Alumni Newsletter, Issue 1/2026

Dear alumni,

In the first newsletter issue of 2026, we have once again selected an exciting range of our university's events and projects for you.

Our first article is about philosophising as a social movement, in which the Institute for Philosophy reports on its event for the networking of philosophers from the Koblenz area (with academic and non-academic backgrounds). The aim is to create spaces for orientation and cultivate an appropriate way of dealing with challenges in a time of intertwined crises.

At the centre of the International Corpus Linguistics Conference ICAME47 will focus on current developments and future prospects for computer-assisted language research, with innovative approaches at the interface of English corpus linguistics, artificial intelligence (AI) and data science.

The Centre for Teacher Education (ZfL) is once again organising the Theme Day on Reading Competence this year, at which the ZfL, togehter with other university institutions, will address the question of how reading competence as a key qualification for school learning can be assessed and promoted in a differentiated manner.

The Interdisciplinary Career and Study Centre (IKaruS) is organising the first networking event for first-generation students and is looking for alumni whose parents and grandparents did not attend university and who would like to take part in a panel discussion to share their experiences. Representatives of the Arbeiterkind.de initiative will also be in attendance.

We hope you enjoy reading our articles.

Best regards
Your team at the Central Alumni Office

Philosophising as a social movement

Instead of providing ready-made answers for a uniform society, philosophising as a social movement and cultural technique focuses on the argumentative exchange of diverse perspectives with common democratic goals.

The Institute for Philosophy at our university has been committed to the so-called third mission, transfer and participatory manner of research for several terms. Particularly in view of the 'nested crises' of our time, we need spaces for orientation. The networking of philosophers - initially in and around Koblenz - should enable people to cultivate an appropriate way of dealing with these challenges.

At the event "Sovereign Philosophising" as part of the Koblenz Weeks of Democracy 2025 not only the members of relevant discussion groups came together to exchange ideas. The event was particularly characterised by an intergenerational dialogue in which learners and lecturers, academics and non-academics as well as experts and interested parties engaged in open discussion. The debates showed that, although different answers to social problems are often given quickly, it is often more productive to pause and consider together which questions actually underlie the supposed answers. Is it really the aim of democracy to find a consensus? Do we live in an enlightened society (or in a society of enlightenment)? And what role do modern technologies play in our self-image?

The impulses from the workshop were then transferred back to a seminar on the ethics of participatory manner research and continued there as part of a research project on social utopias. The workshop participants themselves became co-researchers and analysed in a qualitative study how personal values shape the understanding of democracy. The workshop and study thus confirmed the pragmatist insight that democracy does not begin with institutions, but is created in the process of general public communication and joint (re-)research.

The networking project is based on the conviction that philosophy unfolds its orientating and critical power above all when it does not remain solely in the academic sphere, but also becomes effective as a social practice. For this reason, the project aims to embed philosophical thinking more strongly in concrete social contexts and make it accessible to the general public. This text is therefore a description of the current status of our project, so to speak, but more than that, these lines contain an invitation and even a call:

Let's work together to bring philosophy back into the focus of society in order to provide the emotionally charged debates with a constructive, dialogue-based impetus. You can find further information at https://www.instagram.com/philo_vernetzung/

ICAME 47 - A Confluence of Corpus Research in the Age of AI

The 47th International Conference of the International Computer Archive of Modern and Medieval English (ICAME) will take place at the University of Koblenz from 26 to 30 May 2026. Under the motto "ICAME47: A Confluence of Corpus Research in the Age of AI", leading researchers from all over the world will come together to discuss current developments and future prospects for computer-assisted language research.

The focus is on innovative approaches at the interface of English corpus linguistics, artificial intelligence (AI) and data science. This is because the large language models that drive chatbots, translation services and speech recognition systems today were originally trained on huge collections of texts known as corpora. These corpora, as they have been developed in corpus linguistics for decades, thus form a central basis for modern AI applications.

