- Location: Im Moore 23, Hannover-Nordstadt
- Funding: approx. €20 million
- Desk space for over 100 people
- Start of construction: 2023
- Planned completion: 2026
Wissenschaftsreflexion is the study of science itself – examining why, what and how research is conducted, and reflecting on the resulting social implications. At Leibniz University Hannover, this research focus follows an interdisciplinary approach. Researchers from sociology, philosophy, political science, economics, law, didactics and higher education research work together to examine the conditions, role and social responsibility of science, as well as society’s responsibility towards science. The research findings are shared and discussed with the various stakeholders in academia and the general public.
Forum Wissenschaftsreflexion is located directly on the main campus of Leibniz University, in the heart of Hannover’s Nordstadt and directly next to the Department of History and the Institute of Sociology. Groundbreaking was on 6 July 2023, and the roofing ceremony was held on 5 June 2024. In addition to researchers from the Institute of Sociology, the Institute of Philosophy, the Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (CELLS) and the Leibniz Centre for Science and Society (LCSS), researchers from the Lab Knowledge Infrastructures (TIB) and the Research Data Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (fdz.DZHW) will also move in. In this way, thematic and infrastructural research will be innovatively intertwined. In future, the research building will provide sufficient offices and spaces for communication (meeting rooms, conference room, Wissenswerkstatt, Agora) to enable collaborative interdisciplinary research and the development of original ideas.
The total cost of the construction was approximately €20 million, which is shared between the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony (funding under Article 91b Abs. 1 Satz 1 Grundgesetz).
