life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de 02 2017 roaming: erasmus+ employee exchange program > p. 2 rocking: the rolling stones collection > p. 9 researching: literature delves deep into the brain > p. 12 nights on campus 27 years of service: when alfred schneider retires in 2018 he and his dog, attila, can kick back and relax. photo: klaus polkowski on patrol with the university of freiburg's last night watchman and his dog by stephanie streif attila isn't very tall, but he is wide. and when he runs, his sheer mass seems to make the earth shudder. that inspires fear, above all, when the broad-headed guard dog is approaching, great stride after great stride. meanwhile, the jangling tag on his collar sounds so harmless. attila belongs to alf- red schneider, the last full-time night watchman at the university of freiburg. six times a week, the two make their rounds on the faculty of engineering­­campus­by­the­airfi­eld.­ attila is part of schneider's work equipment. the watchman can even write off the costs for keeping attila on his taxes. in some of schneider's night shift always starts at 9:30 p.m. lights are still on the campus buildings. voices can be heard in the hall of building nr. 51, where the caretaker's office is located. attila pricks up his ears. he seems nervous but stays close to his master's side. "the dog will only go out from me if i tell him to," explains schneider. he laughs warmly when asked if he has ever, during a night shift, had to tell the dog, "go, attila! run!" "i've done it a few times," says schneider. attila caught all of them. "vandals, thieves, trouble-makers," he adds. recently a few young people tried to break the windows in one of the buildings. "they were drunk or stoned," says schneider, "so i let the dog go." in a case like that, attila follows through. the police take care of the rest. nights on campus are quiet as a rule. three times each shift, schneider, attila and another watchman from the cds security service do their rounds on the compound. the university's security strategy has changed over the years. the head of infrastruc- tural building management at the university, edgar preuß, says, "by using watchmen alone, we wouldn't have been able to keep up with growing challenges. he says punks, the homeless and other groups of people were causing more and more disruption. so the university commissioned an external security service and the full-time, staff positions were no longer filled when watchmen retired. diffi cult for prowlers to predict at 11 p.m., schneider zips up his anorak, puts up his collar and takes a key ring in hand. he has too­many­keys­to­fi­t­in­his­trouser­ pocket. every round is different. sometimes he first goes over to the big, blocky buildings on georges köhler allee. other times they start at the old barracks buildings. after all, to catch prow- lers, they want to remain unpredic- table, explains schneider. the moon shines above. attila is un- leashed and trots a few meters ahead, looking, then he turns his head and runs back to schneider, who praises the dog. they walk several kilometers each night on their rounds. to see if anything while the two night watchmen walk around the compound with attila, they rattle windows and doors is unlocked. at the cafeteria, the mensa, they go in briefly. there are two aluminum trays with cat food in them on the stairs. attila gives them a sniff. schneider reports that there's a cat living on the­campus­called­garfi­eld.­"the­ students feed him and have even set up a website for him," he says. there are drink and snack machi- nes­on­the­ground­fl­oor­of­the­men- sa building. for awhile, there were incidents there. people kept climbing in and stealing things out of the machines. schneider has been working for the university of freiburg for 27 years. when he started, he was one of eleven night watchmen and did most of his rounds on natural sciences campus, the instituts- viertel. he remembers his second night on the job there well. he says he was with a colleague doing rounds in area d and saw light coming from under a door. "so we went in. and there were dead people lying there," he says. schneider didn't know then that area d was home to the anatomy institute of the faculty of medici- ne. he says he was still frighte- ned when he told his wife about it the next morning at breakfast. "i told her, 'i won't stay there long.'" but schneider remained. together around the clock he worked in the institutsviertel for almost 14 years. he was transferred to the faculty of engineering campus just after it was built near the airfield. he likes it there. and he's no longer afraid either. "i've got the dog with me," he says, looking down at attila. attila looks back up at him. the duo is a team that's together around the clock. schneider says that when he gets home in the morning, he takes care of the dog first, then goes to bed himself. around noontime they both get up, have something to eat, and then nap for one or two hours in the afternoon. isn't working when others are lonely? schneider sleeping shakes his head and then nods towards to attila. and he has so- meone from cds with him almost every night. if they're not out and about doing their rounds of the compound, the night watchmen make themselves comfortable in the caretaker's office. they have a snack, read and chat amidst the rubber trees and shelves filled with loose-leaf binders. attila settles down at schneider's feet and relaxes a bit, but stays awa- ke. schneider says they pass the time quickly in this way. the night watchman admits, however, that working nights has its drawbacks. his children didn't get to see much of their father. and besides, working night shifts for years has gradually taken its toll on his health. after all, at sixty, he's not the youngest anymore. he's already had three stents implanted, he says, and just after christmas, he had a heart attack. as he talks, schneider shrugs his shoulders, as if it weren't worth mentioning. "that's just the way it is," he says. he's set to retire in january 2018, when the nightly rounds for both him and attila will come to an end.

