Lia Börsch

Lia Börsch serves as a Scientific Associate at the Professorship for Modern and Contemporary History within the Historical Seminar at Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. Her research focuses on the intersection of visual culture and political activism, particularly examining how non-governmental organizations and photojournalists collaborated to shape political discourse from the 1960s through the 1990s.

Dr. Börsch holds a German-French master's degree in history from Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg and École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris, where she completed her thesis on The French League for Human Rights in the Postwar Period (1947–1953). She is currently pursuing her doctorate at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jan Eckel, while also working as a research associate at Freiburg University.

Her primary research interest centers on visual activism, specifically investigating how Western NGOs like Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and Médecins sans frontières developed image-based political strategies during the late 20th century. Her dissertation project, funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, examines the complex relationship between visual media and political activism, highlighting both the empowering potential and problematic aspects of using imagery for human rights advocacy. This work contributes significantly to our understanding of how visual strategies shaped NGO operations, messaging, and public perception during a critical period of global political transformation.

Analysis of her publications reveals a consistent focus on human rights history, particularly examining how visual media has been employed in advocacy contexts. Her work demonstrates sophisticated understanding of how NGOs strategically used photography to advance their missions, while also critically assessing the ethical implications and limitations of such approaches. The research spans multiple decades of 20th century history, with particular emphasis on the 1970s-1990s period when visual activism became increasingly prominent.

• Doctoral Fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC (March 2022)
• Resident Fellow of the German Historical Institute Paris (May-June 2016)
• Scholarship from the German Historical Institute Rome (September 2015)
• Mobility scholarship from the Franco-German University (2014-2015)
• DAAD scholarship for an internship abroad at UNESCO in Paris (2014)

Dr. Börsch has been actively involved in teaching, offering courses such as Weltgestalter? NGOs als Akteure in der internationalen Politik seit dem Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts (Summer 2022) and Die Welt dokumentieren. Fotojournalismus im 20. Jahrhundert (Winter 2021/22). She co-organized the international conference Envisioning Human Rights. How to claim the Commong (Good) in 2019. As Co-speaker of the Graduate Group of the Connecticut/Baden-Württemberg Human Rights Research Consortium and Vice Chair of HEIPAR, she plays an active role in fostering academic collaboration and supporting German-French scholarly exchange.