UA Ruhr: College for Social Sciences and Humanities
New Visiting Researchers Arrive at the College
- von Melina Wachtling
- 11.09.2025
Eight international scholars from the social sciences and humanities have started their fellowships at the College for Social Sciences and Humanities of the University Alliance Ruhr in Essen where they will spend the next six months working on collaborative research projects.
The distinguished researchers from universities in Argentina, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the USA are part of the fourth cohort of the international Senior Fellowship Programme offered by the College for Social Sciences and Humanities since 2023. Starting in September, the visiting scholars are working in tandem partnerships with members of the University Alliance Ruhr for the next six months.
At the Welcome Day on 9 September, the College’s Scientific Board warmly welcomed the Senior Fellows in Essen, wishing them a fruitful and inspiring stay. The fellows and their tandem partners presented an outlook on their research agendas and the academic events they will be hosting as part of their fellowships. The rich variety of research areas encompasses transnational law, genocide studies, maritime history, journal-literary research, intercultural developmental psychology, memory studies, international relations, and higher education and science studies. In a weekly colloquium, Senior Fellows and researchers at the College will discuss their current research across disciplines.
The Senior Fellows and their Tandem Projects
Lorraine Ryan is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK, and an award-winning international researcher in the fields of Spanish literature, memory studies, and gender. With her tandem partner Susanne Zepp-Zwirner (University of Duisburg-Essen) she will apply the ‘Ordinary Men’ thesis to Spanish perpetrator memory during the Spanish Civil War as revealed in cultural texts. This approach offers a framework for understanding the behaviours of individuals in perpetrating violence.
Tülin Şener is Professor of Educational Psychology at Ankara University, Turkey. An expert in developmental psychology, her research spans child development, identity, well-being, parenting, youth participation and civic engagement with a focus on culturally contextualised perspectives. In her project with Philipp Jugert (University of Duisburg Essen), she will comparatively examine the ethnic-racial socialisation practices of German and Turkish-origin parents residing in Germany.
The international Senior Fellowship Programme promotes sustainable international partnerships and research cooperation in the social sciences and the humanities. Through an annual call for applications, usually published in the spring, the College for Social Sciences and Humanities selects up to 20 internationally recognised scholars for research stays within the University Alliance Ruhr.
In the picture
The current Senior Fellows at the College (left to right): Rashed Uz Zaman, Ingo Heidbrink, Qingxiu Bu, Daniel Feierstein, Tülin Şener, Lorraine Ryan, Sean Franzel, Nelson Zavale
Further information
https://www.college-uaruhr.de/fellowship/tandem-projects