Research Units

The center examines the diverse processes of digital transformation in a manner that is appropriate to its complexity. To this end, the center brings together existing research, teaching, and transfer initiatives as well as collaborations on the university level and transforms them into effective structures. In addition, the institutional framework for the three fields of activity—research, teaching, and transfer—in the area of digital transformation is continuously developed further.

The VWFS Data Analytics Research Center brings together research activities in the fields of data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence at the University of Hildesheim, which are particularly focused on automation of processes in information systems and decision support in such systems. The focus is especially on supervised machine learning methods and reinforcement learning methods. In addition to pure research on models and algorithms, the work of VWFS DARC explicitly includes the generation of research questions from business practice and the transfer of solutions from current research back into practice. The focus here is particularly on applications in the field of mobility.

The CWM is dedicated to the global diversity of musical practices. It sees itself as a center of excellence in ethnomusicology with international appeal, regional commitment, and local roots. Its activities at the interface between academia and the public focus on the areas of collection, research, and education.

The research center's main focus is on initiating and implementing research projects on the education, care, and development of children up to the age of ten. The interdisciplinary center serves as a platform for interdisciplinary exchange, the promotion of young scientists, regional networking, and the support of professionalization efforts.

The Center for Diversity, Democracy and Inclusion in Education (ZBI) researches the significance of diversity and migration for the design, organization, and transformation of education across the entire lifespan. It empirically examines knowledge and educational practices in social subsystems to determine whether and to what extent they contribute to greater educational equity and participation. Through its research, the ZBI also transfers knowledge to politics, civil society, educational practice, and the media.

At the University of Hildesheim, a research profile has emerged in cultural studies that seeks to combine theoretical and practical levels in arts-related cultural studies research. At the Herder-Kolleg, Center for Transdisciplinary Cultural Research, this research focus is consolidated and expanded both theoretically and practically through conferences, individual research collaborations, and workshops.

The DFG Research Group "Philosophizing in a Globalized World" has set itself the goal of globally redefining the concept of philosophy and the knowledge systems in the field of philosophy. In a polylogue with fellows from around the world and incorporating intercultural and post/decolonial perspectives and methods, questions surrounding philosophizing in a globalized world are discussed. The focus of the first funding period is on Africa and South America. In the second funding period, the focus will be on Asia. Based on the results of the Koselleck Project "Histories of Philosophy in a Global Perspective," which is also funded by the DFG, a globally oriented encyclopedia of philosophical works and practices in different languages and regions, annotated by experts, will be created. 

The Graduate School "Aesthetic Practice" pursues an interdisciplinary research program with a decidedly international orientation, combining approaches from the arts, cultural studies, social sciences, and philosophy. The research on "Aesthetic Practice" focuses on three areas: the analysis of such diverse arts as theater, performance, visual arts, literature, and music as practices; the investigation of non-European aesthetic practices that open up an intercultural perspective; and the development of a comprehensive theory of practice that allows the relationship between artistic and non-artistic practices to be described.

The ZfG – Center for Gender Studies is the central platform for gender studies at the University of Hildesheim and cooperates with HAWK Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen. The ZfG raises the profile of gender studies at the University of Hildesheim and serves to further its networking and profiling, expand regional, national, and international research collaborations, promote young academics, and increase the integration of gender studies into teaching.