There were submissions from international scientists from over 25 countries and from almost every continent. Participants can expect a varied programme with four plenary lectures renowned international researchers, five international pre-conference workshops and over 140 academic research contributions and specialised discussions on synchronic and diachronic perspectives of English corpus linguistics and their connection to AI technologies.

The conference will be accompanied by an extensive supporting programme. A preliminary overview of the academic programme can already be found here:
https://wp.uni-koblenz.de/icame47/programme/

Registration for the conference was scheduled to begin on 15 February 2026.

Confirmed plenary speakers are Jane Stuart-Smith from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, Laurence Anthony from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, Natalia Levshina from Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, and Jonathan Culpeper from the University of Lancaster, England.

Reading Literacy Day - resumption of an established format

With a "Reading Literacy Day", the Centre for Teacher Education (ZfL) at the University of Koblenz is resuming a series that has supported the exchange between academic research and school practice for many years.

As part of the theme days format, the Centre for Teacher Education, together with other university institutions, is dedicated to selected challenges of educational work in schools. The events developed from the Campus Schools Network are aimed at teachers from all types of schools, subject leaders, students and other interested parties and serve as a platform for the transfer between academia and practice.

Reading skills are a key qualification for learning at school and are crucial for educational success and social participation. Against this backdrop, the "Reading Literacy Day" on 24 February 2026 will explore the question of how reading literacy can be assessed in a differentiated way and promoted in a targeted manner. The event follows a consecutive triad of research status, reading diagnostics and reading promotion.

An introductory lecture will first provide an overview of key research findings and their significance for teaching. Thematic impulses then show how criterion-based observations, standardised diagnostics and differentiated ability profiles contribute to the assessment of reading comprehension. At the same time, process- and culture-based approaches to reading promotion are presented, which strengthen reading accuracy, reading fluency, text comprehension and reading motivation.

The input sessions prepare participants for practical workshop phases. The first workshop phase focuses on various facets of reading diagnostics. The focus is on evidence-based methods that enable a differentiated assessment of individual reading abilities. The second workshop phase deals with approaches to diagnosis-based reading support. Both process-related support approaches and culture-related perspectives that combine reading didactics and literary learning are discussed. The seven workshops address different age groups from primary school age onwards.

A concluding summary takes up the results of the workshops and offers an outlook on possible forms of further co-operation within the framework of the Campus Schools Network. Founded in 2014, the network forms the institutional framework for cross-phase cooperation between the University of Koblenz and schools in the region.

The theme day is organised by the Centre for Teacher Education in cooperation with the Institutes of Primary School Pedagogics, German Studies, School Pedagogics and Special Needs Education. Participation is free of charge and recognised as teacher training. The event is already fully booked and around 130 participants from all phases of teacher training, teacher education are expected.

Further information can be found at: https://www.uni-ko.de/zfl-thementag

Networking event for first-generation students - alumni wanted

First-generation students - i.e. those whose parents and grandparents did not study themselves - often have a different university experience when starting their studies than students who have already gained an insight into everyday student life through their parents and/or other family members. Those who already know which hurdles and difficult phases are part of studying or how to set the course for their future career during their studies usually find it easier to find their way around. First-year students often feel alone with the sense that they first have to sort out everyday university life and orient themselves. The networking event for first-generation students and prospective students provides an opportunity to make contacts and ask questions that might not otherwise have any room.

Antonia Diaco from the Arbeiterkind.de initiative will also be there, offering a privilege check as part of the event to reflect on aspects that influence individual educational history. The Koblenz volunteer group will also be introducing itself and is looking forward to welcoming interested parties for further networking.

The event will take place on Tuesday, 28 April 2026 from 16:30 to 18:00.

Alumni wanted!

We are looking for first-generation students¹ with or without a degree who are willing to answer questions from participants in a round table discussion and talk about their own experiences during their studies.
If you are interested, please contact ikarus-beratung@uni-koblenz.de by 6 March.

(¹whereby studying siblings, cousins, etc., i.e. people who belong to the same generation within the family, do not count)