Organisation

Participating Institutions

University of Duisburg-Essen

Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research is a central research institute of the University Duisburg-Essen. Located in the heart of the Ruhr metropolis — the region with the largest number of educational institutions per square kilometre in Europe — the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) is one of the youngest and largest universities in Germany. The university's concept 'open-minded' is reflected in its teaching, learning and living atmosphere.

Since its foundation in 2003, UDE has also become well-known in the international scientific community: It recently has achieved top positions in international rankings, and in a global comparison of the performance of the best universities founded since the turn of the millennium, UDE came in third. In the Times Higher Education Ranking, it holds down 13th place among the best 150 universities worldwide younger than 50 years old. The university offers a wide range of subjects with international orientation from humanities and social sciences to engineering and natural sciences, and more than 43,000 students from over 130 countries are enrolled at the UDE in a total of over 230 courses of study. UDE is a member of the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr), a strategic coalition formed by the three universities in the Ruhr area; and as an academic global player, UDE cultivates partnerships with more than 100 universities all over the world. UDE especially stands out due to its four main research areas: nanosciences, biomedical sciences, urban systems, and transformation of contemporary societies. The latter promotes collaborative and interdisciplinary research about the transformation of contemporary societies at UDE and its national and international members. It encourages the development of new research to address a range of phenomena in the emergence of a world society in the 21st century.

As a central research institute the Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research is in close exchange with various other facilities within the UDE, like:

German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

The German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) is one of the leading think tanks for global development and international cooperation worldwide. Located in the UN City of Bonn, IDOS offers an excellent infrastructure for conferences and academic exchanges with leading international organisations.

IDOS' work is based on the interplay between Research, Policy Advice and Training, thereby bridging theory and practice. It develops policy-relevant concepts, advises ministries, governments and international organisations, and refers to current policy issues. With its 'Postgraduate Training Programme' and the 'Managing Global Governance Academy', it provides an innovative platform for career entrance, training, knowledge cooperation and policy dialogue of German and European university graduates as well as government and non-governmental actors from important rising powers and Germany / Europe. Diverse international research areas of IDOS offer various collaboration opportunities between IDOS and the Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research. These focuses include:

  • bi- and multilateral development cooperation
  • sustainable economic and social development
  • governance, statehood and security
  • environmental policy and natural resources management
  • and world economy and development financing.

The Institute was headed by the Centre's Co-Director Dirk Messner.(2003–2018).

The Centre can very much benefit from IDOS' worldwide network of cooperation on global development, which is reflected by the numerous jointly organised events.

Institute for Development and Peace (INEF)

The Institute for Development and Peace (INEF) was established in 1990 and is one of four institutes of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Duisburg-Essen. A unique characteristic of INEF is its joint focus on the issue areas of development and peace, especially looking at questions at the interface of both areas. In its work, INEF combines basic with applied research and public policy consulting. Since early 2015, INEF’s research programme is entitled 'Responsibility in a Conflicted World Society' and focuses primarily on the two areas 'Responsibility in Global Governance' and 'Conflict Transformation in the Fault Lines of World Society'. These includes the topics of:

  • development cooperation in the context of global governance
  • human rights and responsibility in the world economy
  • responsibility to protect and humanitarianism
  • regime change and resistance in relation to external intervention
  • democratisation and authoritarian adaptation
  • and peacebuilding and cultural difference.

Together with the Peace and Development Foundation (sef:), INEF has issued editions of 'Global Trends', a book series that analyses complex global developments and data with respect to peace, world order and sustainable development. Furthermore, INEF co-edits the annual 'Peace Report' in collaboration with four other renowned peace research institutes.

With regard to applied research and public policy consulting, INEF cooperates with several partners, such sef:, the Working Group on Peace and Development (FriEnt) or the German Platform for Peaceful Conflict Management. With respect to research and graduate training, INEF closely works together with the Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research, the UA Ruhr Graduate Centre for Development Studies and the Institute of Development Research and Development Policy (IEE) of the Ruhr University Bochum.

The INEF is headed by Tobias Debiel, also Co-Ditrector of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research.

Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI)

The Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) in Essen belongs to the three universities of Bochum, Dortmund and Duisburg-Essen, which form the University Alliance Ruhr (UAR) and is s an internationally renowned institution in the humanities.

The KWI promotes excellent interdisciplinary research in the humanities, social and cultural sciences. It conducts basic research on the principles of modern culture with regard to relevant questions of contemporary societies. At present the Institute focuses on the thematic fields of:

  • cultures of the European in historical perspective (Europe)
  • cultural diversity of global citizenship (Interculturality)
  • cultural aspects of climate change (Climate and Culture)
  • communicative practices used by members of different cultures of communication (Culture of Communication)
  • and civic participation (Culture of Participation).

Further projects cover the future of democracy, the development of metropolises, the relation between culture and economy, the meaning of religion in international politics, the interplay of culture and life sciences, the challenge of digital economic communication and the social responsibility of science. The KWI and maintains close co-operations with regional, national and international partners engages in civic education and outreach programmes by organizing public events and co-operations with cultural institutions as well as the media.

The expertise of KWI's research fellows will bring about significant synergy effects on the scientific potential of Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research. The KWI until 2017 was headed by Claus Leggewie, a founding director of the Centre.