The Graduate School arranges an exhibition and holds lectures in Eutin

Since 2007, researchers at the Kiel Graduate School Human Development in Landscapes (GSHDL) have investigated the interplay between humans and the landscape from the outset of the Neolithic. Results and insights into this research are presented by the exhibition “Manipulated Landscapes – 10,000 Years of Change” that can be visited daily (from 10–18 hrs, July 13–19, 2016) in the Orangery of the State Horticulture Show in Eutin. Nine PhD projects are presented using modules and multimedia presentations including videos, photo series and an interactive game.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition on July 12th, Rolf Fischer, state secretary in the Kiel Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Science and Equality, praised the Graduate School as a particularly successful project in the framework of the Excellence Initiative. The state secretary highlighted both the combination of natural sciences and the humanities of the Graduate School and the efforts that are taken to make scientific research and results publicly available. In this respect, the exhibition is a good example, explained Fischer. He ensured the CAU scientific research focus “Societal, Environmental and Cultural Change”, to which the Graduate School belongs, the support of the state of Schleswig-Holstein for a funding proposal within the framework of the new Excellence Initiative 2019.

Exhibition coordinator Walter Dörfler explains one of the exhibition items to LGS manager Martin Klehs, GS member Wiebke Kirleis, CAU vice president Ilka Parchmann, GS speaker Johannes Müller, secretary of state Rolf Fischer and Gottorf director Claus von Carnap-Bornheim (from left). Photo: Menke/ GSHDL

The exhibition in Eutin focuses on three key aspects of various research projects in the Graduate School: Innovation and Exchange, Humans and Environmental Change and Monumentality and Rites. Photo: Menge/ GSHDL

At the opening ceremony, Professor Ilka Parchmann, Vice President of Kiel University, paid tribute to the mixture of disciplines and methods through which the Graduate School has become an extraordinary institution. Specifically, she welcomes the decision of the initiators of the GSHDL to prepare a proposal for the next phase of the Excellence Initiative. “I am also very pleased that institutions from all over Schleswig-Holstein are taking part in the application process”, stated Parchmann.

The manager of the State Horticulture Show, Martin Klehs, also took the opportunity to address the guests of the opening ceremony. “We are particularly pleased about the scientific focus at the garden show. When excellent scientific research meets up with a horticulture show, then the topics become accessible and experienceable for the public. Hands-on science – where culture and nature meet – is beneficial”.

Professor Johannes Müller, speaker of the Graduate School, expressed his pleasure about the attractive framework for the exhibition. “That we are able to present the exhibition within the framework of the State Horticulture Show is a great opportunity for the doctoral candidates to present their scientific projects to the wide public”. Looking ahead, the new Excellence Initiative proposal aims at advancing networked, top level research in Schleswig-Holstein, whereby the research focus “Societal, Environmental and Cultural Change”, to which the recently approved collaborative research centre “Scales of Transformation” belongs, will be expanded.

The exhibition in Eutin focuses on three key aspects of various research projects in the Graduate School: Innovation and Exchange, Humans and Environmental Change and Monumentality and Rites. The implementations of societal innovations are examined, for instance: When did the first domestic animals appear in Central Europe and Southern Scandinavia? When was metallurgy introduced? What developments took place in shipbuilding? Furthermore, diverse soil archives provide evidence on the first effects of sedentary communities, for example, on sensitive landscape structures. The young researchers recognize that the designation of ownership and markers on the landscape already belonged to social practices of human societies from an early age.

Jirka Niklas Menke