02 2017 news 3 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de witness and respond a study investigates how images inf luence motivation to engage in political protest images are ever present in the digital age. they influence human behavior and can motivate people to take part in public protests. a political scientist at the university of freiburg, prof. dr. diana panke, is working together with a communica- tions scientist in münster, associate professor dr. stephanie geise, and a political scientist, dr. axel heck of the university of kiel, to investigate how this mechanism works. verena adt spoke with panke, who holds the chair of multi-level governance, about the pilot study. uni´life: frau panke, how did this project start? diana panke: we are investigating what role images play in people's willingness to engage in political protest. to do this, we are using eye-tracking devices. these make it possible to determine what part of a picture is seen by the observer and how long that element holds their gaze. when i was a senior fellow at the freiburg institute for advanced studies (frias), i learned that these devices exist. axel heck was a post doctoral student in my department back then. and i had the idea of developing a joint research project with him. when we looked into the possibility of eye- tracking, we went into the realm of communications science and that led us to stephanie geise. that's how the team got together. what's new about your project? we're doing some really complex experiments. first of all, we record the affective,­reflexive­reaction­of­our­test­ subjects to the images that we show them. then we observe how they cognitively process the affective reac- tion and whether this alters their readiness to take part in political protest. communications science looks closely at the affective reaction. politi- cal science, by contrast, examines intentional action. what's new is that we­can­bring­the­reflexive­behavioral­ reaction together with intentional action. what happens in an experiment like this? the­test­subjects­first­fill­out­an­­online­ questionnaire and provide information about their age, level of education, warteart exhibition presentations master's students of european ethnology at the university of frei- burg held an exhibition entitled warteart at the university's unise- um from 27 april to 28 may 2017. the exhibition showed images, eve- ryday objects, short films and scenic that addressed waiting and the behavior of those who wait. waiting in traffic, at the doctor's office and the wai- ting of the elderly were the focus of the show. aids to mark waiting pe- riods in a creative way – advent calendars, for example. – were also on display. the project's goal was to summarize the students' field re- search. the show culminated a ye- ar-long seminar lead by freiburg researcher dr. sarah may and her colleague dr. florian von doben- eck. the aim was to shed light on waiting as a cultural practice and to investigate different waiting strate- was bewegt menschen dazu, für ihre ideale auf die straße zu gehen? für die studie fragt das team die probanden, wie sie zu bildung, umwelt, wirtschaft und sicherheit stehen. photo: thomas kunz eyes as they observe the image. at the same time, someone from our team is sitting next to the test subject and asks questions about the person's spontane- ous reactions to what they have seen. that's done four times for each text subject with one image each from the four policy areas. after this phase, in which­we­record­above­all­the­reflexive­ affective reaction of the test subject, a second online questionnaire for each of the policy areas is administered. it asks how important it is to the person and how great their motivation is to take part in political protest. by comparing the­initial­and­final­survey,­we­are­able­ to determine if the person's readiness to engage in political protest has changed through seeing the image. how do you choose the images for the experiment? are they emblematic images that have been stamped into our collective memory? you mean like the photo of the drowned, refugee child on the beach, or the east german soldier who is jumping over barbed wire as the berlin wall is being built? no, we wouldn't use pictures like that for our experiment. they can't be iconographic. if the image is already familiar, then we cannot record an intuitive, spontaneous reaction. we choose our images with the help of data banks. the images should be as little-known as possible to ensure our experiment works. could you name several exemplary image subjects? for each policy area, we select three different pictures. we try to choose pictures that are clearly positive, clearly negative and neutral. for environmental policy, it could be a pretty picture of a natural­setting,­perhaps­a­salt­flat­or­the­ alps. those would be examples of positive images. if we're looking for an image that we expect will convey something negative to the observer, then­we­would­find­something­depicting­ forest die back or a sea bird covered in oil. a neutral image for the environment would be a view of a cityscape with some green in it, so not a purely natural environment, but not an environmental disaster either. which reactions do you expect? in principle, we expect that clearly positive and clearly negative images will­influence­behavior­and­willingness­ to act more strongly. but we're also interested in whether negative or positive motivates more strongly and if there are conditions in which either one or the other becomes important. that's why we gather information on political attitudes and predispositions. then we can look to see if a positive or a negative image, or the contrary, is more motivating for a person for whom environmental policy is very important. spontane reaktionen erheben: diana panke präsentiert den teilnehmern un- bekannte bilder, die sich nicht ins kollek- tive gedächtnis eingeprägt haben. photo: anke wiedemann political attitudes and priorities. in our pilot project, we're looking at four different policy areas: environment, economy, security and education. we show the test subject an image from one of these areas. using the eye-tra- cking device we measure the direction of­their­gaze­and­duration­of­fixation­on­ specific­components­of­the­image­as­ well as the changes in the pupils of the ranked among the top four in gründungsradar its the stif ter ver band für die deutsche wissenschaft, a german organization for promotion of research and higher education, has for the first time placed the univer- sit y of freiburg in the top four univer sities latest grundungsradar. freiburg was con- sidered in the c ategor y "large universities," which are those with morethan 15 thousand students. the latest ranking in the third to be c onduc ted. c ommissioned by g er many ’s federal ministr y for ec onomic af fair s and energy (bm wi), it examines how well univer sities the processes of star ting enterprises in the economy. compared to 2012, the univer sit y of freiburg has in c ontr ibute to improved its position by 25 percent, a greater advance than any other university in its category. this suc- cess can be attributed above all to the funding the university has been rec eiving from the bm wi sinc e 2013 under the auspic es of the ministr y's exist- gründungskultur – die gründerhochschule competi- tion, whic h awards funding to institutions of higher education for promoting the transfer of research into business. grant for fellowship program the freibrug institute for advanced studies (frias) has obtained a 2.4 million euro grant for the period from 2018 to 2022 from the co-fund program of­marie­skłodowska-curie­­actions.