ZSM Autumn Conference
Invitation & Call for Papers: ZSM Autumn Conference at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, 26–27 November 2026
“Laboratories” in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Educational Sciences: Epistemic Arrangements, Methodological Perspectives, Methodological Instruments, and Empirical Analyses in Research, Development, and Teaching
In recent years, the humanities, social sciences, and educational sciences have witnessed an increasing reference to “laboratories” (cf. Hofhues & Schiefner-Rohs, 2017; Rehfeldt et al., 2020). In addition to established meanings from the natural sciences, diverse formats such as real-world labs (Reallabore), living labs, and learning labs have emerged, serving simultaneously as sites of research, development, and teaching. These developments can be interpreted as a shift in scientific practice, in which laboratory arrangements are no longer understood merely as technically controlled environments but as complex social and pedagogical constellations. Particularly in discourses on real-world labs, living labs, and learning labs (cf. Bergmann et al., 2021; Geibler et al., 2011; Rehfeldt et al., 2020; Deutscher Bundestag, 2018), the laboratory is conceived as a site of cooperative knowledge production, experimental practice, and societal intervention. Consequently, the conditions of knowledge generation are also shifting. Especially when “laboratories” are not only invoked metaphorically, one may ask to what extent research is increasingly conducted in settings situated between science and practice, observation and design, as well as analysis and intervention. It is also pertinent to examine how notions of controllability and steerability are reflected in educational and social-scientific laboratory settings. Moreover, digital—currently predominantly AI-based—technologies are gaining significance within laboratory arrangements. Artificial intelligence can be understood both as a methodological instrument for data collection and analysis and as an integral component of the practice under investigation. This raises additional questions regarding the role of algorithmic systems in constituting research processes, forms of delegation and support, and epistemic responsibility.
The conference takes these developments as an opportunity to discuss the laboratory in the humanities, social sciences, and educational sciences as both an object of empirical analysis and methodological reflection. Central to this discussion is the assumption that laboratories are not merely sites of data collection but— as frequently demonstrated, for example, by work in Science and Technology Studies—specific epistemic arrangements in which social reality is produced, varied, and rendered observable under particular conditions. This simultaneously brings into focus questions concerning the underlying methodological perspectives, the methodological instruments employed, and ultimately the conditions of knowledge production.
The conference addresses researchers who work empirically on laboratory formats or utilize laboratories as part of their research. Qualitative, interpretative, and reconstructive approaches are welcome, as are other empirical perspectives, provided they engage with the specific conditions, potentials, and limitations of laboratories in the humanities, social sciences, and educational sciences.
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