Summer School 2025: Deadline Extended!
The Department of Media Psychology at Chemnitz University of Technology invites you to take part in the 2025 Summer School "How much science is in science fiction?" (Wie viel Science steckt in Science Fiction?). The event will be held in close cooperation with the scientific alliance ACROSS – European Cross-Border University, which unites ten European universities in a large-scale research network. Furthermore, we are kindly supported by the Media Psychology Division of the German Psychological Society (DGPs).
Inspired by contemporary and vintage sci-fi media, our Summer School will take an interdisciplinary look at the boundaries between science and science fiction, with particular focus on social scientific aspects as well as individual and societal perceptions of on-going technological developments.
Over the course of two days (August 28-29, 2025), our curriculum will offer a low-threshold introduction to various social scientific research questions that border on the futuristic ideas of science fiction as presented in literature, movies, television, social media, and video games.
Striving for an engaging and multi-faceted experience, the summer school will involve several keynote talks by esteemed international guests (see below), interactive discussion sessions, a creativity workshop, and a social get-together. Please refer to the menu above to find out more about our (preliminary) schedule.
[July 2025 Update] The deadline for applications has now concluded and all invitations have been sent out.
Keynote Speakers
We are honored to welcome several esteemed keynote speakers during our Summer School:
- Media make the model: How sci-fi helps shape our reactions to social machines
From the cute and friendly trappings of WALL-E to the cold and sinister vibes of Agent Smith, media representations of robots and artificial intelligence help to shape our ideas about these machines. This keynote will explore how science fiction--and other media forms and genres--contributes bits of knowledge to our internal mental models. We will consider how these models evolve, how they are activated, and how their activation can have real effects on how we think and feel when we encounter these social machines. In particular: How do media contribute to how we see them as mindful, moral, trustworthy, and friendly (or not)?
- How much fiction is in science? An excursus on serious games!
Serious games use fiction and game elements to further serious purposes, such as learning, training, and promotion of positive behaviors. This keynote offers an excursus on different types of serious games, from non-digital ones to recent examples, also using modern devices for immersive virtual reality. The keynote will also provide several examples of scientific studies conducted by the HCI Lab of the University of Udine showing the positive effects of serious games for different purposes.
- Sci-fi novels as human-machine fusion in the making
The impact that science has on science fiction novels is overpowering, as it both reflects and casts the genre’s exploration of new technologies, future developments, and societal transformations. Science fiction often stems from real scientific principles of physics, chemistry, biology, or engineering and creates speculative futuristic worlds. The connection between science and science fiction also works contrariwise: science fiction has ignited real scientific innovation. Concepts like machine learning, neural networks, artificial intelligence, space travel, and even the internet have been predicted by the figments of imagination depicted by authors like Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, or William Gibson. Neuromancer by William Gibson explores the intersection of technology, cyberspace, and human consciousness and is influenced by emerging fields of AI and virtual reality, reflecting the technological anxieties of the 1980s. This presentation explores the ways in which sci-fi novels not only reflect the scientific trends of their time but also anticipate the evolution of sciene and technology.
Creativity Workshop
Scientific writing is a domain with numerous formal guidelines and often strict rules. Nevertheless, there are certain degrees of freedom that allow scientific authors to embed at least some creativity in their work: May it be the inspiring thought experiment presented in a paper's introduction or the engaging science communication essay written for social media, blogs, or conferences. Especially for early-career researchers, however, finding the creativity in their daily writing can sometimes be a challenging task.
As a contribution to this specific set of skills, our Summer School will involve a creative writing workshop focused on short form prose. It will be held by the distinguished author and artist Denise Lee.
Travel Grant for Members of the Fachgruppe Medienpsychologie (DGPs)
Due to generous support by the Media Psychology Division of the German Psychological Society (DGPs), we are delighted to award two participants with €100 travel stipends each. The selection process has been handled by the organization committee in close cooperation with the Division's young member representation.
For Conference Hoppers: "Mensch und Computer 2025" Conference
Please note that starting from August 31st, Chemnitz University of Technology will also host the largest European conference on human-computer interaction, the 2025 "Mensch und Computer". As such, interested scholars may find it particularly convenient to attend both events back-to-back.
Summary
Language of the event: English
Target group: Undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, scientific assistants from various areas of expertise—with an interest in media studies, psychology, and/or human-computer interaction
Slots: Our event can accomodate a total of 25 participants. Application criteria are published on our registration page.
Attendance fee: The summer school will be offered at no cost to attendees. Additionally, participants will receive vouchers for a free lunch at the local university on both days.
Location: Chemnitz University of Technology, Altes Heizhaus, Straße der Nationen 62, 09111 Chemnitz
Poster Session: Information for Participants
We are very much looking forward to our interactive poster session on the first day of the Summer School (August 28), starting after the lunch break at 13:15 p.m.!
Since we consider our Summer School as a more creative, media-oriented space to come together and discuss social scientific research, we encourage contributing participants to experiment with innovative and unusual ways of presenting their work on their posters.
For instance, posters could make use of well-known visual elements (images, backgrounds, stickers) or quotes from science fiction media—movies, TV, games, novels, etc.—and play around with futuristic templates and designs. Likewise, poster presenters might want to choose approaches of structuring the poster's content that differ from traditional conference posters.
(It should be noted, however, that this is not a necessary requirement. If you do not feel comfortable straying too far from conventional templates, we are also happy to discuss your research on a more traditionally styled poster.)
In terms of formal guidelines, we are able to accomodate posters in both landscape and portrait format, ranging between DIN A0 and DIN A2.
Download Hub: Get Your Materials!
On this page, we provide several downloads to support you during or after the Summer School.
Click here to download our official event flyer (PDF), including the full schedule and a map of the event venue.
Click here to download the full catalogue (PDF) of all projects, exhibitions, and concerts happening during our city's reign as the European Capital of Culture—including several exciting events happening during and after the Summer School.
Event Schedule
The following timetable shows our finalized event schedule.
