochum. Lead by the Dean of the Faculty of History, Prof. C. Goschler and his counterpart Prof. J. Torpey, the director of the R. Bunche Institute,  the program focuses on leading a platform of transatlantic research cooperation and equip participants with recent academic and professional skills such as sharpening research ideas and identifying gaps in research through group discussions, publishing inside and outside academia, grant seeking and cultural nuances. Key speakers included Steven Sokol, the president of the American Council on Germany, Yvonne Rothschild, the Executive Director of the European-American Chamber of Commerce, Micah Kleit, the Director of the Rutgers University Press, and Anne Glusker the Deputy Editor of Forbes.com. To ensure the continuity of this transatlantic cooperation, the sixth program-meeting will convene in July in 2020 welcoming researchers from American institutions and will take place at RUB.

May 2019

RUB Research School Managing Director Dr. Christiane Wüllner and Dr. Jörn Benzinger gladly accepted the invitation to visit the headquarters of Tokyo Foundation and SYLFF during their visit to Japan. The informative exchange helped to foster the strong relationship between RUB Research School and Tokyo Foundation.
We are very much looking forward to continuing the extremely fruitful cooperation and would like to express our sincere gratitude for SYLFF’s support of doctoral researchers at our university. Thank you for having us!