­the­ aim of the european commission program is to promote the mobility of researchers within europe. frias has already had success in the competition following the initial round of calls for applications from co-fund (2014 to 2018). yet in the meantime, new, power- ful research institutes for advanced studies have become established in europe, meaning that getting a grant again this time was by no means a given. the success rate of applications for the latest co-fund program round was just under 20 percent.  www.gruenden.uni-freiburg.de  www.frias.uni-freiburg.de photo: ute göbner-hanselmann gies. the uniseum is open on thurs- days and saturdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on fridays from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. entry is free of charge.  www.uniseum.uni-freiburg.de

02 2017 research 5 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de fur gloves and illegitimate sons fur gloves and illegitimate sons how women and men lived and worked in medieval how women and men lived and worked in medieval abbeys on the upper rhine they allowed to own property? which they allowed to own property? which roles did they play in religious roles did they play in religious services? at the center of kleinjung's at the center of kleinjung's research are the convents in bad research are the convents in bad säckingen, wonnental, waldkirch säckingen, wonnental, waldkirch and sulzburg, all of which have and sulzburg, all of which have been little researched until now. as been little researched until now. as canons in bad säckingen, the men canons in bad säckingen, the men and women in the cloister were a and women in the cloister were a religious community and collabora- religious community and collabora- ted in celebrating masses. ted in celebrating masses. frequently, however, frequently, however, men were only housed men were only housed in women's convents in women's convents for the purposes of for the purposes of saying mass, admi- saying mass, admi- nistering the sacra- nistering the sacra- ments or to hear ments or to hear confessions. to wear fur gloves in to wear fur gloves in the winter. another the winter. another document reports document reports that the abbess in that the abbess in bad säckingen bad säckingen gave birth to an il- gave birth to an il- legitimate son, only legitimate son, only to later house him to later house him within the abbey as within the abbey as a cleric. "we want a cleric. "we want to get away from to get away from stories of individu- stories of individu- al fates. instead, al fates. instead, we prefer to ask we prefer to ask what light these what light these individual cases individual cases can shed on soci- can shed on soci- al history," says al history," says kleinjung. kleinjung. search search the researcher is only just the researcher is only just beginning her for beginning her for answers. how the research on answers. how the research on women's cloisters in freiburg women's cloisters in freiburg continues also depends on the continues also depends on the project's financing. up to now, project's financing. up to now, the university of freiburg has the university of freiburg has provided 12,500 euros from the provided 12,500 euros from the innovation endowment fund. innovation endowment fund. in the autumn of 2017, it will in the autumn of 2017, it will become clear if the german become clear if the german research foundation, the research foundation, the dfg, will continue to fund the dfg, will continue to fund the project. the historian is project. the historian is hoping she'll get a green hoping she'll get a green light. "many of the sources light. "many of the sources that we've gathered have that we've gathered have never been opened and never been opened and were in archives until now. were in archives until now. i'm expecting to still make a i'm expecting to still make a few more interesting disco- few more interesting disco- veries," says kleinjung. veries," says kleinjung. by sonja seidel elisabeth von falkenstein would not allow men to tell her what to do. the abbess herself wanted to deter- mine when the women in her convent would pray, if they were allo- wed contact with their fa- milies, and who would speak at assemblies. she did not rule with an iron fist. instead, she worked together with her nuns to set the statutes for the cloister at bad säckin- gen. does that sound like oppression? not re- ally, says dr. christine kleinjung of the history department at the uni- versity of freiburg. "the bishops had the need to place a clear mark on the women. yet in practice, life in medieval convents was quite colorful," she says. of baden (badische landesbibliothek), digital collection initials from the choral hymn book of the former cloister at won- nental bei kenzingen. source: state library kleinjung is gaining kleinjung is gaining insight into how daily re- insight into how daily re- lations between the gen- lations between the gen- ders unfolded by rese- ders unfolded by rese- arching in archives. she arching in archives. she has consulted wills, let- has consulted wills, let- ters, certificates and bills ters, certificates and bills from the cloisters. they from the cloisters. they provide clues about what provide clues about what affected the women and affected the women and which rights and privile- which rights and privile- ges they enjoyed. "it's a ges they enjoyed. "it's a confl icts and cooperation kleinjung is currently working on a research project that is investigating the interaction between women and men in medieval abbeys on the sou- thern upper rhine. one of the ques- tions kleinjung wants to answer is if and how women adhered to the rules that men had made for them to follow. "for many years, only male religious communities or female religious com- munities were researched. by cont- rast, in this project, we're interested in how men and women lived to- gether, what were the power relation- ships and hierarchies, and where was cooperation between them," klein- jung explains. were the women allo- wed contact with their families? were shame, but it's not like being in an shame, but it's not like being in an open air museum, where you can figure everything out just by being on site," says klein- jung. that simply isn't possible, jung. that simply isn't possible, she continues, mainly because she continues, mainly because the original buildings from the middle ages no longer exist – middle ages no longer exist – with the exception of the ab- bey church in