Caroline Y. Robertson-von Trotha (born 22 February 1951 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish sociologist and cultural scientist, working in Germany.
Biography and career
After the unexpected death of her father Robertson-von Trotha left Oban High School at the age of 15 without School Leaving Qualifications. In 1967 she completed her basic training in hotel management ('City & Guild-Certificate') and was awarded with the gold medal of the Oban Hotel Association. After having worked in the hotel industry/sector for two years, Robertson-von Trotha began a journey as a backpacker through Europe and Turkey, which took her finally to Germany. Here she prepared herself autodidactically for the Scottish Higher Level Examinations. In 1972 she was accepted by University of Heidelberg and studied political science, sociology, philosophy and history in Heidelberg and Karlsruhe. With the support of a grant from the Peter Fuld Foundation, she received her PhD in 1990 after completing a dissertation on the topic 'Ethnic Identity and Political Mobilisation'. In 2004 she habilitated on 'The Dialectics of Globalisation' at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Karlsruhe. In 2007 she was appointed as an adjunct professor by the rector of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), formerly University of Karlsruhe (TH). She was a founding member of the Interfacultative Institute for Cultural Studies (IAK) at the University of Karlsruhe (TH), and from 1990 to 2002 served as its managing director. Since 2002, she has been founding scientific director of the successor institution, the ZAK | Centre for Cultural and General Studies at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
She is married to Klaus von Trotha, who was Minister of Science, Research and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg from 1991 to 2001.
Research
Robertson-von Trotha's research focuses on globalisation and cultural change, multiculturalism and integration policy, cultural heritage, and the 'Theory and Practice of Public Science' (Öffentliche Wissenschaft). In her opening speeches to the 'Karlsruher Dialogues' Robertson-von Trotha introduced the concept of Public Science, redesigning the classical task of science communication and dissemination of scientific processes and findings according to dialogical and transdisciplinary principles. She was the first to introduce the term in German speaking space, as well as an advising expert and one of the first signatories of the Charta Öffentliche Kommunikationswissenschaft ('Public Communication Science'). This approach had been inspired by the tradition of the British 'PUS Initiative' ('Public Understanding of Science') and the promotion of the 'Understanding of Scientific literacy' developed in North America. Subsequently, Robertson-von Trotha developed her concept in relation to the PUSH-Memorandum of the non-profit company Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD), founded in 1999, an initiative of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft ('Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany'), and in 2012 she carried out the first of several analyses of Public Science "in the mirror of Web 2.0 culture". As founding director of the ZAK | Centre for Cultural and General Studies, she also institutionally established her programme of 'Public Science in Theory and Practice': in addition to Research and Teaching, it forms one of the three pillars on which the centre is based on.
Fields of activity
Caroline Y. Robertson-von Trotha's multifaceted commitment is characterized by a combination of theoretical and practical approaches. One of her central issues is the mediation between science and society, with a focus on international and intercultural contexts, interdisciplinarity, and critical reflection.