Philosopher Torsten Wilholt (Hannover) writes:
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, the major, publicly funded research agency in Germany) has just given a major grant to a group of nine philosophers from Hannover and Bielefeld chaired by myself (and co-chaired by Martin Carrier from Bielefeld University) for the purpose of creating a graduate research group ("Graduiertenkolleg") on the topic of "Integrating Ethics and Epistemology of Scientific Research". The project is initially authorized for 4,5 years and can be extended if successful. For these initial 4,5 years, we are being granted a total of €3.17 million. Durig this period, we are going to be able to accept and give salaried positions to 15 PhD students altogether, plus two PostDocs.
Funded PhD programs in philosophy are a rarity in Germany, so we are very excited to be able to create one, and also to combine the strengths of the Universities of Hannover and Bielefeld in philosophy of science by creating a joint program (the two cities are a mere 50 minutes train ride apart).
The program will be directed at overcoming the divide between theoretical philosophy (epistemology and metaphysics) and practical philosophy (ethics and political philosophy) of science. It will primarily focus on research questions that require serious attention to both areas. The status of policy advice on the basis of computer simulations in climate science, the balancing of research goals and ethical aspects of medical treatment in clinical trials, the appropriate role of intellectual property in science, or the prospects of social scientific research on the basis of social network data are just a few examples of topics that ought in our view be treated by drawing on the resources of theoretical and practical philosophy and taking both equally seriously.
There is a press release in German here.
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