The Center for Interdisicplinary Critical Inquiry welcomed scholars from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich to the UC Berkeley campus October 3 -4, 2025. The LMU visitors joined UC Berkeley scholars as presenters during the LMU - UCB Emerging Scholars Conference titled, "Revisiting Empathy: Political Affects in Times of Cruelty." Presentations explored the concept of empathy through an interdisciplinary lens, with speakers representing programs in philosophy, ethnic studies, Art, American studies, German, French, English, and more.
Keynote presentations were delivered by Jodi Halpern (University Chair, Class of 1940 Endowment; Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities; Co-Director, Berkeley Group for Ethics and Regulation of Innovative Technologies; Co-Director, Kavli Center for Ethics, Science and the Public; UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley) and Roland Wenzlhuemer (Professor of Modern History; Director of The global dis:connect Research Centre, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich).
The conference was a milestone for the LMU-UCB Research in the Humanities program, which aims to facilitate academic exchange of faculty members, graduate students, and postdocs through visiting appointments, conferences, and workshops.