FRIAS Fellows 2023/24

Dr. Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko

University of Copenhagen 
Anthropology

External Senior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP) 
April 2024 – August 2024

Always Already Entwined/ Impure: Buddhist Plastics and Praxis in Oceania

Prof. Dr. Peter Arkadiev

Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz 
Linguistics

External Senior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP) 
November 2023 – August 2024

Argument flagging in head-marking languages: Types of interaction between argument-coding systems

Dr. Arantzazu Saratxaga Arregi

University of Applied Arts Vienna
Philosophy

External Junior Fellow
September 2023 – August 2024

Epistemology of complexity through a conceptual and historical discourse analysis of entropy

Dr. Sebastian Baasch

University of Freiburg
Immunology 

Internal Junior Fellow
October 2023 – July 2024

Deciphering the cellular reservoir of CMV latency

Prof. Dr. Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist

Stockholm University 
Historical Geography

External Senior Fellow 
October 2023 – December 2023

Disentangling socio-political and climatic factors for famines in early modern Europe

Prof. Dr. Bret Davis

Loyola University Maryland 
Philosophy

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
July 2023 – December 2025

Knowledge and Wisdom in Zen Buddhism

Prof. Dr. Raffaella A. Del Sarto

European University Institute 
International Relations and Middle East Studies

External Senior Fellow
April 2024

The Mediterranean Middle East between global order and (g)local dilemmas

Dr. Daniel Duzdevich

The University of Chicago 
Molecular Biology, Origin of Life and Astrobiology 

External Junior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP)
September 2023 – August 2024

Midnight in the Laboratory: Adventures in the quest for life between test tubes and imagination

Prof. Dr. Christina Grozinger

Pennsylvania State University
Entomology

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programm)
March 2022 – December 2025

Accelerating research on land use and climate change effects on pollinator populations through high-throughput tools

Prof. Dr. Birgit Hopfener

Carleton University 
Art history, Contemporary art and theory in a global framework 

External Senior Fellow
August 2024 – December 2024

Doing Critical Global Art History. Transcultural analyses and a pluriversal conceptual framework for contemporary art historiographic art

Dr. Katarzyna Jankowiak

Adam Mickiewicz University 
Linguistics

External Junior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP) 
February 2024 – May 2024

Behavioral correlates of gender stereotype processing in bilingualism

Prof. Dr. Dr. Hans Joas

Humboldt University of Berlin 
Sociology 

Permanent Fellow (University of Freiburg)
April 2013 – March 2014
Distinguished Fellow 
January 2021 – December 2023

A Global Genealogy of Moral Universalism (2021-2023)
“Sacralization and Secularization” (2013-2014)

Dr. iur. Aleksandr Khechumyan

Law

External Junior Fellow (Alexander von Humboldt Fellow)
November 2022 – March 2024

Old Age, Severe Illness, and the Equal Impact of Punishment in Europe

Dr. Matthew Kinloch

University of Oslo 
Narratology, History 

External Junior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP)
September 2023 – August 2024

Minor Characters in Byzantine Historiographical Narrative

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Bernd Kortmann

University of Freiburg
English Language and Linguistics

Rector’s Fellow
April 2024 – July 2024

The Spread of World Languages

Dr. Matthias Kranke

University of Duisburg-Essen
Social Sciences, Political Science, International Relations and International Political Economy

YAS Fellow
October 2023 – September 2024
Member of the Young Academy for Sustainability Research 
October 2021 – September 2024

Prof. Dr. Henrike Lähnemann

University of Oxford
German Medieval Studies

External Senior Fellow
July 2024 – August 2024

Internationalisation and Cooperation. Taking the Oxford – Freiburg connection further

Prof. Dr. Dr. Massimo Leone

University of Turin
Philosophy of Communication

External Senior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP)
October 2020 – February 2021
April 2024 – August 2024

Transhuman Portraits: Artificial Faces in Art, Science, and Society (2020-2021)

Envisaging the City: An Interdisciplinary Study of Digital Urban ‘Facescapes’ (2023-2024)

Prof. Dr. Andreas Mehler

Arnold Bergstraesser Institute / University of Freiburg
Political Science, Peace and Conflict Studies, Restitution Governance

Minor Characters in Byzantine Historiographical Narrative

Prof. Dr. Suzanne Mohney

Pennsylvania State University
Materials Science and Engineering 

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
December 2023 – December 2025

