Developing knowledge: Public lecture series

Expanding knowledge

H-BRS offers a range of thematic focuses with its public lecture series

Lecture series are special. Not only students, but also teachers, university staff and interested citizens are all welcome. “They’re a place of encounter and exchange and therefore an important link between the university and society,” says Katharina Seuser, Professor of Journalism and Media Production. Despite the pandemic, various public lecture series took place at H-BRS in 2021. Two examples include “Zukunft in der Technikkommunikation – Medienprofis präsentieren Arbeitsfelder“ (“Future in technology communication – media professionals present fields of work”) from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Technical Journalism (EMT) and “Lasst uns reden … über Ethik und Nachhaltigkeit in der digitalen Welt“ (“Let‘s talk ... about ethics and sustainability in the digital world”) from the Centre for Ethics and Responsibility (ZEV).

Media careers

Katharina Seuser launched the lecture series “Future in Technology Communication” back in 2009. It is primarily aimed at students of Technical Journalism and Visual Technical Communication. In winter semester 2021/22, many high-profile professionals from various media professions shared their knowledge. “Digitalisation is changing practically everything: reception habits, channels, media formats and, of course, companies and job profiles. This is best communicated by professionals from the field,” explains Seuser. The guests included two journalists Svea Eckert and Eva Köhler, Tobias Jobke from the Federal Office for Information Security, and Carol Mohn from the website klimafakten.de.

Challenges of the digital world

“The lecture series ‘Let‘s talk ... about ethics and sustainability in the digital world’ dealt with topics such as conspiracy theories, implicit content in digital teaching, ethics by design, artificial intelligence and aspects of development cooperation,” says Holger Willing from ZEV, the organiser of the series. “The lecture series poses the question of what responsibility science, business and society have for shaping the digital and analogue world. The lively discussions following the lectures show that we’re choosing the right topics and speakers,” says Willing. The ZEV lecture series is part of the H-BRS “Campus to World” programme and takes place every two years. “A possible future topic could be Ethics of Social-Ecological Transformation.”