Other Research Projects

In addition to the long-term projects of the National Academies Program, the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (HAdW) is home to numerous research initiatives. This overview presents the broad spectrum of our externally funded projects, state-level initiatives, and scientific collaborations.

The range of topics extends from the cataloging of historical text corpora and the preservation of global cultural heritage to research at the intersections of the humanities, natural sciences, and cultural studies.

WIN Kolleg

The Embodiment of Inner Speech: Endocrinological Foundations of Self-Reference and Identity

This project investigates how hormonal processes—particularly oxytocin and cortisol—influence conscious experience, affect regulation, and inner speech. The central question is how hormonal dynamics, as embodied processes, help shape our self-perception, our thinking, and our emotional experience. The project combines philosophical theory-building, phenomenological analysis, and empirical research.

WIN Kolleg

From Pathology to Potential: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Extreme Experiences of Embodiment (IDEE)

The IDEE Project investigates experiences of (dis)embodiment—moments in which one’s usual experience of the body and self changes. Such experiences occur, for example, during meditation, flow, intensive media use, or in connection with depression, anxiety, or eating disorders.

WIN Kolleg

Neural Circuits of Embodiment: A Multi-Modal Cross-Species Investigation of Anterior Insula–Prefrontal Pathways Linking Internal States to Cognitive Control

While theories of embodiment emphasize the importance of interoception, the underlying neural mechanisms remain largely unresolved. This project investigates how the anterior insula (AI) integrates interoceptive signals and, through its connections with the prefrontal cortex (PFC), modulates cognitive control processes.

WIN Kolleg

Complexity Reduction, Explainability, and Interpretability (KEI)

Machine learning (ML) algorithms make predictions that are relevant to our daily lives, but why they make certain decisions and not others often remains difficult to understand; in a sense, they are “opaque.” In our project, we aim to understand how this opacity arises and how it might be reversed retroactively.

WIN Kolleg

In the Age of the Polycrisis

How Complex Crises Arise and How We Can Address Them

Polycrises have the potential to cause the failure of social and political systems. This interdisciplinary project aims to examine the tension between complex crises and the need for sociopolitical measures to reduce this complexity.

WIN Kolleg

Neutral by Choice

Cognitive Neuroscience Meets Philosophy of Mind

Neutral mental states are systematically underrepresented in contemporary philosophical theories and cognitive neuroscience. This project is an attempt to restore that lost complexity and to arrive at a more naturalistic understanding of decision-making, one in which it is possible to be decisively undecided.

Externally Funded Project

Buddhist Stone Inscriptions for CBETA

The project enables the integration of the digital data compiled as part of the research project Buddhist Stone Inscriptions in China with CBETA, an initiative that digitizes the Buddhist canon preserved in Chinese and makes it accessible in accordance with scholarly standards.

Externally Funded Project

Nepal Heritage Documentation Project (NHDP)

In cooperation with the Heidelberg Center for Transcultural Studies (HCTS), Nepal's cultural heritage at risk is being documented, cataloged, and made available online.