sulzburg. the researchers must decipher texts in order to experience a lost world. beyond individual fates there is, for example a letter to the pope from the women in the cloister at bad säckingen. in it, they ask if they may be allowed fridolin's minister was the church of the cloister at bad säckingen – which was disbanded in 1806.. photo: manuel schönfeld/fotolia evi zemanek awarded heinz maier leibnitz prize new projects on upper rhine a junior professor of the university of freiburg's department of german, dr. evi zemanek has been awarded a 2017 heinz maier leibnitz prize, which car- ries with it a grant of 20 thousand euros. a committee composed of people from the german research foundation, the dfg, and germany's federal ministry of education and research selected zemanek from a pool of 154 resear-  chers. zemanek has distinguished her- self through diverse comparative stu- dies of european literature and her research­on­intermediality,­specifi­cally­ the relationships between literature and the visual arts. thanks to the interdisci- plinary, international cooperative re- search that she has initiated, zemanek is known as the person who is paving the way for ecocriticism in germany. the heinz maier leibnitz prize is among­the­most­signifi­cant­awards­for­ junior researchers in germany. it was conferred a total of ten times in 2017. evi zemanek. photo: private the monitoring committee of the interreg-va-upper-rhine program has confirmed two grants totaling to nearly three million euros to fund cross-border projects. around 950 thousand euros of that sum will be used to fund the "rmtmo ri" project dedicated to improved interconnec- tion of research infrastructures. the aim of the three-year project is the development of a concept for innova- tive, cross-border research infrastruc- ture on the upper rhine. the project's funding institutions include all five member universities of the european campus – among them the university of freiburg – and nine further cooperating partner institu- tions. more than two million euros in funding were also approved for a transnational platform for sustainable viticulture known as vitifutur. the project's main funding institution is the state viticulture institute freiburg, which is cooperating with sixteen other partner institutions. erc advanced grant for historian of antiquity foundations extend ecosystem nutrition prof. dr. sitta von reden of the de- partment of ancient history of the uni- versity of freiburg has received a 2.5 million euro advanced grant from the european research council (erc) for her project beyond the silk road. with her international multidisciplinary research team, von reden plans to develop a comprehensive model of exchange between ancient empires. she will investigate the connections cultural between economics, exchange, migration and the signifi- cance of border regions – precisely the factors which, among other things, made it possible for chinese silk to reach rome. the advanced grant is one of the most prestigious research awards in europe. the erc makes the grant to projects that promise to yield high scientific gain but also carry high risk. sitta von reden. photo: private working in cooperation with the swiss national science foundation, the german research foundation (dfg) has approved another three years of funding for the current priority program (spp) called ecosystem nutrition: fo- rest strategies for limited phosphorus resources. the foundations are provi- ding almost 7.5 million euros in funding for further work, with the university of freiburg receiving around two million euros of this sum. the program has been ongoing since 2013. in it, scien- tists are researching the role the availa- bility of phosphorus in the soil plays for trees and forests and which processes control the distribution of this vital nutri- ent in ecosystems. the program's spokesperson is prof. dr. friederike lang of chair of soil ecology of the university of freiburg.  www.ecosystem-nutrition.uni-freiburg.de

02 2017 learning 7 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de structure in a cacophony of voices commentaries on the war: together with johanna pink and ruth bartholomä, students translated and analyzed articles about the war in syria and the kurdish confl­ict.­photo: jürgen gocke students translate news articles from turkish and arabic – texts are available on website asylum seekers that appeared in the turkish opposition newspaper evren- sel. she went on to say that classify- ing the article was also labor intensi- ve, but very exciting. "we analyzed freedom of the press in turkey, for example, and we asked ourselves which sources were named and how we could determine if they were relia- ble," kreher says. according to pink, a seminar like this one was certainly more time con- suming than the average course for teachers and students alike. never- theless, she added, she would like to do another one like it at the next op- portunity. kreher summed up, saying it was worth it. "for me it was the se- minar during which i could apply eve- rything that i have learned up to now."  www.orient.uni-freiburg.de/syrienprojekt mit direktbank und bundesweitem filialnetz. für mich: bbbank-junges konto 1 voraussetzung: genossenschaftsanteil von 15,– euro/mitglied. kostenfreie kontoführung bis 27 jahre, danach erfolgt automatisch die umwandlung in ein gehalts-/bezügekonto. voraussetzung für eine kostenfreie kontoführung ab ausbildungsbeginn/berufsstart: eingang ausbildungsvergütung bzw. gehalt/bezüge. 2 zinssatz variabel, befristet bis zur vollendung des 27. lebensjahres; vierteljährliche zinsgutschrift ihre vorteile: • kontoführung, bankcard und depot zum nulltarif 1 • für jugendliche unter 18 jahren: bei kontoeröffnung schenken wir ihnen die mitgliedschaft in höhe von 15,– euro • verzinsung bis max. 1.000,– euro kontoguthaben2 informieren sie sich jetzt über die vielen weiteren vorteile ihres neuen kontos unter www.bbbank.de/junge-kunden by thomas goebel the lede sentence from one arabic newspaper already posed a chal- lenge: "a row of yellow crates on the way to burial" is a reminder for iran and its militias in syria of how it is wit- hout russian support. maren bagdahn fi­rst­translated­the­sentence­word-for- word. but what could "yellow crates" mean? bagdahn researched the topic and­in­the­fi­nal­version­of­her­transla- tion­chose­"a­row­of­coffi­ns."