Projects
Resilient Healthcare in Times of Multiple Crises: Connecting Germany and Japan [RE-CARE]
In response to escalating global crises, discussions in Germany and Japan are increasingly focusing on how technologies can enhance societal resilience, particularly in healthcare systems. Key technologies under consideration include AI, sensor-based media, robotics, and telemedicine. These innovations are being examined within scientific frameworks such as “Resilient Health Care” and are supported by political initiatives like “GEMEINSAM DIGITAL” (Germany) and “Society 5.0” (Japan).
However, a significant gap remains in cross-cultural exchange that addresses the sociocultural context of crises and technologies, integrating perspectives from various disciplines such as sociology, cultural and legal studies studies, sports science, philosophy, ethics, computer science, and medicine. The project “RE-CARE” aims to close this gap through three main objectives:
1.Investigating the role of society and culture in shaping crisis responses;
2.Clarifying the potential of technologies in areas such as elderly care, sports, and public health;
3.Laying the groundwork for future German-Japanese collaborative research.
Although technology is key to Resilient Health Care, there is a need for theoretical and empirical approaches that take into account the sociocultural contexts in which crises emerge and in which technologies are developed and used. Questions remain about how notions of humanity and society are integrated into these technologies and how they intersect with different crises. The project will also examine how social, political, and behavioral norms, conventions, and routines influence technological responses to crises, as well as how concepts of risk, threat, and security are embedded in these technologies.
In addition, the project will analyze how technology is linked to promises of optimization—such as resource conservation, workflow efficiency, and data integration—and investigate interactions among healthcare providers, patients, and technological systems. This includes studying categorization and differentiation processes, such as identifying individuals as infected, ill, or at risk, that are embedded in technological applications.
On a broader level, the project will explore societal vulnerabilities exposed by crises such as pandemics, earthquakes, nuclear disasters, and ecological or demographic shifts. It will examine how concepts of care, caregiving, and solidarity vary across crises and cultures, identifying conditions under which actions are considered (un)solidaristic, (un)bearable, or (un)reasonable.
Project duration: Since 06/2024
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Grant no.: KR 5454/1-1
Collaborators in Japan: Prof. Dr. Shigeto Yonemura (Tokyo), Prof. Dr. Susanne Brucksch (Tokyo), Prof. Dr. Satoshi Kodama (Kyoto), Prof. Dr. Kaori Sasaki (Sapporo), Prof. Dr. Yoshinori Nakata (Tokyo), Prof. Dr. Kunhao Yang (Yamaguchi)
Collaborators in Germany: Prof. Dr. Gesa Lindemann (Oldenburg), Prof. Dr. Dr. Jochen Vollmann (Bochum), Prof. Dr. André Hajek (Hamburg), Dr. Tanja Bogusz (Hamburg), Prof. Dr. Robert Ranisch (Potsdam), Dr. Markus Bohlmann (Münster), Dr. Joschka Haltaufderheide (Potsdam), Dr. Gabriel Bartl (Berlin)
Project website: https://www.resilient-healthcare.de
Artificial Intelligence in Sport: A Quantitative Survey among Sports Students in Germany about their Perceptions, Expectations, and Concerns regarding the Use of AI Tools [AIS]
Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini have a crucial impact on academic research and teaching. However, empirical data on how students perceive the increasing influence of AI, which different types of tools they use, what they expect from them in their daily academic tasks, and their concerns regarding to the use of AI in their studies are still limited. The project “Artificial Intelligence in Sports” (AIS) aims to address this empirical gap through a quantitative study.
Goal is to explore aspects such as students’ usage behavior, motivational factors, and inquiries about uncertainties regarding the potential impact of AI tools on academia in the future. Furthermore, the social climate in sports studies is being investigated to provide a general overview of the current situation of the students in Germany.
Data collection took place between August and November 2023, addressing all sports institutes at German universities, with a total of 262 students participating. Our empirical findings indicate students’ strong interest in using AI tools in their studies, expecting these tools to enhance their overall academic performance and save time. They express confidence that the proliferation of AI tools in academia will not compromise their critical thinking and endorse the integration of more AI-related topics into their curriculum as well as the introduction of teaching methods focusing on AI by their lecturers. However, our findings also show that students have concerns about their own skills, future skill development, plagiarism and lecturer preparedness.
In light of our empirical findings, we propose that universities address this ambivalent situation by educating students on how to generate reliable information with AI and avoid misinformation. It is imperative that students possess both practical and critical knowledge of the use and impact of a new technology that is rapidly spreading in academia. This will enable them to better understand the impacts and also the limitations of a technology that is only created through its practical use.
