I have received a variety of international research grants, for individual research projects as well as for collaborative grants, e.g., with researchers from Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada and Germany.
In this year-long exploratory collaboration, funded by an initialization grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG), an interdisciplinary consortium of museum scholars from empirical cultural studies, media and information studies and cultural geography, explores questions such as:
- How do museums assume a societally relevant role in current political climates, affected by polarization and populism?
- (How) Could museums be understood as actors of diplomacy?
- How do explicit and implicit cultural policies cultivate (or hinder) museum alliances for cultural diversity and pluralism?
- How do museums act to engage with value– and resource-related conflicts in respectful and inclusive ways?
In a kick-off workshop in Toronto in July, 2025, hosted at the Aga Khan Museum, the German-Canadian project team invites a variety of academic and practical stakeholders to informally reflect on the above questions. A follow-up workshop in Berlin in 2025/26 will pick up on these conversations, and deepen reflection on museums‘ roles as diplomatic actors. The objective of the workshops is to exchange experiences, practices and problematizations regarding the (cultural) political landscapes that enable/hinder museums to function as diplomatic actors.