­in­a­foot- note she explained that the linguistic image in the source text referred to yellow­hezbollah­fl­ags­covering­fi­gh- ters'­coffi­ns. "my goal was to produce a german text that reads well," said bagdahn, a master's student of islamic studies at the university of freiburg. the article from the lebanese newspaper al- mustaqbal was an editorial that was critical of iran. bagdahn's translation and a detailed commentary for it can now be read on a website. bagdahn says, "the comments classify linguis- tic features and allusions and explain the topic's context." political relevance the website resulted from a seminar that took place during the summer se- mester of 2016. entitled "the war in syria from an arabic and turkish per- spective, "it was aimed at advanced bachelor's and master's students. "we always try to work with original language sources," says johanna pink, a professor of islamic studies of the oriental seminar of the university of freiburg. she explains, "in this se- minar, we also wanted to offer an ac- tual, politically relevant issue." pink and her colleague, junior pro- fessor ruth bartholomä, then put their heads together and decided that the seminar results were to be published on the internet. they entered their concept in the "innovative studies" project competition of the freiburg student government (stura) and won. this­provided­additional­fi­nancing­for­ research assistant olmo gölz, who supported the students in preparing their work for the website. pink says, "we wanted it to become something that the public could read rather than just one or two lecturers. tutors who were native-speakers of arabic and turkish also assisted with the seminar. searching, fi nding and selecting "our initial question was 'how do countries where many refugees live and that are geographically much closer than we are to the syrian war report on it?'" says bartholomä. the seminar's 17 participants spent their fi­rst­sessions­becoming­familiar­with­ the media landscapes in lebanon and turkey, and the fundamentals of the confl­ict­in­syria. they then went on to search for and select the newspaper articles that they wanted to translate and comment on. pink says, "we consciously let the students choose." she adds that the research done on lebanese and tur- kish media websites was not exactly easy. master's student nina schad explains," i found searching for arabic sources quite challenging." she cho- se an article from the lebanese newspaper,­an-nahār,­about­the­role­ of the european union. the topics ranged from the handling of­refugees­to­the­kurdish­confl­ict­to­ the use of poison gas in the syrian war. the original texts are linked to the­now­fi­nished­website,­which­inclu- des a translation, short abstract, de- tailed commentary, summary and bib- liographical references for each article. gölz and the students edited the­fi­nal­versions­of­the­texts­together. "we­discussed­the­fi­rst­drafts­of­the­ translations together in the seminar sessions," says bartholomä, "and the tutorials were important as well." she added that some of the bachelor's students had completed only one year of language instruction, so it was a big leap for them to translate a text that read well. the commentaries were prepared during the semester break. applying everything "you can work for half an hour to translate a long turkish sentence," confirmed kirsten kreher. the bachelor's student translated an article about deaths among syrian

02 2017 campus 9 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de offi ce hours for hope law students have provided advice for more than one hundred refugees – and it looks like they will advise many more what do you need to know when applying for asylum? students help people seeking advice as they make their way through the german administrative jungle. photo: ingeborg lehmann by lars kirchberg t he office at schwabentorring 2 is open. it's friday at noon. the first visitors seeking counsel wait in the foyer. five freiburg law students di- vided into two teams are sitting in the office at the end of the corridor. the sun is shining and people have hot drinks. the atmosphere is calm and relaxed. you could almost forget that for the next two hours the conversa- tions will revolve around people's fa- tes. sajjad a. has come along with his former counselor. the two have known each other for several years, and what was once a professional re- lationship has developed into friend- ship. sajjad is from pakistan and has lived in germany for four years. he left his home country at the age of sixteen and headed west. "my uncle said i would get a good education in germany," says sajjad. he travelled for many months to achieve his dream. four-month deadline mostly he travelled in the company of families, staying for a few weeks in one country before moving on to another. in order to travel hassle- free, he needed a passpor t that proved he was of legal age. he got one quickly. "it's not hard to get your hands on fake documents," he says. but now that could cost him the chance of getting a residence permit in germany. up until recently the permit was extended ever y six months, but now the federal agency for migration and refugees (bamf) is giving him trouble. because sajjad did not enter the country on account of political or religious persecution, his chances of staying in germany are limited. but if he can prove he is not yet 21 years old, he has good prospects. the bamf has given him four months to do that. that's why sajjad is sitting here now in the association's counseling center, just three weeks before his 21st birthday. and yet he could be a poster child for integration: he speaks german with almost no accent and already has a diploma from an international school. at the end of 2016 he star ted training to become a nurse. should all of his efforts fail because of a fake birth date? "i don't have much hope of getting a passport," he admits with resignation. isabel kienzle from the counseling team, however, is more optimistic, "because of his success- ful integration, he has ver y good chances of being able to stay. the first order of business is to check the agency's set deadline," says the law student, pointing out to sajjad that depor tation is extremely difficult without a passport. her words have an encouraging effect on him. he is planning on going to frankfurt in the next few days to visit the pakistani general consulate. stay objective – no matter what there are a lot of cases like that of sajjad a., but not all are as promi- sing as his. the counselors speak of some tales that have really gotten under their skin. stories of families torn apart and of capsized boats on the mediterranean, of child soldiers raspberry university of freiburg receives collection of ardent rolling stones' fan more than 15 thousand recordings, pins, fan letters, books, posters, t-shirts – even a pinball machine. the reinhold karpp rolling stones collection includes anything a passionate 'stones fan could desire. the center for popular culture and music (zpkm) of the university of freiburg has what may be the most unique collection of rolling stones memorabilia around. the items were given to the university on permanent loan by the family of the late reinhold karpp, who followed the band everywhere. until recently, the collection remained safely stored in about 100 boxes. but the researchers are unpacking it now. uni'life gets a glimpse what they are fi nding. they have yet to be properly qualified, so they're still not allowed to provide legal representation. " we're acting more as assessors than as legal counsel," witt empha- sizes. " when we have specific or deeper issues to address, we often contact the person again after doing more thorough research," she says. for urgent matters, the students have a good network of