CAPASHumboldt Fellow at Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies
16 February 2023
Ekaterina Loginova is researching the impact of science communication in the Russian-speaking population in Germany
An expert in the field of science communication, Ekaterina Loginova is a visiting scholar with a one-year special fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at Heidelberg University’s Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies. In a project initiated jointly with her host Philipp Schrögel, the researcher from Russia is studying the Russian-speaking population living in Germany and their attitudes towards and trust in science, particularly regarding current challenges and threats, such as the Covid pandemic, the climate crisis or security policy. With its special fellowships, the Foundation supports young executive staff from the Russian Federation who have particularly dedicated themselves to the concerns of civil society.
Prior to this, Ekaterina Loginova supervised master’s students in various research-based and practical projects at the Center for Science Communication of ITMO University – the former State University for Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics – in Saint Petersburg (Russia). In her research studies she examines the public understanding of science, and the social integration, or exclusion, of the population in science and science communication.
During her one-year fellowship, starting from the beginning of the year, Ekaterina Loginova’s topic is attitudes towards science and trust in science-related decisions with a particular focus on the Russian population living in Germany. She will examine the way information from science is perceived and interpreted, in particular in situations that seem ‘apocalyptic’. “In the course of the Covid pandemic and at present during the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, a sometimes profound distrust towards scientific recommendations and political decisions has been noticeable in this population group, which is why the topic is highly relevant at present,” says host Philipp Schrögel. His work and research at the Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (CAPAS) likewise focuses on questions of science communication.
With the funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the fellows carry out research-related projects of societal relevance that they have developed themselves at host institutions in Germany. The special fellowships are intended to foster the individual cooperation between the participants based on their personal experience.
The Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies is a transdisciplinary research centre at Heidelberg University, at which researchers from different disciplines explore apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic ideas and scenarios – particularly with respect to current challenges and threats. CAPAS is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as a Käte Hamburger Kolleg.