FRIAS Fellows 2025/26
Dr. Lukman Adebisi Abdulrauf
University of Ilorin
Law
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – March 2026
Digital Constitutionalism for Sustainable AI Governance in Africa: A Critical Evaluation of Emerging Regulatory Approaches
Prof. Dr. Jennifer Altehenger
University of Oxford
Modern Chinese History
Senior Fellow
July 2026
Tangible Constitutions: The Material Culture of Law in Socialist China
Dr. Jenny Benham
Cardiff University
History, Medieval Studies
Senior Fellow
January 2024 – June 2025
September 2025
Espionage in the Middle Ages
Dr. Kun Dai
University of Freiburg
Chemistry
Early Career Fellow
September 2025 – June 2026
Artificial Protocells Driving Peptide Synthesis in Water
Prof. Dr. Moritz Diehl
University of Freiburg
Mathematics and system optimization
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Agrivoltaics
Dr. Laurence Gautier
CSH Delhi
History
Early Career Fellow
September 2025 – July 2026
Understanding secularism through state-minority relations. Muslim intermediaries in post-colonial India (1947-2004).
Dr. Berihun Gebeye
University College London
Public Law
Senior Fellow
October 2025
Syncretic Authoritarianism.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Glunz
University of Freiburg
Solar Energy, Photovoltaics, Semiconductor Physics
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Agrivoltaics
Prof. Dr. Albert Gouaffo
University of Dschang
German Studies
Senior Fellow
November 2025
How ‘blind’ is the German literary canon? Diversity as a challenge and perspective of literary historiography in postcolonial German studies
Dr. Prince Karakire Guma
British Institute in Eastern Africa
Geography
Early Career Fellow
September 2025 – June 2026
Infrastructural Vulnerability and Temporalities of Care and Repair in the Anthropocene
PD Dr. Gero Guttzeit
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
English Literary Studies
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – March 2026
An Aesthetic Critique of Generative AI: Autonomy, Literature, and the Age of Large Language Models
Dr. Philipp Höfele
University of Freiburg
Philosophy, Ethics
Early Career Fellow
October 2024 – September 2027
Digital Anthropocene: AI and Sustainability
Prof. Dr. Tetiana Hoshko
Ukrainian Catholic University
History
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – December 2025
Women’s Health and Pregnancy in the Towns of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 16th and 17th Centuries
Dr. Yael Kedar
The Hai College
Philosophy
Senior Fellow
September 2025 – March 2026
Principles of the Distribution of Matter in the Cosmos of Thirteenth-Century Franciscan Thought
Prof. Dr. Alexandra-Maria Klein
University of Freiburg
Ecology, Biodiversity
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Agrivoltaics
Prof. Dr. Tim Krieger
University of Freiburg
Economics
Rector’s Fellow
October 2025 – February 2026
Explorations in Conflict Economics: Belief, Identity, and Strategic Violence.
FRIAS Project Group
October 2025 – December 2026
Agrivoltaics
Prof. Dr. André Krischer
University of Freiburg
History
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Post-war Periods. Plurality – Temporality – Re/Constructions
Prof. Dr. Thomas Manganaro
University of Richmond
English Literature
Guest Researcher
August 2025 – July 2026
Saying and Showing in the Early Novel
Dr. Babatola Dominic Olawa
University of Lancashire/North-West University
Psychology
Early Career Fellow
March 2026 – August 2026
Cultural Contexts and Well-being in Old Age: Examining the Role of Cultural Variations in the World Health Organisation’s Active Ageing Determinants.
Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Osterhammel
University of Freiburg
History
Distinguished Fellow
March 2019 – December 2027
Balzan Project in Global History: Global Processes and the Dynamics of Regions
Dr. Sujata Patel
University of Hyderabad
Sociology, Social Theory
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – November 2025
The Multiplicities and Diversities within Anti-Colonial Social Theory
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Piller
University of Freiburg
History
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Post-war Periods. Plurality – Temporality – Re/Constructions
Dr. Ayesha Qurrat ul Ain
International Islamic University
Islamic Studies
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – January 2026
Modernity, science and Qurānic Hermeneutics in the Sub-continent: A study of selected responses to Darwinism in the twentieth Century
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Bastian E. Rapp
University of Freiburg
Microsystem Engineering, Material Science
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: GlassAge. A Transparent View of Ancient Innovation
Dr. Léa Renard
University of Heidelberg
Sociology
Early Career Fellow
January 2026 – August 2026
Toward a Historical Sociology of Colonial Knowledge
Prof. Dr. Marek Schönherr
Durham University
Physics
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – November 2025
Electroweak precision for the Large Hadron Collider
Prof. Dr. Claudius Sittig
University of Freiburg
Contemporary German Literature
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Post-war Periods. Plurality – Temporality – Re/Constructions
Prof. Dr. Henrik Smith
Lund University
Ecology
Senior Fellow
October 2025 – December 2025
Underpinning the implementation of the European Restoration Law with scientific evidence
Dr. Dr. Georg Starke
Technical University of Munich
Medical Ethics
Early Career Fellow
November 2025 – February 2026
Artificial Intelligence at the end of life: a proof-of-concept and critical appraisal of a patient preference predictor.
Prof. Dr. Paulina Starski
University of Freiburg
European and International Law
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Post-war Periods. Plurality – Temporality – Re/Constructions
Prof. Dr. Fabian Stroth
University of Freiburg
Byzantine Archaeology
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: GlassAge. A Transparent View of Ancient Innovation
Prof. Gregg Suaning
University of Sydney
Neuroprostheses
Senior Fellow
July 2025 – September 2025
NERRV – Neuronale Regeneration bei Rückenmarksverletzungen
(Neural regeneration in spinal cord injuries)
Dr. Peter Švihra
Czech Academy of Sciences
Semiconductor Detector R&D
Early Career Fellow
November 2025 – December 2025
Februar 2026
Development and Optimization of Advanced Semiconductor Sensors for High-Energy Physics and Beyond
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Joana van de Löcht
University of Münster
German Literature
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: Post-war Periods. Plurality – Temporality – Re/Constructions
Prof. Dr. Eva von Contzen
University of Freiburg
English Literature
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: GlassAge. A Transparent View of Ancient Innovation
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julia von Ditfurth
University of Freiburg
Art History
Senior Fellow
October 2024 – December 2026
FRIAS Project Group: GlassAge. A Transparent View of Ancient Innovation
Prof. Dr. Casey Walsh
University of California
Anthropology
Senior Fellow
January 2026 – August 2026
Neighborly Waters: Groundwater Regulation in California.