lawyers specialized in the appropriate areas. most of those seeking counsel are at the stage between having applied for asylum and the bamf hearing that decides their fate. "we can explain to them, for instance, what is important for a substantiated asylum application, because a lot of people don't know what is decisive and what isn't," reports paul könig. the team acts as a guide for asylum seekers as they navigate their way through the german administrative jungle. one thing they do, for instance, is to accompany their clients to important appointments. it's the simple things that count the most. free service despite their limited capabilities, the students' office hours are fully booked. word has gotten around about their free ser vice, and they have already helped more than a hundred refugees. although they are volunteers, they dedicate a great deal of time to their work. even though they receive little or no aca- demic credit for it, they are sticking to it. they all agree that it is ver y rewarding to help other people; that it feels good to do good. but there's no time to digress. there's a knock at the door. another group of people is seeking advice. this time it's a roma family from serbia. and of fathers who sell their daugh- ters to pay off their gambling debts, of those tortured by taliban militia for being "traitors". "when you're sitting opposite from someone so trauma- tized you are often at a loss for words," explains jakob gauli. "personally, you feel really sorry for the person, but at the same time you have to watch out that you offer objective counsel," he explains. luise witt emphasizes the human aspect of the association's work. her team has had "the experience that many are simply glad to have someone to speak to about what happened to them." but in many cases, the young law students feel their hands are tied.  http://rlc-freiburg.org the best of friends: mick jagger and keith richards. collectors' items, cushions, a mouse pad: the resear- chers say they want to use the collection to explore social practices, among other things, such as the different ways people come photos: ma x orlich the pinball machines is the pinball machines is one of the collection's one of the collection's highlights. when a play- highlights. when a play- er loses, it plays i can't er loses, it plays i can't get no satisfaction. get no satisfaction. get no satisfaction. during the course of his life, reinhold karpp went to more than 130 rolling stones concerts all around the world and brought back memorabilia with him.  www.zpkm.uni-freiburg.de www.zpkm.uni-freiburg.de

02 2017 compass 11 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de orientation at just the right time freiburg research services offers post-doctoral students an expanded program in the summer semester of 2017 by lars kirchberg the freiburg research services (frs) of the university of freiburg is expanding its program for post-docto- ral students. currently, more than 20 activities are planned for the summer semester of 2017. all are free of char- ge. the aim is to provide young resear- chers with orientation in the critical phase after they have received their degrees. for many new ph.d.s, it is a time of unclarity: should they pursue a career in research, or perhaps leave academe for private industry? "we've taken a look at where there's need," says julia michael of the frs. "we would like to help postdocs to develop an awareness of their own potential in order to reach good decisions," she says. individualized coaching there is something in the program for everyone, whether it is assessing potential or workshops about establi- shing networks and beyond to activities addressing academic and non-academic career paths. even the needs of experienced postdocs have been considered. there are sessions, for example, that cover making offers, provide advice on applying for third- party funding, and how to manage re- search projects or project staff. some of the workshops last two days. other- wise, the emphasis is on shorter by petra völzing the most important tool for peop- le who use their heads at work is their hands. they rapidly transcribe attained knowledge into the computer. and while that's going on, the fore- arms are often held motionless, in the same position for hours – at the desk or hovering above the keyboard. one hand is frozen over the mouse, and if the height of the desk is unsuitable, the forearm may also rest heavily on the edge of the desk. all these factors im- pede circulation of blood into the upper extremities. the hands don't just be- come cold, working like this can also shorten the tendons in the hands and forearms or cause tendonitis. regularly stretching the hands and forearms while working at a desk can prevent this. so sit up straight on the edge of your chair. extend one arm in front of you with your palm facing up. extend­the­fingers­away­from­you­and­ towards­the­floor.­use­the­other­hand­ to gently press the fingers towards your body. this powerfully stretches career plans as well as important deci- sions with respect to their further professional development, or to gain some clarity regarding their own priorities," michael elaborates. the postdocs are welcoming the opportunities the program provides, and the frs team has made it their priority to continually fine tune and expand the offering. "it's all very well organized. registration is fairly simple and group size – about twelve participants -- is really nice," says julia binkenstein, who for nearly a year has been a post-doctoral student at the institute for nature conservation and landscape preservation. "i'm trying to take part in all of it, because it's free of charge and of top quality. the consul- tants are professionals through and through." there's great interest in some of the topics, especially to do with things you need in your career, like executive level management or the basics of business administration. "those are all topics that you're not confronted with when you're sitting in an ivory tower," says arun d'souza, a post-doctoral student at the institute of psychology he's convinced that the offering is expanding his "own horizon for the world beyond the university." and in order to meet the needs of postdocs who are parents, frs is cooperating with the university's fami- ly­services­office.­financial­support­is­ being provided for child care during the events and activities.  