Image: ReDICo
On 25 September 2025, a festive ceremony at the University of Jena marked the launch of the new Centre for Digital Interculturality Studies. The inauguration took place in conjunction with the conference “(Re-)Imagining Interculturality: Relations, Complexities, and Digitality” which was organized by the ReDICo project together with the Hochschulverband für Interkulturelle Studien (IKS), Interculture.de, and the Junior Professorship for Intercultural Practice with a Focus on Digital Cultures at the University of Technology Chemnitz. The academic conference brought together experts from research and practice to rethink intercultural competence, transcultural learning and cultural complexity in the context of global and post-digital upheavals. At the same time, the event payed tribute to the work of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bolten (1958-2023) as a pioneer and visionary of intercultural communication scholarship.
Yolanda López García (Research Lab on Postdigital (Inter)Culturality at the University of Technology Chemnitz), Luisa Conti (ReDICo) and Fergal Lenehan (ReDICo) presented the panel “Re-Imagining Interculturality in Postdigital Contexts” in which they dicussed the notion of Digital Interculturality as the basis for the new field of research Digital Interculturality Studies. The individual inputs drew on recent theoretical and empirical scholarship, and established the contours for this field of research which brings aspects of Intercultural Studies and Internet Studies together. Starting with the description of the context, which is extremely influential for cultural and intercultural dynamics, the panelists presented key phenomena that mark a digital turn in intercultural communication, highlighting the complexity and dynamism at play. The discussion then moved to more concrete empirically-grounded examples to further illustrate these dynamics. The panel was enriched with a live graphic recording by Alessandro Donati from the Bangherang Cooperative.
Image: Alessandro Donati, Bangherang
At the inauguration, Prof Dr Julia Kuhn, vice dean of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities at the University of Jena, addressed the audience, stressing the accomplishments of the ReDICo project and the importance of the Centre. Fergal Lenehan and Luisa Conti then highlighted the development that lead from the ReDICo project to the launch and laid out their vision for the new centre: The centre is intended to consolidate this innovative field of research in the higher education landscape and to integrate the transnational network of the Digital Interculturality research community in the long term. Research, teaching, the promotion of young talent, and knowledge transfer are thus to be brought together in a sustainable way, and the scientific structures that were previously project-based are to be secured for the future.
The event concluded with a concert and dinner.
Images: ReDICo