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Anniversary Conference
Published: 2020-02-26

Panel discussion

Politische Diskussionsrunde

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During the two-day conference «The Theoretical University» in the Data Age. Have the great theories become obsolete? on 14—15 November, the future of theories and theory formation in the age of Big Data was discussed.

Philosopher of science Nancy Cartwright (Durham/San Diego) and string theorist Robbert Dijkgraaf (Princeton) have attended as keynote speakers.

In addition, there were four parallel panel sessions with a variety of lectures on the following topics: Theorizing Contemporary Society, Contemporary Text Cultures, Big Data: From Machine Learning to Quantum Computing, and Interdisciplinary Models for a Complex World.

An interdisciplinary panel has discussed questions relating to theory formation and its scope in different academic disciplines. To conclude the conference, stakeholders from academia and politics have discussed the relationship between independent research, good governance, and the increasing economization of science in the data age.