www.frs.uni-freiburg.de/kurse_postdocs enjoying lunch while learning: the new "brown bag" event format brings junior researchers together in a relaxed atmosphere while presenting topics about a research career path. photo: klaus polkowski formats. "postdocs don't tent do have a lot of time. that's why we're ensuring that the quality of the offering is really suitable," says michael. the team wan- ted to present events that left partici- pants saying afterwards, "that really took me a step further." the team at frs cooperated with a variety of trainers, some of them from private business, in developing the workshops. "what's particularly important to us is that they have already had experience in a university context," explains michael. among the novelties this summer semester are individual coaching sessions. michael says the demand for these is very high and that registrations came in one af- ter the other. "with the help of profes- sional coaches, we would like to offer postdocs an opportunity reflect on working out at work students and office workers often spend hours sitting motionless with their eyes fixed on their computer screens. as deadlines and examinations approach, the time for relaxation shrinks to nil. it's no wonder, then, that back pain, stiff necks, headaches or simply a general sense of being unwell caused by sluggish circulation, can set in over time. finding relief for these aches and pains isn't difficult. the staff of the fitness & health center (fgz) of the university of freiburg has presented a series of exercises that can easily be done at your desk at any time. forearm stretches for relaxed, f luid typing the muscles from the elbow to the wrist. hold the position for twenty to thirty seconds, and make sure you are breathing regularly as you do it. then change arms. doing each forearm one or two times is plenty. it's important to make sure that the arm stays comple- tely straight throughout the entire exer- cise in order to stretch all the muscles as effectively as possible. a variation on­this­is­to­point­the­fingers­of­the­out- stretched arm towards the ceiling. use your­other­hand­to­gently­pull­your­fin- gers in the direction of your body. move it! anyone who wants to get moving is welcome to come and explore the range of activities and ad- vice the fgz offers, or you can book­an­office­visit­from­pausen- express to be put through your paces on the spot.  www.fgz.uni-freiburg.de www.gesunde.uni-freiburg.de/angebote/ projekte/pausenexpress extend and stretch: regularly stretching your hands and forearms is a way to avoid shortening of the tendons. photos: klaus polkowski

02 2017 personnel 13 unı life newspaper of the university of freiburg www.leben.uni-freiburg.de achievements dr. rupinder kaur of the depart- ment of microsystems engineering (mst), mirjam lücking of the depart- ment of ethnology, and christina pfeuffer of the institute of psychology are receiving the stay! bridging schol- arship from the university of freiburg and the new university endowment freiburg. this is designed to attract fe- male post-docs who want to continue their academic career but have not yet secured­follow-up­financing.­funding­of­ 1,800 euros per month is granted initi- ally for six months, and this may be ex- tended to one year. dr. kaur is rese- arching affordable and durable composites from semiconductors and nanostructured materials. her goal is to define­and­improve­the­features­of­the- se composites so that they can contri- bute to the production of energy through water splitting. lücking is stu- dying the reciprocal relationship bet- ween anti-islamic and islamic populism. she is carrying out an international comparative case study to investigate the attraction of various forms of xeno- phobic populism. pfeuffer's research project examines the processes of hu- man action control with the aid of eye movements. the freiburg microsystems engineer dr. can dincer took second place in the gips-schüle-nachwuchspreis for his dissertation, which looks at the op- timization of biosensor systems for the diagnosis of diseases. the gips schüle foundation presents the award in reco- gnition of outstanding doctoral work in the "mint" subjects, mathematics, in- formatics, science and technology. the prize is endowed with 5,000 euros. friedericke fischer has received an award for best poster presentation at the annual conference of the gesell- schaft für pädiatrische nephrologie, along with an award of 1,000 euros. the honor was given in recognition of the results of her master thesis, which she wrote at the center for pediatrics at freiburg university medical center. in this, she describes an innovative prote- in that could be used therapeutically against diseases of the complement system. dr. lena krämer from the institute of psychology has received the 5,000 euro e-learning incentive award from the university of freiburg. this was conferred on her for an e-portfolio that she developed as a form of examination that accompanies the "clinical psycho- logical intervention" course throughout the semester. its aim is to help students take a critical stance towards issues and­reflect­on­their­own­actions­by­coll- ecting documents in which they record and evaluate their learning process over the course of the semester into a kind of virtual folder on the online lear- ning platform ilias. the freiburg forestry scientist prof. dr. dr. h.c. heinrich spiecker has been awarded the international coope- ration prize by the chinese province of hebei. spiecker received the prize for his contribution to seminatural forestry there. since december 2012, he has been advising the state forestry enter- prise mulan, which manages an area of forest land of 90,000 hectares around beijing. the region is demonstrating best forestry practice as part of a nati- onwide development program. amongst other things, spiecker developed growth models that were adapted to the location to help with this project. these growth models allow a forest's produc- tivity to be estimated, enabling sustai- nable use of the tree stock. the verein rheinisch-westfälischer augenärzte has awarded its science prize to dr. thomas wecker, specialist at the freiburg university medical center's eye center. the prize, which brings with it a grant of 15,000 euros, funds projects by junior researchers who­have­made­a­significant­contributi- on to ophthalmology. the prize-winning project was designed to characterize genetic­information­in­intraocular­fluid­ samples from the anterior and posterior chamber, and so contributes to better understanding of various eye diseases. the biologist dr. kosuke yamahara of the shiga university of medical sci- ence in otsu, japan, is receiving a humboldt research scholarship for post-docs. with its scholarship, the ale- xander von humboldt foundation sup- ports highly qualified scientists from ein konto für alles mögliche. -mal besser vorbereitet mit . dieses giro- und erlebniskonto hat in ihrer studien- und azubizeit alles parat. infos zu den vorteilen – banking und service, sicherheit und preisvorteile in der regio – gibt’s bei der sparkasse vor ort oder per contomaxx-app. … lebe dein konto! contomaxx.de abroad at the start of their career. yamahara will be researching at the university of freiburg into how altered metabolic processes in specialized kid- ney cells contribute to the progression of diabetic nephropathy. the disease can be a consequence of diabetes and is the commonest cause of dialysis de- pendency. the hosts are prof. dr. tobi- as b. huber and prof. dr. gerd walz from the department of medicine iv at the freiburg university medical center. prof. dr. almut zeeck, senior physi- cian at the department of psychosoma- tic medicine and psychotherapy of the freiburg university medical center, has