More science for social debates

Using scientific findings for social debates - that is the aim of the new "Discourses on the Future" funding programme of the state of Lower Saxony. Three Oldenburg projects were successful in the call for proposals. Under the direction of business education specialist Prof. Dr Karin Rebmann, scientists, practitioners and experts from politics, business and civil society are discussing a sustainable economic order. The second project focuses on how our social ideas about the future are formed and why certain views prevail over others. The Americanist Prof Dr Martin Butler as well as the sports sociologist Prof Dr Thomas Alkemeyer and Prof Dr Paul Mecheril, university lecturer in intercultural education, are leading the project. Another project by Oldenburg business didactics experts Prof Dr Dirk Loerwald and Prof Dr Dr Hans Kaminski aims to encourage economists to contribute their findings to the public debate. All three projects will run for 15 months. Model of a sustainable economic and social order In Rebmann's project, scientists from a wide range of disciplines are working with practitioners to develop a future model of an economic and social order that meets the needs of both current and future generations in the long term. They have already developed initial impulses in the pilot project "Innovation Projects and Innovation Expertise for Sustainable Development (InnoNE)", which was launched in 2016. On this basis, the scientists are developing innovative but realistic ideas for shaping our future economy: in so-called discourse arenas - events lasting several hours with scientific and non-scientific experts - they develop and discuss a concept that clarifies the roles that companies, consumers and the state, for example, play in realising a sustainable economy. Which mechanisms enable and stabilise a sustainable economy? Finally, they will present their findings in an interactive closing event that involves the general public. Among other things, the results of the project will be incorporated into teaching and learning materials and provide concrete starting points for sustainable corporate development. How we will live together in the future The project by Alkemeyer, Mecheril and Butler aims to identify the social ideas on which our thinking about the future is based and how these limit our view of the future. What concepts of future social coexistence underlie the debate on the so-called refugee crisis or climate change, for example? And who uses these blueprints to portray future action as necessary? In order to sensitise people to this process, the scientists will work together with representatives from politics, business and society in so-called future workshops to address two topics that they believe will have a particular impact on our society today - migration and sustainability. The Oldenburg scientists are already researching these topics in several joint projects. The aim is to reflect on previous findings together with the public, to make the debate about the future more objective and to develop new ideas on how the future can be shaped. Finally, the participants will discuss their findings at a public, interactive symposium in the Schlaues Haus. Tension between business and ethics Loerwald and Kaminski's project aims to help bring together the economic debate and public discourse using the example of the tension between business and ethics. In various events, the scientists from the Institute for Economics Education (IÖB), an affiliated institute of the University of Oldenburg, together with researchers from the university as well as external economic experts and politicians, want to work out what knowledge about economics determines the public debate. What are the possible deficits in the transfer of knowledge in economics? And how can the experts objectify science policy debates in future, particularly with regard to ethical issues? Interested members of the public will be given an insight into the project results at a closing event.