Zwischenräume, Schnittstellen, Interdisziplinarität – das ist der Themenbereich, der mit dem Titel dieses Podcasts, InterSpaces, angedeutet werden soll. InterSpaces ist ein Wissenschaftspodcast, der sich mit disziplinübergreifender Forschung auseinandersetzt und im Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung (ZiF) der Universität Bielefeld entsteht.
Im ZiF wird interdisziplinäre Forschung in Gruppen gefördert. Diese Perspektivenvielfalt soll auch im Podcast hörbar werden, weswegen in den meisten Folgen mehrere Wissenschaftler*innen aus unterschiedlichen Fächern über ihre gemeinsamen Forschungsthemen sprechen werden.
Da am ZiF viele Forschungsgruppen international zusammengesetzt sind, es aber auch deutschsprachige Kontexte gibt, ist dies ein zweisprachiger Podcast.
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Research interfaces and interdisciplinarity - that is the subject area that the title of this podcast, InterSpaces, is referring to. InterSpaces is a science podcast that deals with research across disciplines and is produced at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) at Bielefeld University.
ZiF is funding different interdisciplinary research groups and this diversity of perspectives should also be audible in the podcast, which is why most episodes will feature several academics from different disciplines talking about their joint research topics.
As many research groups at ZiF are international, but there are also German-speaking contexts, this is a bilingual podcast.
'The next big thing' after artificial intelligence: Robots! In this episode, two fellows (one of them a convenor) of the Long-Term Group "Robust Decision Heuristics for Natural and Artificial Intelligence (https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/zif-robust-decision-heuristic)" discuss if robots make AI better, what robots can learn from insects, and about uncertainties in research environments. Barbara Webb (Biorobotics, University of Edinburgh) and Konstantinos Katsikopoulos (Behavioural Science, University of Southampton) are our guests on this episode of InterSpaces.
Links
Konstantinos Katsikopoulos (https://www.southampton.ac.uk/people/5xhnqc/professor-konstantinos-katsikopoulos#research)
Barbara Webb (https://www.edinburgh-robotics.org/academics/barbara-webb)
ZiF Long-Term Group “Robust Decision Heuristics for Natural and Artificial Intelligence” (https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/zif-robust-decision-heuristic)
We are grateful for the intro by Niklas Schönfeld (https://soundcloud.com/borututuforte), for the voice recordings of Molina Panzner and Erica Shires and for the podcast cover by Corinna Mehl.
If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions, you can email the ZiF science communication team at zif-info@uni-bielefeld.de (mailto:zif-info@uni-bielefeld.de) or get in touch via Instagram at @zif_bielefeld (https://www.instagram.com/zif_bielefeld/).
23 Sept 2026
Episode #29: On Interdisciplinarity
This episode features the two co-directors of ZiF, Marie I. Kaiser from History of Philosophy, and historian Eleonora Rohland, both professors at Bielefeld University and ‘directing’ ZiF since 2025.
The main theme for this conversation is interdisciplinarity and everything surrounding it regarding our mission here at ZiF. If you want to learn something about the review process at ZiF, what the Board of Directors is looking for in our proposals or want to listen in on reflections about interdisciplinarity, this episode is perfect for you!
Links
Marie I. Kaiser (https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/philosophie/abteilung/personen/kaiser/index.xml)
Eleonora Rohland (http://www.eleonorarohland.com/)
We are grateful for the intro by Niklas Schönfeld (https://soundcloud.com/borututuforte), for the voice recordings of Molina Panzner and Erica Shires and for the podcast cover by Corinna Mehl.
If you have any questions, feedback or suggestions, you can email the ZiF communications team at zif-info@uni-bielefeld.de (mailto:zif-info@uni-bielefeld.de) or get in touch via Instagram at @zif_bielefeld (https://www.instagram.com/zif_bielefeld/).
12 Aug 2026
Episode #28: Can Postsocialism be Colonial?
It is easy to understand or frame the end of socialism or communism as a direct transition towards democracy. But like most things in life, that does not go nearly far enough to understand the multi-faceted upheavals and consequences of such a radical change. If we think about states and regions like Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Poland or even East Germany, there is often terminology involved like “keeping up” (with the West for example), or “backwardness”.
This sounds a lot like colonial key-/’buzz’words and results in the question: Can Postsocialism be colonial? That is the very interesting main question of the Resident Group “Postcolonial and Postsocialist Interdependencies Across Borders (https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/zif-postcolonial-and-postsoci/)” that worked at ZiF from April to July 2026.
Three fellows (two of them convenors) of the group are guests in this epsiode: Human Geographer Birgit Glorius, sociologist Helma Lutz and politicial scientist Andreas Vasilache.
Links
Prof. Dr. Birgit Glorius (https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/phil/iesg/professuren/geographie/Mitarbeiter/inhab.php.en) (TU Chemnitz)
Prof. Dr. em. Helma Lutz (https://helma-lutz.de/) (JGU Frankfurt)
Prof. Dr. Andreas Vasilache (https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/soziologie/fakultaet/personen/vasilache/) (Bielefeld University)
Publikationen
Anna Amelina, Verena Molitor, Jana Schäfer, Andreas Vasilache & Tatiana Zimenkova (Ed., 2026): Vulnerable (Im)mobilities Between Imperial Legacies and Colonial Logics of War (https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rmob20/21/1). Mobilities (21.1).
Who has been a guest on InterSpaces
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Holger Schmidt
Bernd Dollinger
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