28.11.2022

Minister of Science Clemens Hoch visits IEG

The Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Science and Health Clemens Hoch visited the IEG on Monday. Director Prof. Dr. Nicole Reinhardt and Director Prof. Dr. Johannes Paulmann, staff members and fellows of the IEG informed him about current research projects and the scholarship and guest programme of the institute.

The Minister was pleased that the IEG was able to recruit Nicole Reinhardt as the new Director of the IEG, Department Abendländische religionsgeschichte. She has been in office since October 2022. "We are delighted that with you, a scholar with such a high-calibre international network will become part of the IEG's management. We are looking forward to the new impulses that our IEG will receive from Prof. Dr Nicole Reinhardt," said Minister Hoch. The director will lead the IEG together with Director Paulmann, head of the Department Universalgeschichte.

Together with staff and fellows, Reinhardt and Paulmann presented various research at the IEG. They informed the minister about the development of digital historical research at the IEG. The work area "Digital Historical Research" bundles the development of digital methods and the activities of digitally supported research on European history and has an impact on all research areas of the IEG. It was thus an important prerequisite for the "NFDI4Memory" consortium, which was approved in November 2022 and which the IEG now leads with consortium spokesperson Johannes Paulmann. "4Memory" integrates historical research, memory and information infrastructures in a digital research data infrastructure for the first time nationwide. Funding is provided by the federal and state governments as part of the National Research Data Infrastructure "NFDI" from March 2023 for five years with an expected 2.3 million euros per year.

During a tour, the minister was also shown the institute's library, which offers more than 90,000 titles on the history of Europe since the mid-15th century, as well as the residence for scholarship holders. Since its foundation in 1950, the IEG has supported more than 1,200 young researchers from around 50 different countries. It enables its fellows to concentrate on their own research projects.

Managing Director Johannes Paulmann thanked Minister Hoch for his visit and emphasised that well-founded knowledge of historical contexts is of particular importance in the debates on Europe, especially today.