| Dr. Nina Benz
Discipline: Law
Institute: Institute for German and European Corporate and Commercial Law
| Research interests:
- International conflicts of legal duties
- Economic sanctions and blocking statutes
- Corporate sustainability and climate litigation
- Corporate governance and international startups
Tweet:
Sanctions, tariffs, ESG backlash: In times of growing geopolitical tensions, international businesses are often pulled back & forth by clashing regulations. I study how private law can and should adapt to an increasingly fractured global order. | |
| Joachim Brenner
Discipline: Economic and Social History
Institute: History Department | Research interests:
- Childhood history
- Cultural history of the Cold War
- History of nuclear energy, the ‘atomic age’ and ‘atomic culture’
- Comparative German-German history
- History of games and toys
- History of the labour movement
Tweet:
In my research on Atomic Childhood and Belonging After WWII, I study how childhood is shaped by a back and forth in technology and #migration. Focusing on #play, the motto becomes the method: moving game pieces back and forth is a way to understand the world from our early days on. | |
| Dr. Pilar Valero Fernández
Discipline: Linguistics
Institute: Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies (HCIAS) and the Observatory of Spanish in Europe (OSE) | Research interests:
- My research within the broader domain of Spanish linguistics focuses on communication and discourse. In addition to international research projects in experimental pragmatics, I have also conducted studies on phraseology and lexicography, as well as on the social aspects of Spanish - particularly regarding Spanish as a migrant, heritage, and foreign language.
Tweet:
I explore how mobility patterns in the last two decades have made Europe a key destination for Spanish-speaking migration — shaping how Spanish is transmitted as a heritage language through communicative practices, support programs, and community density. | |
| Lucia Härer
Discipline: Astrophysics
Institute: Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics | Research interests:
- How stellar winds shape the environments of young star clusters
- Gamma-ray emission from young star clusters in the Milky Way
- Origin of energetic particles raining on the earth from space (cosmic rays)
Tweet:
I research the origin of cosmic rays. These are particles with immense energies, which rain on the earth from space. I specifically study cosmic rays from young star clusters, tracing their production by the gamma-ray emission they produce. All to understand how cosmic rays shape the universe we live in. | |
| Dr. Yijie Huang
Discipline: History of Science
Institute: History Department | Research interests:
- History of medicine
- History of science
- Global history
- Sensory humanities
- Historical anthropology
Tweet:
The nature of a historian’s profession lies in looking back and forth. As a historian of science, I value the specificity of historical studies and aim to use it to restlessly problematise the divide between past and present and explore the dialogue between history and science. | |
| Dr. Steffen Knoblauch
Discipline: Geoinformatics
Institute: Institute of Geography | Research interests:
- Geoinformatics
- Environmental Exposure Modelling
- Planetary Health
- Equitable Cliamte Action
- Disaster Resileince
- GeoAI
- Computer Vision
- Network Analysis
Tweet:
I my research on #Geoinformatics for #Climate action and #Resilience, I go back and forth between data and decisions - between analysis and impact. My work leverages the power of AI and community interaction to contribute towards sustainable and equitable resilience. | |
| Dr. Ann-Christine Link
Discipline: Geography
Institute: Institute of Geography | Research interests:
- Nexus of climate, human (im)mobility, and well-being
- outcomes of human (im)mobility with a focus on climate-related planned relocations
Tweet:
Too often, climate-affected communities face a back-and-forth of adapting, losing, rebuilding, leaving, and returning. I study the outcomes of #climate-related planned relocations to inform just relocation strategies that #empower communities in their endeavors to adapt to climate change. | |
| Miriam Neuhausen
Discipline: English Linguistics
Institute: English Department | Research interests:
- Sociocultural linguistics
- Sociophonetics
- Language variation and change
- Language and identity
- Language, gender and sexuality
- Embodiment
- Language contact
- Lesser-studied languages and communities
- Language and social injustice
Tweet:
I study how people change their ways of speaking in different groups & situations, and how we can hear belonging, conflict, and contradiction in their voice – and what this has to do with power, society and discrimination. | |
| Dr. Ann-Christin Pfeifer
Discipline: Medical Psychology
Institute: Clinic for Orthopaedics / Part of the Centre for Orthopaedics, Trauma Surgery and Paraplegiology | Research interests:
- Attachment patterns, mentalization, emotion regulation, and biological stress markers (e.g., oxytocin, vasopressin, cortisol), including epigenetic analysis of the oxytocin receptor gene, in chronic pain, psychosomatic disorders, and developmental conditions.
- Treatment responses and coping strategies in chronic pain, considering biopsychosocial factors that influence patient outcomes and therapy effectiveness
- Personalized attachment- and mentalization-based therapy models for adult chronic pain management and family-oriented interventions in psychotherapy.
- E-health, hybrid solutions, and digital tools to improve access, continuity, customization, and long-term treatment sustainability in psychotherapy and pain management.
- Advanced analytic methods, including machine learning and individual patient data analyses, to predict therapeutic outcomes and optimize treatment efficacy.
Tweet:
My research moves back and forth between mind and body, clinic and lab, people and data. I study how attachment, mentalization, and digital tools interact to improve pain treatment and psychotherapy—bridging human connection and innovation in health research. This dialogue between empathy and evidence drives my work. | |
| Dr. Carmen Wintergerst
Discipline: Political Science
Institute: Institute of Political Science | Research interests:
- Autocratization and Authoritarian Transformation: Processes of democratic backsliding and the establishment of authoritarian rule
- Civil-Military Relations: Interactions between the armed forces and political institutions in the context of power balance, security, and democracy
- Democracy, Political Institutions, and Democratic Resilience: Conditions under which democracies remain or become resilient (again) in the face of internal and external challenges
- Political Systems in Asia: Comparative analyses of authoritarian, hybrid, and democratic regimes, with a focus on institutional developments, governance, and regional dynamics
Tweet:
Democracies don’t die overnight – they unravel. I study how political systems in Asia move back & forth between democracy and autocracy, and what makes some institutions break, others bend, and few(er) bounce back. | |
| Dr. Martin Würtz
Discipline: Life Science
Institute: EMBL - Europe's life sciences laboratory | Research interests:
- Structural biology, biochemistry, cell biology
- Microtubule dynamics in cell division
Tweet:
Division is a hallmark of life. I study microtubules that grow, shrink, and branch to form the spindle that divides DNA during cell division. Like the spindle’s back & forth, research cycles between past results and new methods, turning old findings into models and models into experiments. | |
| Edmund Yeboah
Discipline: Global Health
Institute: Heidelberg Institut für Global Health | Research interests:
- Health system resilience
- Climate change
- Maternal and child health
- My work explores how climate adaptation strategies, such as heat-protection measures, can improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. I am conducting research in Gahna, Burkina Faso and Kenya, examining issues ranging from food insecurity and childhood stunting to the impact of extreme heat on pregnant women and mental well-being.
Tweet:
I study how climate change affects health—especially for women and children—and work in a back-and-forth process with local stakeholders to find community-led ways to reduce its impact and strengthen resilience. | |
