• Prof. Dr. Astrid Schwarz

Possible focus on Philosophy of technology, STS, or environmental anthropology

For several decades, the largest artificial lake landscape in Germany has been emerging from the open-cast coal mining landscape of Lusatia. Many concrete infrastructures have already been realized here and have produced a whole series of problematic technological consequences, also with respect to historical infrastructures (rivers, dams, canals, locks). These large-scale technoscientific experiments can be analyzed on the basis of various theories and concepts, such as the apparatus-world complex (Harré), as phenomeno-technical processes (Bachelard), or as biographies of technoscientific objects (Bensaude-Vincent et al.). The radical changes of the landscape and its socio-technical conditions are then accentuated differently in each case, and accordingly produce different scopes, but also necessities, of action.

• Prof. Dr. Astrid Schwarz

Possible focus on history of science, cultural history of gardens, natural/cultural heritage, or environmental anthropology

Wine from Lusatian open-cast mining? Fruit export from Lusatia to Berlin and Sweden? Both are correct, both can be proven with sources that go back at least to the 18th century. This is about the horticultural mechanization of Lusatia and the associated cultural techniques. Topics for the historical processing of the garden culture in the Lausitz, particularly in city and region Spremberg are assigned. Different periods of time are possible, the focus is on the epoch of industrialization until today. The object of research is the investigation of the development of urban gardening, viticulture and orcharding, as well as the cultural landscape close to the city and the accompanying horticultural practices and cultural techniques. Archival work in Spremberg, Meissen and Dresden is planned.

• Prof. Dr. Astrid Schwarz

Possible interactions between STS, environmental anthroplogy, history and philosophy of science/technology, cultural history of gardens, or nature/heritage.

In cities and municipalities of Brandenburg, there are conspicuously large proportions of land devoted to allotment gardens compared to the rest of Germany. Gardening practices are thus a widespread activity and so far little used socio-economic and ecological source of knowledge. The GartenWissen project focuses on the gardening skills of citizens and their presence in the media. Under the conditions of structural change in Lusatia, garden knowledge takes on a special relevance, especially if transformative innovation is to mean "sustainable global transformation of the economy and society" (WBGU, 2011, p. 5).

Organizational and social structures of allotment gardens, colonies, or even front gardens are historically established and widespread, the actors are economically diverse, and they have gardening and ecological knowledge in the concrete reality of climate and structural change in the region. This makes gardening practices an important influencer of responsible nature use in the region, historically and currently.

As socio-technical practices in the garden are to be addressed, for example, collecting and harvesting, soil bar cultivation and compost tilling, exchange of seeds, in the digital sphere the creation of good practice examples, recording and systematization of garden plants, the establishment of contact exchanges, of recipe collections or equipment flea market.

Local knowledge about environmental changes (e.g. endangerment of local species occurrences) or the effects of climate change on the region lies to a large extent with local actors. It is a knowledge that also differs in structure and content from scientific knowledge, such as that offered by national institutes or global agencies. In particular, the concept of developing a so-called creole as a new first language in a hybrid community of knowledge actors (Fuller, 1993, Stoddard, 1991) can be used here. It may be expected that knowledge elaborated by local actors, on the one hand in the sense of citizen science projects, on the other hand on the basis of a gardening Creole in the local context, can have a greater authoritative and action-guiding effect. Such knowledge elaborated by different actors can then also present and convey local impacts of climate change or agribusiness more credibly than, for example, environmental ministries.

The analysis of already established patterns of action and bodies of knowledge suggests that various socio-technical practices and actors can be identified, which can be used for the analysis and conceptualization of a positively understood structural change "from below" in order to promote empowerment and participatory learning and design formats - GardenKnowledge is thus of relevance far beyond the garden shed.

Various projects are conceivable in this framework, socio-cultural and ecological conditions in regional urban gardens can be investigated, what are the social interactions in the garden and how are they coupled with material cultures; which interspecies concepts are suitable to analyze the handling of "beneficial organisms" and "pests", which animal-human relationships exist in the garden and what changes possibly occur in them through the concrete encounter in the garden; are there forms of resilience that are promoted or even brought about through gardening practices (example therapy gardens in retirement homes, hospitals, migration context, climate gardens etc.)?

