As part of our Global Call and search for the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2023, we invited leading actors in science and academia worldwide to nominate the latest breakthroughs and outstanding science projects in 9 different categories, Social Sciences & Humanities being one of them. Our distinguished jury for Social Sciences & Humanities, chaired by Björn Wittrock, selected 10 excellent winners in this category. One of them will be awarded with the prestigious title Science Breakthrough of the Year, Social Sciences & Humanities.
MEET OUR social sciences & Humanities WINNERS
You can discover the 10 winners in Social Sciences & Humanities 2023 below. To see the winners in each category, click here, to see the finalists in each category, click here.
ARLINE GERONIMUS – UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Breaking the Wall to Population Health Equity
Arline T. Geronimus introduced an alternative model based on the weathering theory to guide how we understand health inequity.
BEATRIZ MAGALONI – STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Breaking the Wall of Police Brutality
Beatriz Magaloni’s work highlights the factors that cause brutal policing practices in democratic societies and identifies institutional solutions.
ILONA MAGDALENA OTTO – UNIVERSITY OF GRAZ
Breaking the Wall of Climate Inaction
Ilona Otto proposed systemic solutions that help rewire our societies, change human resource and energy use patterns, and decrease the pressure on climate and natural systems.
JONATHAN BIRCH – LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
Breaking the Wall to a Science of Animal Sentience
Jonathan Birch addresses the fundamental question of how we should treat invertebrates laying the foundations for a systematic and fully integrated science of animal sentience.
LAURA MARTIN – WILLIAMS COLLEGE
Breaking the Wall to Ecological Restoration
Laura Martin frames biodiversity restoration as a mode of collaboration with other species and shows how even in this era of rapid climate change, it is possible to manage for and design wildness.
LOUISE AMOORE – DURHAM UNIVERSITY
Breaking the Wall to Ethical Societies in the Age of Algorithms
Louise Amoore provides the rethinking of practical intervention in machine learning models that are urgently required to keep pace with the penetration of society by algorithmic systems.
MATTHIAS BRAUN – UNIVERSITY OF BONN
Breaking the Wall to Bodily Integrity in the Digital Age
Matthias Braun tackles the question of how we can think, understand, and protect bodily integrity in dealing with new technologies.
NITA FARAHANY – DUKE UNIVERSITY
Breaking the Wall to Thinking Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology
Nita Farahany’s work addresses the protection of cognitive liberty in a world that is rapidly heading toward brain transparency, allowing us to track and hack our own brains but bars us from trespassing on other minds.
PAUL BEHRENS – LEIDEN UNIVERSITY
Breaking the Wall to Rethinking our Food System
Paul Behrens demonstrates why a transformation of our food system is essential to combat climate change and explains what role dietary changes in high-income countries play in this process.
PUMLA DINEO GQOLA – NELSON MANDELA UNIVERSITY
Breaking the Wall of the Female Fear Factory
Explaining how gender and fear intersect in public spaces, Pumla Gqola’s “Female Fear Factory” is a theatrical and public performance of patriarchal policing of and violence towards women and others cast/read as female.
The Global Call 2023 has ended on 15 May 2023, the next Global Call will take place in 2024. You will find all relevant information and updates here and in our newsletter.
Falling Walls seeks internationally recognised, established academics and leaders in the study of the institutions and functioning of human society and of the interpersonal relationships of individuals as members of society (e.g. politics, economics, philosophy), whose groundbreaking work contributes towards solving the world’s biggest challenges.