Alumni of the Master's in Management of Social Change discuss current challenges at the second major meeting.
On May 31 and June 1, 2024, the second alumni meeting of the Master's in Management of Social Change took place. After more than 10 years of the course (first enrolment in 2011) and a good 150 graduates, this was a good opportunity to look back and look ahead to the coming years, with their challenges and opportunities. More than 50 alumni had registered and the bad (storm) forecasts only deterred a few from making their way to the Kühlhaus in Görlitz.
On Friday, we met for a relaxed get-together from 3 pm. The reunion was an opportunity to meet up with former fellow students - in keeping with the motto: What are you doing now? Lively conversations were held over drinks, table tennis and in a relaxed atmosphere. For dinner, students were able to put together their own burgers (vegetarian or not), which had been prepared by Obermühle Görlitz.
To start the evening, Professor Dr. Raj Kollmorgen gave an inspiring presentation on the various modules of the course. And of course he had a suitable book with him for each one - not a textbook, but the famous look at the bigger picture. Everyone was also given one or two reading recommendations. After dinner, Dr. Julia Gabler encouraged the alumni to pursue empirical research with curiosity and an adventurous appetite for different living environments and illustrated this plea with an excerpt from Donna Haraway's "Remaining Restless" on observing coexistence as a basic research attitude. The day ended with dancing, conversation and laughter.
After an extensive brunch on Saturday, which left little to be desired in terms of culinary delights, Dr. Julia Gabler, Prof. Raj Kollmorgen and Dr. Andreas Otto invited guests to a discussion about opportunities and prospects with and about the German Centre for Astrophysics, which is currently being established as a major research center and science campus in Görlitz. How can the transformation in Lusatia succeed with the establishment of the center and the structural characteristics of Lusatia? What does it need? What does it not need? These and other questions led to a very lively and interesting discussion on Saturday morning and afternoon in a private round table with the alumni and those involved in the DZA (Raj Kollmorgen as a consultant in the development process of the DZA and Andreas Otto as a future employee in the Transformation Hub), whereby neither visions nor critical reflections on possible imponderables and pitfalls in the process were neglected. Many thanks for the successful exchange with 40 alumni and students, guests and questioners.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the organizing team of Hannes Weinhold, Bernadette Rohlf, Marko Schmidt, Julia Gabler, Conny Müller and Sandra Stibenz.
