The Relevance of Area Studies for the Sciences and Public Policy

Social sciences, and even more so natural sciences and engineering, tend to neglect local conditions, i.e. how ecological, social, political or economic issues are perceived and addressed in the specific context of a country or region and how solutions are sought for and implemented. Area studies can correct these shortcomings, because they pay close attention to local conditions and regional differences. Nevertheless, it is far from common sense that area studies specialists and researchers from other sciences collaborate. Our conference aims at highlighting possible contributions of area studies to the sciences, innovation and public policy by discussing concrete examples in the following highly relevant thematic fields: Ideological and social forces in the era of globalization, innovation, ecology and energy transition, health and food security, engineering, robotics and IoT, and public and foreign policy.

Area Studies in Practice - Rationale of the Sessions:

• Sessions on selected topics which are of high relevance for the sciences, innovation, politics and society; concrete projects will be presented.

• At each session there will be three input presentations (each 10-15 minutes) by speakers from Europe and Asia, followed by a discussion.

Overarching questions:

• Which relevance (academic and practical) do area studies have for the sciences and public policy in Europe and Asia?

• What needs to be done to bring area studies in closer contact with sciences and public policy?

• How can area studies contribute to innovation and research conducted in social sciences, natural sciences and engineering?

• How can area studies help to build better, context-sensitive theories?

Please register at [email protected]. Registration deadline: 11 November 2016

Inquiries: Iris Wieczorek, Leibniz Japan 03-3470-7257