Andreas Fickers

I'm Professor of Contemporary and Digital History at the Faculty of Language, Literature, Humanities, Arts, and Education / Luxemburg University and Director of the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (www.c2dh.uni.lu).

After finishing highschool in Belgium, I studied history, philosophy and sociology at the universities of Aachen (G) and Reims (F), specializing on the history of science and technology and the sociology and philosophy of knowlegde. I rejoined Aachen University as research and teaching assistant in contemporary history after practical courses at the German Museum for science and technology in Munich and Bonn. My interest in media technologies resulted in a deeper concern for media history (especially radio and television).

In 2003 I was appointed Assistant Professor for television history at the department for Media and Culture at Utrecht University, and set up a broader research agenda for a comparative European history of television. Between October 2007 and August 2013 I worked as Associate Professor for Comparative Media History at Maastricht University and was a member of the department of Arts and Culture and the research group Science, Technology and Society. Since September 2013 I am Professor for Contemporary History at Luxembourg University with a special focus on epistemological and methodological issues concerning digital historiography. Recently (September 2016) I was appointed Director of the third Interdisciplinary Centre of Luxembour University, the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH). The Centre aims at developing new tools and technologies in the field of contemporary digital history and to promote a hands-on approach in experimenting with - and critically reflecting on - the hermeneutic dimension of doing history contemporary history in the digital age. This is also the focus of the Doctoral Training Unit (DTU) on "Digital History and Hermeneutics" - a 4-year project funded by the Fonds National de Recherche (FNR) that enables 13 PhD students and 1 Post-Doc to do fascinating research projects in a unique interdisciplinary "trading zone". For more information on the DTU see https://dhh.uni.lu

My scholarly ambition is to bridge theoretical and methodological approaches from various disciplines (especially from history of technology, media and cultural studies) in order to further develop my ideas of a cultural history of media technologies in the digital age.

I'm engaged in several European research networks, such as the Tensions of Europe network (www.tensionsofeurope.eu) and the European Television History Network. Have a look at our open access e-journal on European television history and culture (www.viewjournal.eu) to see our latest experiment in setting up a European multi-media platform for television research! Another project I'm doing deals with the relationship of technology and memory in amateur film making called "Changing Platforms of Ritualized Memory Production". Have a look at our webblog: www.homemoviesproject.com In May 2017 we officially launched the tri-national Doctoral School "Internationale Geschichte interdisziplinär: Deutsch-französisch-europäische Perspektiven im 20. Jahrhundert / L’histoire internationale par l’interdisciplinarité. Perspectives franco-allemandes et européennes au XXe siècle", a joint venture by the Universität des Saarlandes (Prof. Dietmar Hüser), Université Paris-Sorbonne (Prof. Hélène Miard-Delacroix) and Luxembourg University (myself). The Doctoral School (www.docteuropa.eu) is funded by the German-French University and a great opportunity for transnational doctoral education and intellectual exchanges.