Novel Electrodes for Energy Conversion

Prof. Dr. Daniela Müller

Radboud University Nijmegen 
Church History, History of Christianity, Canon Law 

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme) 
July 2021 – December 2025

Old and New Debates about the Cathars. The Controversy on Catharis

Prof. Dr. Gabriel Nuñez

The University of Michigan 
Immunology 

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
July 2021 – December 2025

Inflammation and Metabolism in Host-Microbial Interactions

Dr. Ervan Nurtawab

State Islamic Institute (IAIN) of Metro
Malay-Indonesian Islamic Studies

External Junior Fellow (Alexander von Humboldt Fellow)
September 2022 – August 2025

Qur’an Manuscripts in Southeast Asia: Differences, Diversities and Standardisation

Prof. Dr. Onookome Okome

University of Alberta
African Studies, Literature and Cinema

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
June 2021 – December 2025

Nollywood: Text, Context, Controversy

Dr. Felicitas Opwis

Georgetown University 
Islamic Studies

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
July 2021 – December 2025

Language and Hermeneutics in the Islamic Sciences

Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jürgen Osterhammel

University of Freiburg
History

Distinguished Fellow
March 2019 – December 2025

Balzan Project in Global History: Global Processes and the Dynamics of Regions

Prof. Dr. Klaus J. Puettmann

Oregon State University
Forest Ecology

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
June 2021 – December 2025

Developing and managing new forest ecosystems in times of global change

Prof. Dr. Jenny Reardon

University of California
Sociology and History of Science, Science and Technology Studies

External Senior Fellow 
March 2024 – August 2024

A Genealogy of Expert Statements on ‘Race’ and Genetics: 1950 to the Present

Prof. Dr. Lauren Rickards

La Trobe University 
Human Geography 

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
July 2023 – December 2025

Well-adapted sustainability; sustainable adaptation

Dr. Hans-Christian Riechers

University of Basel
German Literature

External Junior Fellow
April 2024 – September 2024

Columbus. A history of literature about the other and the self.

Prof. Dr. Sandro Sessarego

University of Texas at Austin 
Spanish and Portuguese Languages

External Senior Fellow (Alexander von Humboldt Fellow)
May 2023 – August 2024

Afro-Veracruz Spanish and the Afro-Hispanic Language Atlas

Dr. Robert Spindler

English and German Literature

External Junior Fellow (FWF Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship)
June 2023 – December 2024

Outsiders, Lawbreakers, Apostates, Witches: Figures of Transgression in Narrative English Broadside Ballads (1550-1800)

Prof. Dr. Gregg Jørgen Suaning

The University of Sydney 
Neuroprotheses

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
July 2021 – December 2025

Neural regeneration in spinal cord injuries

Dr. Maria Sulimma

University of Freiburg 
North American Studies

Internal Junior Fellow 
October 2023 – July 2024

Gentrification Imaginaries: Postindustrial Literature, Leisure, and Urban Transformations

Prof. Dr. Nektarios Tavernarakis

University of Crete
Biology

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
August 2021 – December 2025

The role of mitophagy in neuronal quality control and survival during ageing

Dr. Giancarlo Urzúa

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile
Mathematics, Algebraic Geometry 

External Senior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP)
September 2023 – December 2023

Categorical and Geometrical Aspects of Algebraic Surfaces

Prof. Dr. Mila Versteeg

University of Virginia
Law 

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
July 2024 – August 2024

Understanding Constitutional Failure

Prof. Dr. Hanétha Vété-Congolo

Bowdoin College
African studies, Caribbean studies, Black studies, Postcolonial studies, Gender, Women and Sexuality studies

External Senior Fellow (FRESCO Programme)
May 2024 – July 2024

De/Coloniality Now: Reflections on a Shared Effort

Prof. Dr. Eva von Contzen

University of Freiburg
English Literature

Internal Junior Fellow (ERC Fellowship)
April 2017 – December 2023
Internal Fellow (FRIAS Project Group)
October 2024 – September 2025

Lists in Literature and Culture: Towards a Listology (LISTLIT)

Prof. Dr. Anika Walke

Washington University in St. Louis
History

External Senior Fellow (Marie S. Curie FCFP)
December 2023 – August 2024

Bones, Dirt, and Ash: Holocaust Testimony Matters in Belarus