Dr. Shumon T. Hussain is a junior research group leader at the University of Cologne, Germany, affiliated with the Institute for Prehistoric Archaeology and MESH (Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities). His work bridges humanities and sciences to explore deep human history and non-human entanglements. He pioneers multispecies archaeology and paleoenvironmental humanities, focusing on animal prehistory, human-nonhuman systems, and ecological coevolution. Research interests include the intersection of 'animal' and 'technology' concepts in Western traditions, with a focus on Pleistocene and Holocene ecosystems. Key publications address scavenger guild dynamics, human-beaver cohabitation, and lithic technology variability. His work emphasizes interdisciplinary methods and contemporary relevance of deep-time studies.
Susanne Dinkl is a Lecturer at the Chair of European Ethnology / Empirical Cultural Studies at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg . She has been active in teaching and research since 2010, with a focus on popular culture (including gaming and commercial gambling) and religiosity (popular belief and spirituality). Education: Master’s in Prehistoric Archaeology, European Ethnology, and Religious Studies Research: Multispecies interactions, urban wildlife, digital identity, and historical cultural analysis Her recent editorial work explores: Multispecies ethnography in Flechten erzählen (2024) Climate crisis narratives in Katastrophen, Fluten, Weltenbrände (2023) Environmental anthropology in Fränkische Waldgemeinschaften (2022) Digital self-construction on Instagram in Observing the Digital Self (2021) She received the 2022 Prize for Excellent Teaching (Preis für gute Lehre) from the Bavarian Ministry of Science and Art.
Prof. Mathias Antlfinger is a Professor of Multispecies Storytelling at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and has served as Vice Rector for Planning and Finance since 2021. Collaborating with Ute Hörner since 1990, their work explores critical and utopian dimensions of human-animal-machine relationships through installations, videos, and sculptures. They co-founded the interspecies collective CMUK with grey parrots Clara and Karl in 2014 and are members of the Minding Animals network. Studied sculpture at Stuttgart State Academy of Art (1983-88) Studied mathematics at University of Stuttgart Studied cybernetics at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (1990-95) Their research spans Multispecies Storytelling , Interspecies Collaboration , and Human-Animal-Machine Relationships , often interrogating social constructs and ethical interactions. Their work has been exhibited at institutions like Ars Electronica , ZKM Karlsruhe , and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf , emphasizing digital transformation and experimental media. Scientific Awards: Kunststiftung NRW (2015) Prix Ars Electronica Honorary Mention (2012) Artists in Residence, Digital Art Center Taipei (2011) Edith Russ House for Media Arts (2010) Marler Video-Installation Award (2008) ars viva award (2001)
Professor Babette B. Tischleder is Professor of North American Studies and Media Studies at the University of Göttingen, where she has taught since 2010. Previously, she held positions at the John F. Kennedy Institute, Free University of Berlin (2007-2010), the Universities of Freiburg and Paderborn (2006-2007), and the University of Frankfurt am Main (1996-2006). Her academic journey includes a Habilitation from the Department of Philosophy and Humanities at Free University of Berlin (2010), a PhD in American Studies from Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (2000), and an MA in American Studies from Goethe University Frankfurt (1995). Her research centers on materiality, obsolescence, and nonhuman agency, exploring how creative practices across literature, screen media, and digital animation shape our understanding of ecological crises and multispecies coexistence. Current projects include 'Chronotopes of the Nonhuman,' which examines contemporary art and literature that imagines human worlds as interconnected with other living creatures and vital materials. Her work challenges anthropocentrism and rethinks culture, kinship, and planetary cohabitation. Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent trajectory exploring the relationship between humans and nonhuman entities across multiple disciplines. Her scholarship bridges literary studies, media theory, and environmental humanities, with increasing focus on multispecies relations and posthuman perspectives. The interdisciplinary nature of her work spans from analyzing Pixar animation to examining urban wildlife and theoretical frameworks like new materialism. Virtual Fellow, International Forum for U.S. Studies (IFUSS), University of Illinois (2023) Resident Fellow, IFUSS, University of Illinois & Visiting Scholar, University of Chicago (2019) Visiting Professor, Department of English Languages and Literature, University of Chicago (2018) Fellow, Karla Scherer Center for American Culture, University of Chicago (2014-2015) Professor Tischleder teaches a wide range of courses in literary, cultural, and media studies, including the two-semester 'Introducing Critical Theory' course covering approaches from New Criticism to ecocriticism, gender studies, and postcolonial theory. She has supervised numerous graduate students and organized significant academic conferences, including the International Conference 'Cultures of Obsolescence in North America' (2013) and the Symposium 'Articulations of the Nonhuman Turn' (2022). Her upcoming speaking engagements through 2025 demonstrate her continued active role in the international academic community. Her work connects with major research clusters focused on material culture, environmental humanities, and more-than-human studies, positioning her at the forefront of interdisciplinary scholarship addressing contemporary ecological challenges through literary and cultural analysis.
Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of BonnGermany
Taynã Tagliati is a PhD Researcher at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS), University of Bonn, Germany, specializing in Indigenous epistemologies through the Research Group 'Marking Power: Embodied Dependencies, Haptic Regimes and Body Modification'. Her work interrogates Kayapó ontologies in Central Brazil's deforestation frontier using multispecies frameworks. Her academic trajectory includes: Ph.D. in Anthropology of the Americas (2020–present, University of Bonn) M.A. in Anthropology of the Americas (2018–2020, University of Bonn) B.A. in Social Sciences (Anthropology focus, 2012–2017, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil) Tagliati's research pioneers embodied ethnography examining how Kayapó communities materialize relationships with other-than-humans via body modification, ritual objects, and resistance to capitalist extraction. She reframes German museums as multispecies contact zones where colonial legacies intersect with Indigenous agency, emphasizing sentient knowledge systems and haptic technologies for world-making amid ecological collapse. Her methodology centers oral histories and fieldwork in Kayapó villages, challenging anthropocentric museum paradigms. Publications reveal cohesive interdisciplinary threads: decolonizing museology (2022), Amazonian Indigenous materiality (2025), and Brazilian political ecology (2017–2018). Key trends include retheorizing dependency through Indigenous cosmologies, analyzing green capitalism's impact on embodied knowledge, and documenting resistance via transportation networks and strikes. Her work bridges anthropology, archaeology, and political theory to confront epistemicide in the Anthropocene. Scientific recognition includes: PROMOS Scholarship (2020) for fieldwork in Trinidad, Bolivia Erasmus+ Scholarship (2016–2017) at University of Hradec Králové, Czech Republic She actively shapes academic discourse as co-editor of 'Transforming Spirit Bodies' (2025), organizational lead for 'Notas de Antropología de las Américas' journal, and curator of exhibitions like '500 Jahre Eroberung Amerikas' (2019). Current projects involve the Transdisciplinary Research Area 'Present Pasts' and documenting Kayapó resistance strategies against Amazonian destruction through embodied knowledge systems.
Dr. Ana Paula Motta is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Kiel University's Institute of Prehistory and Protohistory and an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Western Australia. Funded by a Gerda Henkel Stiftung fellowship, her current research examines jaguar representations in material culture across northwestern Argentina and the Brazilian Amazon, bridging archaeological theory with Indigenous knowledge systems. Her academic training includes: PhD in Archaeology from The University of Western Australia (2022), focusing on Pleistocene human-animal relationships in Kimberley rock art MSc in Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology from University College London (2016) with First Class Distinction BSc in Anthropological Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (2014) Motta's research critically explores intersections between Indigenous epistemologies, the ontological turn, decolonial methodologies, and multispecies ethnographies. She investigates how rock art and material culture encode social identity through human-animal relationships, particularly emphasizing performative aspects of heritage conservation and the political dimensions of archaeological interpretation. Her work actively challenges Western-centric frameworks by centering Indigenous knowledge in understanding Pleistocene hunter-gatherer societies. Analysis of her publication record reveals strong thematic continuity in decolonial rock art studies, with increasing emphasis on jaguar symbolism in South America and birds of prey in Australian contexts. Her collaborative approach with Indigenous communities—especially the Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation—shapes methodologies that treat rock art as living heritage rather than static artifacts. Key recognitions include: Gerda Henkel Stiftung Fellowship (2024-present) Semi-Finalist FameLab Australia (2020) UCL Dean's List (2017) UCL Institute of Archaeology Master's Prize (2016) Motta directs fieldwork across five continents, including Pleistocene excavations in Argentina's Antofagasta de la Sierra, Upper Palaeolithic research in France's Ardèche region, and Kimberley rock art recording with Australian Aboriginal communities. Her consultancy for PKKP Aboriginal Corporation integrates archaeological practice with anthropological mediation, while the Rock Art India Project demonstrates her cross-cultural data management expertise. Current involvement in Kiel University's Cluster ROOTS and ERC initiatives expands her focus on transnational heritage dynamics.
