The Institute

The Institute is a research establishment based on the fellow principle. Up to ten fellows reside for one or two semesters at any one time in Weimar, working on a self-contained research project there. In 2008, the first year of the Institute, we were already able to welcome eight international fellows in Weimar (for detailed information, see 2.3). The Institute’s personnel infrastructure consists, in the first instance, of the two directors Prof. Lorenz Engell (Professor of Media Philosophy) and Prof. Bernhard Siegert (Professor of History and Theory of Cultural Technologies), whose Chairs in the Faculty of Media are being filled by substitute appointments and who are running the Institute. They are supported in their work by six researchers and lecturers, three of whom are working on their dissertations and three of whom already hold doctorates, as well as eight research assistants. An Advisory Board consisting of professors Raymond Bellour, Hans Belting, Régis Debray, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, and Sigrid Weigel advises on the academic work of the Institute, particularly the appointment of new fellows. The administrative matters of the Institute are managed by Managing Director Ursula Schmitt and Executive Assistant Ulrike Engelbert. Preparations are currently under way to fill the post of assistant to the Managing Director.