DFG Research Training Group 1613 "Risk and East Asia"

The Research Training Group (or Graduiertenkolleg) Risk and East Asia was established in October 2009 as an international and English language doctoral college within the Institute of East Asian Studies (IN-EAST) at the University of Duisburg-Essen, with generous support from the German Science Foundation (DFG) and the University of Duisburg-Essen. The Research Training Group cooperates closely with the White Rose East Asia Centre at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield in the UK.

Each year five new doctoral fellows are selected and undergo rigorous training in disciplinary and regional studies, in preparation for completing their own doctoral research projects within the framework of the Risk and East Asia research program. Financial support enables all doctoral fellows to conduct their own research in East Asia, as a rule in either China or Japan.

The Research Program draws on a risk theoretical perspective to better understand the nature of contemporary institutional transformations in the East Asian region. Interdisciplinary collaboration is structured through research sub-themes focused on major processes affecting institutional change: market transformations, individualization, decentralization and transnationalization.

The Qualification Program develops methodological and language-based regional studies competencies in order to improve the quality of European social scientific research about East Asia. The September Seminar, conducted at leading East Asian centers of social scientific research prepares students to conduct their own empirical research in China or Japan.