Theme: into the kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope - the magic eye. With this year’s theme we would like to take you on a journey. We invite you to look at things from different perspectives and to explore new facettes of sciences, stories and life.

SuperC
Templergraben 55
Aachen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, 52062
Germany

André Presse

André Presse (PhD) studied at the University of Ingolstadt and at the University of Leipzig. He has worked for Commerzbank AG, Strategix and Deutsche Bank AG in Frankfurt am Main and Chicago. He founded a company and works as a partner in several companies including Genoil GmbH and Pan Media GmbH. In 2009, at the Institute for entrepreneurship at University of Karlsruhe, he received his PhD on the topic: “Basic Income - Ideas and sugguestions for its realisation”. Since then, he has been working there. His approach is towards personal contribution, like abolishing the income tax and change taxes from a taxation of contribution to taxation of consumption.

Gabriele Pohl

Gabriele Pohl ist Diplompädagogin und Kinder- und Jugendlichentherapeutin. In ihrer therapeutischen Arbeit setzt sie sich intensiv mit der Entwicklung von Kindern auseinander. Auf der einen Seite beschäftigt sie sich mit den vorbeugenden Maßnahmen: Was müssen wir Kindern mit auf den Weg geben, damit sie für die spätere Welt, von der wir nicht wissen, wie sie sein wird, gerüstet sind? Auf der anderen Seite sucht sie Lösungen, wenn dabei etwas schief gegangen ist. Dafür hat sie 2013 das Time-out Projekt “Zwischenraum” gegründet. Dieses gibt Jugendlichen, die schwerwiegende Probleme in der Schule haben, die Möglichkeit, in natur- und lebensnahem Lernen ihre Fähigkeiten neu wahrzunehmen.

Klaus Mainzer

Klaus Mainzer studied mathematics, physics and philosophy and works today as a philosopher of science on principles and perspectives of science and technology, with special focus on computer modeling of complex systems in the natural world, science and technology, business and society. In 2008, he assumed the Chair of Philosophy and the Theory of Science at TU München as well as the position of Director of the Carl von Linde Academy. Professor Mainzer is a member of numerous national and international bodies and academies, such as the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), the Academia Europaea (London) or the International Research Center for Education and Information of Peking University.

Neda Soltani

Neda Soltani was born in Isfahan in 1977. She had broad-minded parents who afforded her access to higher education. She attended the Islamic Azad University of Karaj to study English language and literature and graduated with distinction. Shortly thereafter, she herself became a lecturer at the Islamic Azad University of Damavand. In June 2009, during the protests which accompanied the Iranian presidential elections, the female student Neda Agha-Soltan was shot dead. Bystanders filmed the incident and uploaded the video to the internet, where it attracted worldwide attention. When the news started covering the topic, Neda Soltani's picture appeared in the media - the media confused her with the student killed. Attempts to correct the misconception failed. Instead, she became a victim of political persecution.

Shivakumar Viswanathan

Shivakumar Viswanathan (PhD) is a postdoctoral scientist at the Neurology department, University Hospital of Cologne and the Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine at the Forschungszentrum Jülich. He grew up in India where he originally studied to be a Mechanical Engineer, and subsequently moved to the US to continue his education. He received his PhD in computer science with a focus on Artificial Intelligence at Brandeis University; and was then drawn into the brain sciences working first at the Department of Psychology at Brandeis University, and then at the Psychological & Brain Sciences department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research seeks to understand how physical actions are generated by the brain, in health and in disease. His talk was about: New answers to the unusual puzzle of how people tell the difference between a right and a left hand.

Verena Utikal

Prof. Verena Utikal is a Junior Professor for Behavioral Economics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. She studied Financial and Economic Mathematics at the Technical University of Munich and joined a PhD programme at the University of Constance thereafter. After receiving her doctoral degree, she worked as a research assistant at the Center for Psychoeconomics, which is also located in Constance. Focussing on behavioral economics and experimental economic research, she is now studying confessions, apologies and active forgiveness in an economical context.