together with the chief psychologist dr. armin hartmann received the heigl pri- ze­for­their­scientific­work­on­psycho- therapy research. the prize is endowed with 10,000 euros and will be presented at the annual conference of the deut- sche gesellschaft für psychosomati- sche medizin und ärztliche psychothe- rapie in berlin. the work of zeeck and hartmann looks at the question of how patients internalize experiences in the- rapy sessions and process them in dai- ly life. the chemist dr. jun zheng from the chinese academy of sciences in shanghai, china, is receiving a hum- boldt research scholarship for post- docs from the alexander von humboldt foundation. with its scholarship, the foundation supports highly qualified scientists from abroad at the start of their career. at the university of frei- burg dr. zheng will be looking at new methods of chemical synthesis that are preferably­atom-efficient­and­therefore­ free of potential waste products. the substances hereby created will, for ex- ample, be used as a basis for medici- nes or dyes. the host is prof. dr. bern- hard breit from the institute of organic chemistry and biochemistry. the ministry of science, research and art (mwk) of the state of baden- württemberg and the university of freiburg are supporting five outstan- ding women scholars who have one child or more. the brigitte-schlieben- lange program provides aid for mothers working towards professor- ships. through one to two years of employment, the program promotes academic qualification initiatives during the postdoctoral phase. during this time, the researchers can obtain the qualifications they still need for full professorships and raise follow- up research funding. the award- winning their projects are as follows: researchers and - dr. maria asplund, biomedical microtechnology; "functional electro- nic materials for enhancing neural microelectrodes" - dr. cornelia klose, biology; "how intracellular protein dynamics regulate the activity of the plant photoreceptors phytochrome a and b" - dr. sandra straßburg, experimental surgery; "regenerative approaches in plastic surgery" - associate professor dr. sarah tei- ge-mocigemba, psychology; "is negative stronger than positive? process components of valence asym- metry effects: a diffusion model analysis" - dr. elisabeth zima, german linguistics; "pilot study on multimodal coordination in joint recounting during face-to-face interaction" appointments faculty of theology effective 1 april 2017, the rector has appointed prof. dr. karl-heinz ruhstorfer, technische universität dresden, professor of dogmatics with source studies of medieval theology. faculty of economics and behavioral sciences prof. dr. ulrike halsband, institute of psychology, retired at the end of march 2017. faculty of philology effective 1 april 2017, the rector has appointed axel bohmann from the department of english to be an adminis- trative officer for the period of three years. prof. dr. eva tichy, indo-european linguistics, retired at the end of march 2017. faculty of humanities effective 30 march 2017, the rector has appointed junior professor dr. anna lipphardt, institute of cultural anthro- pology and european ethnology, professor of cultural studies, with a concentration on mobility and culture in europe. the rector has appointed prof. dr. gordon crawford, centre for trust, peace and social relations of coventry university, gb, an adjunct professor. prof. dr. ulrich rebstock, oriental semi- nar, retired at the end of march 2017. effective 1 may 2017, the rector has appointed dr. laury sarti from the department of history to be an administ- rative­officer­for­the­period­of­three­­years. faculty of mathematics and physics prof. dr. victor bangert, institute of mathematics, retired at the end of march 2017. effective 1 april 2017, the rector has appointed dr. anja kuhnhold from the institute of physics to be an administra- tive­officer­for­the­period­of­three­­years. effective 1 april 2017, the rector has appointed dr. amador martin pizarro, university of lyon, france, professor of mathematical logic and principles of mathematics. faculty of chemistry and pharmacy effective 1 april 2017, the vice president has appointed dr. markus heiny from the institute of macromole- cular chemistry to be an administrative officer­for­the­period­of­three­years. anniversaries 25th anniversaries dr. jens-arne dickmann, institute of archeological sciences marion leinfelder, institute of sports science and physical education prof. dr. ursula nothelle-wildfeuer, institute of practical theology prof. dr. alexander renkl, institute of psychology prof. dr. annette huber-klawitter, institute of mathematics 40th anniversaries prof. dr. dr. jürgen bengel, institute of psychology rita matysiak, university library harald noeske, institute of biology i anja semmler, faculty of chemistry and­pharmacy­dean's­office faculty of biology prof. dr. peter beyer, institute of biology ii, retired at the end of march 2017. effective 27 march 2017, the rector has appointed junior professor dr. winfried römer, bioss centre for biological signalling studies/institute of biology ii, professor of synthetic biology of signalling processes. effective 1 april 2017, the rector has appointed dr. sebastian timo schenk from the institute of biology ii to be an administrative officer for the period of three years. faculty of environment and natural resources effective 1 april 2017, the rector has appointed dr. sina leipold, institute of environmental social sciences and geography, junior professor of social transformation and closed-loop economy for the period of four years. faculty of engineering prof. dr. dr. h.c. günter müller, institute of computer science and social studies, retired at the end of march 2017. he will be a senior advisor at the centre for security and society of the university of freiburg until 31 december 2017. effective 10 april 2017, the rector has appointed dr. lars pastewka, karlsruhe institute of technology and the fraunhofer institute for mecha- nics of materials – iwm in freiburg, professor of simulation. effective 1 april 2017, the rector has appointed dr. alexander reiterer, fraunhofer institute for physical measurement techniques – ipm in freiburg, professor of inspection of major structures. prof. dr. alexander rohrbach from the institute of microsystems engi- neering has declined the appointment offered to him by the university of osnabrück. effective 1 april 2017, the rector has appointed dr. simon thiele from the institute of microsystems engineering to be an administrative officer for the period of three years. effective 1 april 2017, the rector has appointed dr. anelis kaiser trujillo, university of bern, switzerland, professor of gender studies in mint. venia legendi for dr. heiko becker, experimental medicine dr. dr. franck billmann, surgery dr. frederike hassepaß, oto- rhino- laryngology dr. ulrich hubbe, neurosurgery dr. david christopher kubosch, orthopedics and trauma surgery dr. karen lienkamp, microsystems engineering dr. ulrich maurer, experimental medicine dr. jochen oliver reinöhl, medicine