New lecture series in Landau: Science meets city and society!

New lecture series in Landau: Science meets city and society!

The new event series “City meets Uni” will start in Landau on May 16, 2025, which is intended to intensify close cooperation between the Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University (RPTU) and the city. Initiated by the Friends of the RPTU, the city of Landau and the BücherKnecht bookstore, the lectures take place in the bookstore at Theaterstrasse 11. Mayor Lukas Hartmann emphasizes the importance of this series to promote the presentation of the RPTU in the city and to facilitate the conversation between science and the public.

The first event will take place on Monday, May 19th at 6:30 p.m. when Prof. Dr. Werner Sesselmeier on the exciting topic “AI – When will robots finally do our work?” speaks. This will be followed by further lectures, including a presentation by Prof. Dr. Gabriela Scherer at the awarding of the German Youth Literature Prize 2025 on June 12th and a discussion by Prof. Dr. Ralf Becker on social issues such as “community spirit” and “common sense” on June 24th. A special focus is on the lecture by Prof. Dr. Karin Finsterbusch and Prof. Dr. Francesca Vidal on July 9th, in which anti-Semitism is examined.

Anti-Semitism in focus

The lecture on July 9th follows on from the public lecture series on the topic of anti-Semitism, which will take place at the RPTU in the winter semester 2024/25. The lecture series is organized by the Department of Cultural and Social Sciences at the University of Landau and several other institutions. This series aims to shed light on anti-Semitism from different perspectives and has the motto "Anti-Semitism. Yesterday, today - and still tomorrow?" deal with a variety of topics. The launch will take place on October 30, 2024 with a lecture by Karin Finsterbusch, who will deal with definitions and origins of anti-Semitism in antiquity.

The lecture series covers numerous relevant topics, such as Islamic anti-Semitism, dealing with anti-Semitic symbols in everyday school life and the view of Jewish contemporaries on anti-Semitism. The final lecture on January 22, 2025 will be given by Wolfgang Pauly and deals with the Christian image of God and its relationship to anti-Semitism.

Moral emotions and anti-Semitism

Another aspect of anti-Semitism research can be found in the University of Trier's online lecture series, which deals with the role of emotional aspects in the context of anti-Semitism. A lecture by Johanna Bach, which took place on May 16, 2024, illuminates the emotional dimensions of anti-Semitism and its social relevance. In her dissertation entitled “The Emotional World of Anti-Semitism,” she analyzes the connections between emotion theory and anti-Semitic phenomena together with her research. University of Trier reports that...

These event formats reflect the commitment of academic institutions to address current social challenges such as anti-Semitism and to create space for discussions. By offering lectures and the opportunity to talk directly to experts, the collaboration between the university and the city of Landau is further strengthened.