What keeps a society from falling apart? Within the Grand Challenge Initiative Social Cohesion, researchers from the three major universities in Berlin and Charité are working together with colleagues from non-university research institutions as well as actors from other societal areas both locally and internationally to address this subject. They are working in interdisciplinary teams to find solutions.

Research Projects in Various BUA Funding Programs

Due to the great significance of social cohesion for society at present and in the future, this topic is an important interdisciplinary research focus in Berlin and for the Berlin University Alliance. The BUA has several funding programs to address this subject, including Exploration Projects. In addition, the Oxford Berlin Research Partnership provides funds for OX|BER Cooperation Groups devoted to social cohesion.

The fact that social cohesion is a major research focus of the Berlin University Alliance has a great deal to do with its importance as a research focus at Freie Universität Berlin. Throughout the city there are many different types of projects devoted to this subject, addressing a great variety of aspects.

Exploration Projects

From 2020 to 2023 six Exploration Projects were devoted to the subject of social cohesion from different perspectives. Researchers from Freie Universität Berlin are involved in five of them. The Exploration Projects were both interdisciplinary and cross-institutional. The funding volume was 7.1 million euros.

Chairpersons

• Prof. Dr. Schirin Amir-Moazami, Freie Universität Berlin (Chair)
  
• Prof. Dr. Nadja-Christina Schneider, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Co-Chair)

Principal Investigators

• Prof. Dr. Kai Kresse, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Sérgio Costa, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Manja Stephan-Emmrich, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Dr. Saskia Schäfer, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Claudia Derichs, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

RePLITO takes marginalized repertoires of living together as its starting point to rethink social cohesion from a transregional perspective. The central goal is to create a dynamic digital archive that gathers and conceptualizes global repertoires of living together in their interconnections and interdependencies.

For more information, see the project website.

Chairpersons

• Prof. Dr. Peter H. Feindt, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Dr. Klaus Jacob, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Dr. Martina Schäfer, Technische Universität Berlin

Principal Investigators

• Prof. Dr. med. Knut Mai, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Susanne Huyskens-Keil, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Caroline Stokes, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zentek, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Carsten Dreher, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Cornelia Rauh, Technische Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Tilman Brück, Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ),
• Dr. Sarah Hackfort, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Social cohesion is closely linked to inequalities and vulnerabilities in the food system and nutritional health issues. For the first time, the project systematically examines the social cohesion-food-health nexus, integrating perspectives from social and political sciences, nutrition and innovation systems research, food technology, and medical and nutritional sciences.

For more information, see the project website.

Principal Investigators

• Prof. Dr. Christian von Scheve, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Jule Specht, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Monika Schwarz-Friesel, Technische Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Jan Slaby, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Barbara Pfetsch, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Hanna Schwander, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• PD Dr. Simon Koschut, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Swen Hutter, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Ursula Hess, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Verena Hafner, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Denis Gerstorf, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Thorsten Faas, Freie Universität Berlin

How, and under what conditions, do civil society actors engage in interactions that foster or break cohesion? The team will develop a new conflict and interaction-based theory of cohesion in contemporary society, integrating perspectives from the social sciences, humanities, and computer science, as well as from partners in civil society and politics.

For more information, see the project website.

Chairpersons

• Prof. Dr. Andreas Engert, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Silvia von Steinsdorff, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Principal Investigators

• Prof. Dr. Susanne Baer, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Iris Därmann, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. PhD Gregory Jackson, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Anna-Bettina Kaiser, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Stefan Grundmann, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Sabine Kropp, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Bertram Lomfeld, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Christoph Möllers, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Christian Volk, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Ulrike Schaper, Freie Universität Berlin

The project The Laws of Social Cohesion (LSC) examines how exactly the law promotes social cohesion, where the limits of its integrative capacity lie, and to what extent it might even endanger social cohesion. In this context, law is not only understood as a framework for or as a result of political and economic negotiation, but rather as a social practice that actively shapes social coexistence.

For more information, see the project website.

Chairpersons

• Prof. Dr. Robin Celikates, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Manuela Bojadzijev, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Principal Investigators

• Prof. Dr. Philipp Misselwitz, Technische Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Ulrike Kluge, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Dr. Moritz Altenried, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Dr. habil. Mathias Berek, Technische Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Stefan Gosepath, Freie Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Sabine Hark, Technische Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Rahel Jaeggi, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kaschuba, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Hanna Meißner, Technische Universität Berlin
• Prof. Dr. Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Technische Universität Berlin

The interdisciplinary group of researchers sees Berlin as a “laboratory” of the migration society. In the fields of work, housing, and health, the researchers examine the conditions under which solidarity is made possible and the practices and infrastructures in which it is negotiated. In view of the undeniable challenge to find new answers to the question of social cohesion under conditions of migration/mobility and digitization, as well as under the different local manifestations of global influences, “Transforming Solidarities” opens up new ways of jointly generating knowledge.

Complete List of Projects

For a complete list of the projects and more information, see the website of the Berlin University Alliance.

The call for OX|BER Cooperation Groups Social Cohesion within the OX|BER Research Partnership aimed to address issues related to the subject of social cohesion. The call, which was aimed at collaborative groups, provided funding for three interdisciplinary projects dealing with social cohesion.

Researchers from Freie Universität are involved in one of the projects.

Transitions and Social Cohesion in the Context of Multiple Crises

Understanding social cohesion in the context of Colombia’s transition from war to peace, the impact of Venezuelan migration on South America, and the global pandemic.

• Dr. Annette Idler, University of Oxford
• Prof. Dr. Sérgio Costa, Freie Universität Berlin
• Dr. Markus Hochmüller, University of Oxford
• Dr. Jan Boesten, Freie Universität Berlin

For a complete list of the projects and more information, see the website of the Berlin University Alliance. For more information about the OX|BER Research Partnership in general, see here.