Activities
The Camilla and Georg Jellinek Center has been established to analyze and reflect ethical and normative issues in research, teaching, and society. These analyses are primarily conducted from an interdisciplinary vantage point, with a discerning eye toward critical reflection and evaluation.
The Camilla and Georg Jellinek Center for Ethics (JCfE) levarages the full potential of Heidelberg University and is based on the activities of its members. Rather than delegating ethical research and reflection to supposed experts in a remote ethics center, these inquires should take place wherever they become relevant. To this end, the Center continuously develops projects that combine different perspectives and are carried out across the University, beyond project and faculty boundaries. This commitment fosters long-term collaborations that integrate normative issues into the training of new professionals and scientists and contribute to the overall mission of a responsible university. Along the pillars of its mission, the center uses various instruments. These include:
- Seeds: Start-up funding for interdisciplinary research projects on ethical and normativity-related issues
- Hubs: Networking and platforms for interdisciplinary exchange on ethical issues in event series and symposia, with an initial focus on ethics in university teaching
- Moves: Research stays abroad for Heidelberg scientists and international visiting scientists
Seeds
The JCFE's seed funding program supports the center’s thematic development. It is designed to promote innovative research initiatives addressing ethically relevant topics with the potential to evolve into larger research projects and long-term collaborations at Heidelberg University. The call is open to all disciplines at the university that engage with normative reasoning, ethical questions, or related fields of application. To this end, funding was initially provided for three interdisciplinary workshops—to be held through December 31, 2026—aimed at exploring and narrowing down a research topic, as well as for two interdisciplinary research projects designed to prepare a grant application.
Hubs
To facilitate exchange, visibility, and interdisciplinary learning across these professional domains, the Jellinek Center will establish hubs. Hubs are networking spaces that connect different disciplinary perspectives. These include lecture series, annual conferences, and innovative formats for knowledge sharing and participation.
Moves
Moves enable individual scholars to shift perspectives through temporary change of location, encouraging intellectual cross-pollination and thematic innovation. These include, in particular, international workshops where visiting scholars come to Heidelberg, as well as collaborations that enable researchers from Heidelberg to network with colleagues abroad.
