Manja Hussner, Christian Tietje and prorector Elchin A. Khalafov of the Baku State University — © privat

02.01.2017 in Research, Science

New cooperation project between the University of Halle and Azerbaijan

How does a country successfully navigate the transition from a planned economy to a global market economy? What does such a profound transformation mean for the country’s legal system? A new research unit at the Institute of Business Law and Economic Law at the University of Halle will be working on these questions starting in 2017. The Volkswagen Foundation is providing 560,000 euros in support of the project on the legal transformation in Azerbaijan, which also aims to modernise teaching and research activities in the country. Read more

Hans Adler and Elisabeth Décultot are working on a complete edition of Sulzer’s writings. — © Markus Scholz

05.12.2016 in Research, Science

Sulzer – the unknown philosopher

At present, it’s hard to get hold of the writings of Swiss philosopher of the Enlightenment Johann Georg Sulzer or find much literature about his work. This is set to change in the coming years: Humboldt Research Award winner Professor Hans Adler from the University of Wisconsin–Madison is planning a complete edition of the works and letters of Sulzer together with Halle’s Humboldt Professor Elisabeth Décultot. Read more

"Man wird unauffälliger, je länger man in Feld ist." — © Markus Scholz

13.10.2016 in Science, Research

“There is no road map”

Field research is not limited to the natural sciences. Fieldwork is often conducted in the humanities and social sciences, too. But how? Professor Georg Breidenstein and two of his colleagues describe how it is done in the textbook “Ethnografie – die Praxis der Feldforschung” (Ethnography – the Practice of Fieldwork). In an interview, the educationalist discusses why participatory observation is necessary and what makes social science fieldwork special. Read more

Soil scientists travel to the remote Bale Mountains to conduct research. — © Indrik Myneur / CC 2.0 BY

13.10.2016 in Featured, Research, Science

Ice age in Ethiopia: refuge in the mountains?

Did the people in Ethiopia take refuge in the mountains during the last great ice age 16,000 years ago? An international team of soil scientists, archaeologists and biologists are conducting research on this as part of a new project entitled “The Mountain Exile Hypothesis”. To do this, soil scientists from Halle will be traveling to the remote Sanetti Plateau to examine the soil there and use modern biogeochemical methods to look for traces of mankind that are thousands of years old. Read more

The students conducting their fieldwork near Balgstädt. — © Maike Glöckner

13.10.2016 in Featured, Research, Science

Measuring nature

Crickets chirp at the edge of the forest, otherwise all is quiet in the Nature Park Saale Unstrut Triasland. Nine students from the University of Halle are working intently despite the midday heat. It is their last day in the field and there is still a lot left to do. In the master’s module Outdoor Ecology the up-and-coming biologists are learning what it means to conduct fieldwork in four investigation areas near Freyburg. Read more

Tradition and modernity: In Chad oil firms are located in direct proximity to traditional huts of the local population. Dr Andrea Behrends has been studying the social and cultural impact of oil production since 2003. — © Andrea Behrends

13.10.2016 in Featured, Research, Science

Oil in Chad: a blessing and a curse

When a country has access to oil reserves, this goes hand in hand with unimaginable wealth, right? Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world. Since 2003 oil has been produced in this central African state. For twelve years, ethnologist Dr Andrea Behrends has been onsite examining how its society and culture have been changed by oil production. Read more

In addition to city books, such as the “Hallische Kämmereibuch” 1451 – 1541 (in the background), historians also find notices like the “Gesatzte belonunge der widder kauff briue Anno etc. Decimo” – an “ordinance on the level of interest on loans” from 1510 which was probably publicly displayed on or in the town hall. — © Maike Glöckner

29.09.2016 in Research, Science

The memory of a city

How did the people of a Medieval city organise their living? How did the council rule? How did they punish environmental offenses? These and much more information can be found in the laws, protocols and letters of the administration. Since the 13th century those things were written down in city books. A team, headed by historian Professor Andreas Ranft and Dr Christian Speer, can finally make these books accessible to research thanks to funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Read more

Three million base pairs are placed on a DNA-double helix. Bioinformaticians are developing algorithms that can help analyze such big data sets. — © Colourbox

07.04.2016 in Featured, Research, Science

Bioinformatics: open access databases help researchers worldwide

A major part of bioinformatics research would be limited or impossible without open access databases. Researchers at the University of Halle intensively utilise public datasets and, in return, provide the community with their own findings. Read more

From historical manuscripts to digital databases: Stephan Feller (left) and Stefan Artmann sit down for a chat in the ULB’s Hungarian Library. — © Michael Deutsch

07.04.2016 in Featured, Miscellaneous, Research, Science

Making science freely available: Open access publishing

The open access movement began 15 years ago. Prof. Stephan Feller, a molecular biologist, and Dr. Stefan Artmann, a private lecturer in philosophy, discuss how it will change science in 2016 and the opportunities and challenges that will arise as a result of its development into an open exchange of specialist publications. It is a topic that occupies both men. Feller is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of the Open Access Journal “Cell Communication and Signalling”. Artmann, who heads up the presidential office at the Leopoldina, is a member of the working group “Open Access”, part of the priority initiative “Digital Information” of the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany. Read more