Anselm Küsters

Anselm Küsters is an accomplished academic with affiliations across multiple institutions. He serves as Head of the Digitalization/New Technologies Department at the Center for European Politics (cep) in Berlin, an Associate Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, and a Postdoctoral Researcher at Humboldt University of Berlin. He will assume an Acting Professorship in Digital Humanities at the University of Stuttgart in the summer semester of 2025.

• Education:
  • Doctorate (Dr. Phil.) in Modern History, Goethe University Frankfurt (2018-2022)
  • Magister des Europäischen Rechts (LL.M.) at University of Würzburg (2018-2020)
  • M.Phil. in Economic and Social History, University of Oxford (2016-2018)
  • B.A. and B.Sc. in History, German Studies, and Economics at University of Heidelberg (2011-2015)

His research lies at the intersection of economic, legal, and technological history, utilizing digital humanities methods like text mining and natural language processing. Key projects include ‘The Emergence and Decline of Ordoliberal Language’, which applies computational analysis to EU competition law, and his ongoing habilitation project on technological change and regulatory discourse, examining historical parallels to digitalization’s societal impact.

The habilitation project leverages digitized primary sources (newspapers, parliamentary speeches) to study discursive patterns around innovation, focusing on public sentiment and regulatory outcomes. Methodologically, it bridges science and technology studies, conceptual history, and NLP techniques, contributing to debates on the ‘Great Divergence’ and transnational sentiment analysis.

Scientific Awards:

• Roman Herzog Research Prize (2023) for his dissertation
• Otto Hahn Medal (2023) for outstanding doctoral work

Küsters’ publications reflect his interdisciplinary expertise. He employs quantitative approaches to analyze historical texts, revealing trends in EU policy formation, economic crisis narratives, and cultural representations. While no students are listed, his work influences digital history and legal scholarship through methodological innovation.