Project Duration: Since 06/2023
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding: Private funding
Collaborators in Germany: Dr. André Hajek (Hamburg), Dr. Martin Minarik (Göttingen), Anja Bosold, M.A. (Göttingen)
Collaborator in Belgium: Dr. Cleo Schyvinck (Ghent)
Project website: https://miami.uni-muenster.de/Record/31b11975-bef7-4cf2-a495-b17a5e0450e6
Topic-Related Publications
Artificial Intelligence in Sports: Insights from a Quantitative Survey among Sports Students in Germany about their Perceptions, Expectations, and Concerns regarding the Use of AI Tools
Poster Presentation: AIS Selected Findings
Technologies of the Covid-19 Pandemic – A Transnational Dialogue between Germany and Japan [TECHCO]
The Corona crisis was, and still is, a global challenge in which digital technologies play a significant role. These, in interdisciplinary research so-called “crisis-technologies” span three main categories: information, communication, and containment platforms.
Internationally, highly digitized countries in East Asia have demonstrated how the public can actively participate in a digital pandemic response. However, the use and management of these crisis-technologies also reveal notable differences between the “West” and “East,” highlighting distinct sociocultural foundations and ethical values.
Current research on the acceptance and rejection of digital pandemic response tools shows that preferences vary across countries. Nevertheless, there has been little examination of the extent to which sociocultural understandings shape how digital technologies are used and managed during crises. The goal here is to foster a culturally sensitive dialogue among participants, thereby uncovering socially and ethically informed perspectives that stem from existing cultural differences. By drawing on a German–Japanese comparison and examining highly relevant examples of digital technologies, this approach aims to shed light on these cultural distinctions in times of crisis.
Project-Duration: 11/2021-12/2022
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Grant No.: 01GP2182
Topic-Related Publications (Selection)
The Present and Future of Pandemic Technologies
Smartphone Apps for Containing the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany
Solidarity as an Empirial-Ethical Framework
Cultural Implications Regarding Privacy in Digital Algorithms
The Ethics of Livetracking-Applications in Connection with SARS-COV-2 [ELISA]
Given the various measures that were internationally implemented to contain SARS-CoV-2, the ELISA project investigated how live tracking applications, such as Contact-Tracing-Apps, were evaluated at a descriptive level and under what conditions they were morally justified at a normative level. “Anti-corona apps,” based on “contact and proximity tracing,” primarily focus on determining the location of users and monitoring various vital indicators. Algorithms were then employed to identify symptoms that may be relevant in the case of a coronavirus infection. While some view individualized monitoring as the ideal approach to containing the pandemic, other groups recognize various risks. Against this backdrop, the project conducts an empirically informed and ethically sound balance of interests. With the goal of politically mandated deceleration of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 to alleviate the healthcare system, the project will, as a first step, reconstruct a heterogeneous atmospheric picture. As part of a qualitative study, it will explore two discursive fields: (a) the “discourse of medical/health professionals,” including medical associations, hospital personnel, and professional associations, and (b) the “discourse of critical experts,” encompassing scientists, IT specialists, and activists.
Project-Duration: 10/2020-12/2021
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Grant No.: 01KI20527
Topic-Related Publications (Selection)
Technologien der Krise – Die Covid-19 Pandemie als Katalysator neuer Formen der Vernetzung
Von Körpern, Muster und Infektionen: Digitale Selbstverdatung als pandemisches Ordnungsprinzip
Ethische Annäherungen an die Corona-Warn-App – Das MEESTAR-Modell als Ausgangspunkt technikethischer Erwägungen
The Role of Transparency in Digital Contact Tracing During COVID‑19: Insights from an Expert Survey
Intersex in Sport – A Discourse Analysis on the Media Coverage and Medical Treatment of Intersex Athletes in Modern Sports
This monographic doctoral thesis, written in German and based on a discourse analysis conducted at the University of Hamburg from 2015 to 2019, explores the evolution of media and medical discourse on intersex athletes in elite athletics from the 20th to the 21st century. It examines how key aspects of competitive sports—such as binary classification, medical treatment and normalization of intersex bodies, and questions of justice—are negotiated in relation to the prevailing social context of different eras. The empirical foundation of the research is built on the cases of three intersex athletes who symbolize distinct periods: Dora Ratjen (“Third Reich”), Ewa Klobukowska (“Cold War Period”), and Caster Semenya (“Postmodern Times”). The thesis was honored with the Young Researcher Award by the German Sociological Association (section for the Sociology of the Body and Sports) and secured third place in the German Olympic Sports Confederation’s science competition.
Project-Duration: 2015-2020
Role: PhD Project
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Gabriele Klein (Hamburg University), Jun.-Prof. Dr. Arne Dekker (University Medical Center Hamburg)
Topic-Related Publications, Talks, Interviews (Selection)
Intersexualität im Sport. Mediale und medizinische Körperpolitiken
Challenging the Bainry: Gender, Fraud, and the Complexities of Categorization in Elite Sports
Time to Abolish Gender Boundaries in Elite Sports? A Plea for Structural Reflection
Die Vermessung von Geschlecht im Sport und der Umgang mit kategorialen Transgressionen