Stefan Keppler-Tasaki and Richard Samuels Are New Einstein Visiting Fellows at Freie Universität
Literary Scholar from the University of Tokyo and MIT Expert on Japan to Do Research in Berlin from 2015 to 2017
№ 287/2014 from Aug 11, 2014
The literary scholar Prof. Dr. Stefan Keppler-Tasaki from the University of Tokyo and the political scientist Prof. Dr. Richard Samuels from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are new Einstein Visiting Fellows doing research at Freie Universität Berlin. The funding from the Einstein Foundation in Berlin between 2015 and 2017 will give them an opportunity to create an overarching research group between their respective universities and Freie Universität Berlin. This involves several longer research stays in Berlin.
Stefan Keppler-Tasaki teaches German language and literature at the University of Tokyo. At the Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Freie Universität, he will lead a working group of young literary scholars who will deal with the image of the Pacific region in academia, the media, literature, and society from 1900 to 1945. The project dealing with an early phase of globalization will strengthen the existing cooperation between Freie Universität and the University of Tokyo. It is also intended to create a German-Asian research network. Before being appointed a professor at the University of Tokyo in 2012, Stefan Keppler-Tasaki was a junior professor at the Graduate School for Literary Studies in Berlin. His research interests include the relationship between literature and film and German literature in an international context.
Richard Samuels is the Ford International Professor of Political Science at MIT and directs the Center for International Studies there. Samuels is one of the preeminent experts in politics and international relations of Japan. He works as a consultant for the U.S. government and has received various forms of recognition for his research. Last year he published a comprehensive study dealing with the effects of the severe earthquake, tsunami, and reactor meltdown at Fukushima in March of 2011 on Japanese policy and society. A political scientist, Samuels will direct a research group made up of doctoral students and postdocs at Freie Universität's Graduate School of East Asian Studies. The group will investigate Japan's role in the context of East Asian security relations and global security policy.
A total of eight top international scientists and scholars have accepted positions as new Einstein Visiting Fellows to conduct research in the greater Berlin region. The Einstein Foundation in Berlin will support the fellows for up to three years, from 2015 to 2017, with a total of 3.4 million euros. The money is being made available by the Damp Foundation and the State of Berlin. The Berlin Einstein Foundation was founded in 2009 by the State of Berlin. The purpose of the foundation is to promote science and research in Berlin at the highest international level and to permanently establish Berlin as an attractive location for science and research.
Further Information Online
Further Information
- Dr. Nina Diezemann, Office of News and Public Affairs, Freie Universität Berlin, Tel.: +49 30 838-73190, Email: nina.diezemann@fu-berlin.de
- Christian Martin, Einstein Foundation Berlin, Communications and Development, Tel.: +49 30 20370 248, Email: cm@einsteinfoundation.de