Prof. Dr. Lilian Haberer is a Professor of Art History with an Expanded Concept of Materials at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) . Her work bridges art history , media theory , and contemporary installation art , focusing on the materiality of media , spatial transformation , and transversal aesthetics . She is affiliated with the exMedia Lab and has contributed to Digital Humanities through projects like Mass Observation 2.0 and the Reflexionsräume kinematographischer Ästhetik DFG project. Education: University of Cologne, Università La Sapienza (Rome), research at Bibliotheca Hertziana and Archivio Segreto Prior roles: Research assistant for Rosemarie Trockel, co-director of Projects in Art & Theory exhibition space, DFG project coordinator Her research examines modernity and architectonic configurations in contemporary installation art , with a focus on embodied perception , media materiality , and political aesthetics . Article trends include digital media and virtual reality (2020–2022), curatorial methodologies in transmedia contexts (2021), and media archaeology (2017). Her 2023–2022 publications analyze photographic materiality , Hito Steyerl's essayistic practice , and embodied spaces . She co-edited the 2017 publication Mass Observation: Situating the Everyday and contributed to Digital Teaching Initiatives at Cologne University. Her 2020–2014 DFG project produced three major works on cinematic aesthetics and projection spaces . Current research includes queer studies and multispecies storytelling in art contexts.
Henny Piezonka is a Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the Freie Universität Berlin , holding the W3 chair since May 2023. She is also a Principal Investigator in the Collaborative Research Centre 1266 “TransformationsDimensionen” at Kiel University and leads multiple externally funded research projects, including fieldwork in Mongolia, India, and Siberia. Her academic career has included roles at the Universities of Bonn, Greifswald, and Kiel, as well as the German Archaeological Institute. She studied Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, and Art History in Berlin and Glasgow, earning her Magister Artium in 2003 and Dr. phil. in 2010, both with distinction. Her doctoral dissertation on early ceramics in Northeast Europe received the Dr.-Walther-Liebehenz-Preis . Research Focus: Her work centers on hunter-gatherer and pastoral societies from the Late Glacial to the present, with a regional emphasis on the Eurasian forest zone and Arctic . She investigates neolithisation processes , mobility and sedentism , and socio-economic transformations using archaeological and ethnoarchaeological methods. She integrates biomolecular techniques (e.g., stable isotopes, radiocarbon dating) and collaborates across disciplines including anthropology, linguistics, and environmental science. Scientific Awards: Dr.-Walther-Liebehenz-Preis (2012) Rudolf-Virchow-Förderpreis (2004) Humboldt-Preis der HU Berlin (2003) Research Projects & Leadership: Principal Investigator, SFB 1266 “TransformationsDimensionen” (Kiel) Co-Speaker, ROOTS Sub-Cluster “Social Inequality” Project Lead, “Lost Cities” (Gerda Henkel Stiftung, Mongolia) Associated Researcher, ERC Project INDUCE (NE Europe) Teaching & Supervision: At FU Berlin, she teaches modules on Mesolithic and Neolithic landscapes, archaeological theory, ethnoarchaeology, and excavation methods. She has supervised numerous MA and PhD projects and leads field schools in Germany, Russia, and Mongolia. Labs & Teams: She collaborates with the Archaeozoological Laboratory and Field & Finds Lab at FU Berlin, and maintains active partnerships with research groups in Russia, Mongolia, and across Europe. Her work is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) , Gerda Henkel Stiftung , and European Research Council (ERC) .
