On June 21, 2023 from 3 to 7pm the fourth TraCe research colloquium took place at the Technical University of Darmstadt. The topic of the colloquium was the concept of transformation both as a guiding concept as well as an empirical object of the research center. As in previous research colloquia, the event began with an introductory input lecture: Prof. Dr Wolfang Merkel from the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) approached the concept of transformation and discussed its challenges and potentials.
The participants then got together in small groups to discuss the concept of transformation in their own research projects. The focus was not only on the definitions of transformation(s) used in each case. Also the transformation processes of political violence, researchers have observed in the their projects, as well as their dimensions and forms, were discussed. The question of the object studied and the research design to adequately describe transformation processes was also addressed. The results were then collected in the plenum and commented on by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Merkel. The final discussion summarized the different insights from the research projects and discussed the insights gained during the day about the concept of transformation for further TraCe research.
At the end of the colloquium, the participants exchanged ideas at an informal get-together.