Funding

It was a tight deadline, but there was just enough time: the book "Liebe:Sophie Briefe aus dem Lockdown über Schellings Freiheitsabhandlung" was finished in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair. It was presented at the fair. The book, which was sponsored by the University Society, was written during the first lockdown at Osnabrück University's Institute of Philosophy in the summer semester of last year. Lecturer Dr. Sven Jürgensen decided to take a different approach when teaching had to be switched from face-to-face to online courses at short notice: He wrote 12 letters to the students, which he sent out by email.

"I didn't realize at the time that I was already writing the basis for a book. It was only the warm-hearted response from a student that encouraged me to approach Passagen-Verlag, who were very willing to include the project in their program. So while a virus was threatening our freedom, I sent letters about freedom in Osnabrück, namely about Schelling's famous treatise on freedom, to a circle of addressees whom I wanted to familiarize with this important text in this way. The result is a text of remembrance, but also a text of hope."

The letters have been published in a revised version. "I had only sketched out the essays The True Witness about Jorge Semprun's story The Dead Man with My Name and The Thinking of the Abandoned about Martin Heidegger's Schelling Lecture in the summer of 2020," says Jürgensen. They are intended to create a productive split from the middle by pointing out two receptions and perspectives that are incompatible with each other, but which nevertheless contribute to clarifying the relevance of the freedom treatise for contemporary readers as well. The fact that the book was written in Osnabrück is also made clear by the fact that the essay on Semprun's story mentions Felix Nussbaum's painting "Cowering Prisoner", which he painted in 1940.

The German-American artist Maria Bussmann mingled with the addressees and commented on the letters with her drawings. She, who is always looking for ways between the lines of philosophical texts by drawing, has transformed the material through the treatise on freedom and the letters "Liebe:Sophie" and placed the reading in its own light, so that through her drawings, too, the Corona Pandiemie

has also found its way into the discussion with Schelling. In this way, a triangular interrelationship has been created: The pandemic has triggered the letters "Liebe:Sophie" about Schelling's approach to freedom, to which Maria Bussmann has added her drawings and made herself a co-author with her pen.

Dr. Sven Jürgensen teaches philosophy at Osnabrück University and is Press Officer for the City of Osnabrück.
Dr. Maria Bussmann is an artist and lecturer at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She lives in Vienna and New York.

The Inpijn Bakker Grunwald Prizes and the Prize for Excellent Junior Research were awarded for the first time in 2019 by the University Society. The prizes were awarded at the central Doctoral Awards Ceremony on July 5, which was organized by Osnabrück University and the city. In the presence of the founder of the Inpijn Bakker Grunwald Prizes, Prof. Dr. Evert Bakker, the prize winners were honored on the stage of the Schlossaula.

The two Inpijn Bakker Grunwald Prizes were awarded to two outstanding dissertations: Dr. Benedikt Ehinger's research in cognitive science on "Decisions, predictions and learning in the visual sense" and Dr. Robert Notbohm's doctorate in law on "Effects and limits of institutions of executive impact assessment control - National Regulatory Control Council and Committee for Regulatory Controls in comparison". Dr. Frank Wolff received the University Society's prize for excellent junior research for his important habilitation thesis "Die Mauergesellschaft: Kalter Krieg, Menschenrechte und die deutsch-deutsche Migration 1961-1989".
The doctoral prizes are endowed with € 1,500 each and the habilitation prize with € 3,000.

The proposals submitted were assessed by a jury consisting of academics from various disciplines and two members of the University Council. Overall, the jury was impressed by the variety of important research topics and the high quality of the work of the young academics who had applied for a prize.

With the three prizes, the University Society would like to honor outstanding achievements of young scientists at Osnabrück University in a special way and make them visible to the public. At the same time, the awards are intended to encourage the prizewinners on their path. The prizes will be awarded again next year.

The Osnabrück University Society supports the school laboratory "Explain-OS" with € 21,600. This has enabled the successful project at Osnabrück University to be continued.

"The school laboratory at Osnabrück University is the ideal place to provide interested pupils with access to science that complements conventional lessons. The University Society is very happy to support this great project, which awakens an interest in scientific work, provides a first insight into university working methods and research and also enables initial contacts to be made with scientists," says the Chairman of the University Society, René Riesner.

Founded in 2008, the "Experimental Learning Laboratory - Explain-OS" in the biology building on Westerberg offers pupils the special opportunity to explore biological topics in a research facility. By experimenting in a laboratory specially set up for this purpose by Osnabrück University under the guidance of scientists and student teachers, pupils can try out methods of biological research that cannot usually be taught in Elementary Social Studies and Science lessons due to a lack of equipment.

Experimental courses give pupils an insight into scientific working methods and scientific problems."The school laboratory provides a practical supplement to school lessons and contributes to the design of modern biology lessons," says PD Dr. Knut Jahreis, who heads the school laboratory. Over the past ten years, more than 10,000 pupils have taken advantage of the various offers. Collaborations now exist with over 70 schools, including the Gymnasium in der Wüste, the Graf Staufenberg-Gymnasium and the Fürstenberg Gymnasium in Recke.

Not only the pupils but also many students benefit from the project. For example, experiments suitable for pupils were developed and didactically elaborated as part of Bachelor's and Master's theses."In this way, the students' experimental and didactic skills are trained and the newly developed concepts can be applied directly," explains Jahreis.
"In the end, everyone benefits: the pupils' scientific interests are encouraged, the students can apply theoretical knowledge in PRaxis, the schools can expand their teaching in a practical way and Osnabrück University can reduce potential future students' fear of contact and show them its many possibilities. This is also fully in line with one of the three core objectives of the University Society, the promotion of young talent," adds Riesner.