Witten-Aachen Workshop Series on AI and (Un-) Sustainability (WAWAIS)
The Witten–Aachen Workshop Series on AI and (Un-)Sustainability (WAWAIS) provides a platform for critical interdisciplinary dialogue on the social, environmental, economic, and political sustainability challenges posed by contemporary AI systems. While research on individual aspects of “unsustainable AI” has expanded rapidly, a coordinated critical perspective remains underdeveloped. WAWAIS seeks to foreground the material, structural, and institutional conditions under which AI is built, deployed, and governed, and to examine how these conditions shape impacts on the planet, democratic institutions, and human well-being.
The series brings together scholars and practitioners from AI ethics, philosophy, AI safety, engineering, and the social sciences. Key questions include how to assess the scale of AI’s sustainability problems, how to separate hype from genuine progress, how democratic and non-democratic systems interact with AI development, and what measures are needed to reduce harms and promote justice. WAWAIS aims to cultivate a sustained, critical conversation that can inform research, policy, and practice.
The workshops are jointly organised by Hendrik Kempt (Aachen) and Jan-Christoph Heilinger (Witten).
Structural Injustice and Responsibility for Relational Equality (SIRRE)
SIRRE is an international, interdisciplinary network dedicated to advancing research on structural injustice, relational equality, and responsibility for justice. Building on Iris M. Young’s legacy and recent scholarship, it combines analytical, constructive, and action-guiding work to understand how unjust social structures operate and how they can be transformed.
The network addresses three core gaps: clarifying and expanding the concept of structural injustice; developing relational equality as a transformative egalitarian ideal; and formulating distributive and collective responsibility models capable of mobilising individuals and institutions.
Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), SIRRE brings together leading scholars and emerging researchers through regular online meetings and annual in-person conferences. The network is co-led by Magali Bessone (Paris), Ryoa Chung (Montréal), and Jan-Christoph Heilinger (Witten).
Working Group Public Health Ethics
The Working Group on Public Health Ethics brings together national and international experts and scholars to advance ethical reflection on population-level health. Founded in 2021 as a joint initiative of the Academy for Ethics in Medicine (AEM) and the German Society for Public Health (DGPH), the group initially emerged in response to the ethical challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. It aims to integrate a public health-ethics perspective into scientific, political, and public debates, especially where decisions of ethical relevance must be made under conditions of uncertainty and time pressure.
Building on this foundation, the group now addresses the full range of normative questions in public health, building on recent scholarship in moral and political philosophy. Its work includes clarifying the scope and methods of public health ethics, examining its relation to bioethics and medical ethics, defining educational aims, and strengthening its role in policy advice and practice. A further priority is fostering international collaboration and developing the competencies and resources needed for a robust public health ethics community.
The group is co-lead by Solveig Hansen (Bremen), Jan-Christoph Heilinger (Witten), Georg Marckmann (München), Peter Schröder-Bäck (Köln), Verina Wild (Augsburg).
Interactions between Humans and the Earth System (Leopoldina Working Group)
The Leopoldina Working Group Interactions between Humans and the Earth System examines how human societies shape—and are shaped by—the Earth system in an era of accelerating climate change, resource pressures, and biodiversity loss. Recognising that these challenges demand new forms of knowledge and collaboration, the group develops strategies for transdisciplinary research, higher education, and science–policy–society dialogue.
Its work involves analysing the current German landscape in these areas, situating it within international best practices, and identifying opportunities for an integrative human–Earth science that brings together social sciences, Earth system sciences, and practical expertise. The working group aims to formulate recommendations on research design and funding, educational innovations, and communication strategies, to be published in a Leopoldina future report on science.
The group is co-chaired by Ortwin Renn (Potsdam) and Friedhelm von Blanckenburg (Berlin).