Virtually every area of research and life is experiencing the effects of digitisation and must face the challenges. This is why 18 scientists from eight DRESDEN-concept partner institutions addressed this topic in the past Scientific Area Network “Change through Digitisation”. At the Dresden science hub, the aspect of change was examined from the perspectives of research ethics and societal change, digitisation in teaching, digital transformation of organisations and digital research methods in the Scientific Area Network on 6th June 2018. The presenters had five minutes to outline their current research approaches and these were prefaced by an eight-minute introductory statement.
The welcoming address was held by the rector of the HTW Dresden, Prof. Stenzel, the chairman of the board for DRESDEN-concept, Prof. Hans Müller-Steinhagen, and the scientific coordinator of the alliance, Prof. Schultz.
From right to left: Prof. Müller-Steinhagen (TUD // DDc) & Prof. Roland Stenzel (HTW Dresden)
Prof. Rellinghaus guided participants through the programm and handed it over to Junior Professor Lauber-Rönsberg from TU Dresden, who introduced the first session on the topic of research ethics and societal change. Besides three further speakers from TU Dresden, Dr. Julia Osten from the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems described the influence of digitalisation on rural areas.
From right to left: JProf. Anne Lauber-Rönsberg (TUD) and Dr. Julia Osten (Fraunhofer IVI)
In introducing the session digitalisation in teaching, Prof. Lasch from TU Dresden’s Institute of German Studies described the challenges of academic teaching and research, and seven principles that can guide the process of digitalisation. Dr. Peter Steinbach from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics and Dr. Guido Juckland from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf used a quick survey of the participants to transition into their topic „Better instruction. Better Software. Better research.“
From right to left: Prof. Alexander Lasch (TUD), Dr. Peter Steinbach (MPI CBG) and Dr. Guido Juckeland (HZDR)
The break was used for active, inter-institutional discussions. Attendees were able to get know both other people and also a robot: “August the smart”. August lives at the HTW and is an example of so-called adaptable artificial intelligence. Dr. Sven Hellenbach and his team introduced the robot to the participants.
Dr. Martin Zavesky from the Dresden State Art Collections shed light on the digital transformation of organisations, especially the digitalisation of cultural heritage, in the third session. He described the challenges of describing materials or describing conservation measures. Dr. Innerhofer described digitalisation approaches of the Archaeological Heritage Office in Saxony and showed how archaeologists handle 3D digitalisation.
Within the session digital research methods, Dr. Hendrik Herold of the Leibniz IOER explained what information one can extract from historical maps. The concrete topics of the presentations and the list of presenters can be found here.
