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
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
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
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
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
2015 has been a busy year for relations between China and Halle. The first Chinese language teacher provided by the Confucius Institute in Beijing has been working at the University of Halle since this April. In May, the University of Halle and the Beijing University of International Business and Economics sealed a partnership. And through the Panda Programme, the University of Halle was represented at the largest education fairs in China. Read more
Pizzas, sweets and crisps – we all know that these kinds of food are unhealthy, but we still don’t want to give them up. That is why, rather than focusing on changing our eating habits, researchers from the universities of Halle, Jena and Leipzig have come together in the “nutriCARD” competence cluster to try and make food healthier. By doing so, they hope to prevent cardiovascular diseases in the long term. Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in Europe, but the World Health Organisation says that changing eating habits and adopting a healthier lifestyle could stop the diseases developing in 80 percent of cases. Read more
5000 years ago the Brazilian natives mixed their clay with additional materials for improvement of the resistance and durability of their pottery. An important role played microscopically small glass needles of freshwater tree sponges, which was detected by an international team of researchers led by Dr. Filipe Natalio of the Institute of Chemistry at Halle University. Read more
Always online, always available. According to a study carried out by the Association of the German Information and Telecommunications Sector, 77 percent of Germany’s workforce is reachable by mobile phone or e-mail after hours by colleagues, managers or customers. Psychologists at Martin-Luther-University in Halle are getting to the bottom of the phenomenon of being constantly available. Read more
