Summer School 2025: Registration Now Open!
The Department of Media Psychology at Chemnitz University of Technology invites you to take part in the 2025 Summer School entitled "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.
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, workshops, and a social get-together. Please refer to the menu above to find out more about our (preliminary) schedule.
If you would like to participate (and potentially discuss your own research), see our registration page for details.
The deadline for applications is May 10th, 2025.
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. More details about this part of our curriculum will be added here soon.
Crossover with the "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. Please refer to the registration page to learn more about application criteria.
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
Registration and Submission
If you are interested in attending, please send a brief application mail to summerschool2025@phil.tu-chemnitz.de (deadline: May 10th, 2025), including:
- Your full name and current affiliation (university, country)
- Your current qualification phase or employment status (e.g., PhD student, post-doctoral researcher)
- Your research topics in 2–3 bullet points
Since our event aims at supporting junior researchers with their own work, participants are strongly encouraged to also attach a submission for our interactive poster session to their application e-mail. Please refer to the Call for Abstracts below.
Given the limited number of participant slots, we will first consider applications that are accompanied by a submitted abstract in our internal peer-review. Remaining slots will be randomly distributed among all applications.
Final invitation letters can be expected until May 31st, 2025.
Call for Abstracts (Poster Session)
PhD and post-doctoral students are invited to submit extended abstracts (max. 400 words plus references) detailing their own research. Unlike traditional conference posters, a creative—potentially sci-fi inspired—presentation of the respective work is strongly encouraged. For example, submssions could briefly mention a specific example of sci-fi media (e.g., a scene from a sci-fi movie, a concept from a novel), or juxtapose a fictional concept with real-world theory or evidence.
We will consider work from a variety of subjects, using different methodologies (e.g., both quantitative and qualitative research), and in different stages (on-going or concluded).
Please attach your extended abstract as PDF to your mail application via summerschool2025@phil.tu-chemnitz.de (deadline: May 10th, 2025).
Preliminary Schedule
| Time | Day 1 — August 28th, 2025 | Day 2 – August 29th, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 | Registration / Coffee | KEYNOTE 2 |
| 09:30 | Welcome & Introduction | |
| 10:00 | Research from the Department of Media Psychology | Discussion Forum |
| 11:00 | Posters and Tea #1 | Posters and Tea #2 |
| 12:00 | KEYNOTE 1 | KEYNOTE 3 |
| 13:00 | Lunch Break / Get-Together | Lunch Break / Get-Together |
| 14:30 | Practical Workshop #1 | Practical Workshop #2 |
| 17:30 | Break | Goodbye |
| 20:00 | Social Event (TBD) |