• Prof. Dr. Astrid Schwarz

Possible interactions between Museology, Material Studies, STS, Visual Studies

How does digitisation in museums influence the way objects are staged and how visitors are confronted with them, and how is the collection itself influenced, both the objects in storage and those on display? Asking these questions also means asking about the way meaning is produced and stabilized in museums and how cultural/natural heritage objects are presented, constructed and also preserved.

The digitisation of objects is also linked to the preservation of analogue, material objects when they are converted into digital objects, which techniques are used in the process and how the data is stored and made accessible. Questions of material preservation and its durability are thus not only equally important for digital and analogue objects, but above all for the planning and implementation of the transformation process of the objects.

• Prof. Dr. Astrid Schwarz

Possible interactions between Museology, Heritage Studies, STS, Visual Studies, Material Studies, Philosophy of Technology

With the increasing digitization of large areas of society, museums were also confronted with the question of whether and how to digitize their analog collection objects.

In addition to questions about the long-term storage of the collected data and its organization, practical questions about object recording and transformation have also arisen. In natural history museums, there are a large number of objects that are conserved in very different ways and are also used in different ways in the exhibition and scientific context. What is lost, what is gained in the transformation from analog to digital object? Are really all objects, whether natural or cultural heritage, suitable for digitization, what are the risks in the technical exposure of an object? How does the organizational, conservation, and economic context of analog objects change as a result of their digitization? What does it mean for the curation of exhibitions when objects are increasingly presented in a digital environment and what for the museum experience of the visitors? How do the digital images produced relate to the analog objects? How does the different material presence of the objects influence their reception and what impact does this have on the visitors' museum experience?

• Prof. Dr. Astrid Schwarz

Possible cross-references between philosophy of technology, visual studies, history of science/technology

This project is about visualization strategies of ecological research and about changes of images during the transfer from science to society - and back. Depending on the historical, cultural or methodological context, different visual images of nature are generated and defended. These images each represent different metaphysical ideas and epistemic models, they differ in image technique, strategy and staging. Ecological research, we argue, can be read as a mapping program of conceptions of nature from different scientific, national, philosophical, and geographical cultures. Whether a piece of nature is considered worthy of protection, a resource worthy of capitalization, unreliable and dangerous, or worthy of contemplative experience is largely dependent on the cultural environment and thus, in our knowledge society, on visual and conceptual representations of science (see www.b-tu.de/fg-technikwissenschaft/bildkulturen)

• Prof. Dr. Astrid Schwarz

Possible focus on STS, Philosophy of Technology, or Technology Assessment

As part of the coal phase-out, a number of initiatives have emerged in Lusatia that deal with decarbonization techniques. These include the real laboratory at the Schwarze Pumpe industrial park (near Spremberg). The reference power plant is being developed in the sense of a prototype for a hydrogen storage power plant; the aim is to produce green hydrogen for use in the transport, industry and heat sectors. The format of the real laboratory is to be critically reflected and the prototype is to be located as a technical object in the rapidly changing field of discourse of politics, science and technology. This can be about the analysis of future narratives or/and so-called socio-technical imaginaries or about the intrinsic life of technoscientific objects.

• Prof. Dr. Astrid Schwarz

For several decades, the largest artificial lake landscape in Germany has been emerging from the coal mining landscape of Lusatia. Which concrete infrastructures have already been realized here, which current difficulties arise, also in the mediation with historical infrastructures (keyword dams), which role does the water deficit play and how can the concept ‘technoscientific apparatus’ be used to adequately describe this radical change in landscape and socio-technical conditions.

• Prof. Dr. Astrid Schwarz

Research on technology and science has arrived in the university subject canon in Germany only with some delay compared to the Anglo-Saxon area. At the BTU Cottbus, there were already efforts in the 1990s to establish research on technology in the humanities and social sciences in close cooperation with the Association of German Engineers. These activities were visible both institutionally and in terms of content and were reflected, for example, in the founding of institutes (Center for Technology and Society), a study program (Culture and Technology) and professorships (philosophy of technology, history of technology, general science of technology). The project is medium-term and consists of several sub-projects, such as the development of an archive and a website, a history of institutions, the question of how technoscience studies were conducted in the GDR, etc. (see also our project www.b-tu.de/en/fg-technikwissenschaft/research/fields-of-research/technology-as-epistemic-culture).