Basis for a concept of priorities in Faculty IV is the university mission statement, particularly with regard to the creation of larger research units, the development of graduate programmes and the strengthening of its society-orientated profile. Linking the main emphasis of the institutes with already existing projects, the faculty is planning to bundle its research in three clusters; goal is to set up and establish larger research projects (e.g. a graduate school).

The central task of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the content clip of its priorities is the understanding, the explanation and the critical reflection of human action, thought, perception and feeling. Acting, thinking, perceiving and feeling are socially embedded and historically changeable practices. The range of subjects of Faculty IV (History, Philosophy, Sports, and Theology) makes it possible to investigate both, their physical and material as well as their intellectual and ideological dimension. This approach raises awareness of current alternative social developments, thus expands the scope for identity, formation processes and ways of life.

Space, time and practices are therefore the central categories of analysis in Faculty IV, and are reflected in three inter-related priorities in research and teaching:

• spaces, relations, conflicts
  
• times, memories, concepts
  
• practices, subjectivization, educational pathways