Research and Research Areas

Historical research is characterized by a broad spectrum of forms of research organization and implementation. Beyond the continuing importance of individual research, collaborative forms of research in networks and joint projects play an increasing role. The members of our department are engaged in manifold ways in projects that cover regional, national and international perspectives and cooperation.
Many of the numerous and multifaceted research projects can be found on the websites of the department’s sections and members. In addition, the Department of History has developed four thematic clusters, which combine the research and interests of the professorships in focal points with overarching perspectives that characterize our specific profile. Currently, these focal points include the following areas and subjects:

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  • Security and the Public
  • History of Mining
  • Memory and Public History
  • Mediterranean Studies

The research areas mark the strategic development of research at the Department of History, which combines the development of central research fields with constant innovation. Thus, the research areas concentrate an important part, but by no means all, of the research work carried out at the Department of History. The formation of research areas is understood as a dynamic process that takes into account the process of constant renewal of research fields and research perspectives, which is constitutive for history. The work in the research areas, but also the individual research at the Department is regularly discussed and evaluated with the help of historians from abroad at a research day organized by the research commission of the Department. In this way, the dynamics of the overarching research clusters at the Department of History are continuously secured and space is created for innovative research that sees itself as part of the international scientific community.

Apart from its own research areas, the Department of History is networked in numerous ways with the research areas of the Faculty. These can be accessed via this link. (In German)