Research Group PlastX

Lecture series “Living in the Plastic Age” 

In the summer semester of 2019 the research group PlastX organizes the lecture series “Living in the Plastic Age: Perspectives from the Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences” at the Goethe-University of Frankfurt. For the lecture series, internationally renowned scientists who look at the multifaceted plastic problem from different perspectives could be enticed. In six lectures, they will deal with current topics such as consumer behaviour, recycling management, environmental responsibility, the shaping of social natural conditions and health and environmental risks using plastics as an example. The series of events which is open to the public will start on 24 April.

| Pressrelease

The participation in the public lecture series at the Goethe University Frankfurt is free of charge. It is organized by the research group PlastX, which since 2015 has been investigating the social role of plastics and its effects on the environment from an interdisciplinary perspective and has included the disciplines of sociology, geography, biology and chemistry. 

PlastX is a joint project led by the ISOE – Institute for Social-Ecological Research together with the Goethe University of Frankfurt and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. PlastX is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Below, you find the sequence of lectures organized by the research group PlastX for the summer semester of 2019

Living in the Plastic Age – Perspectives from the Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences

24 April
Cultural Perspectives on Plastic Packaging
Prof. Karin Wagner, Department of Cultural Sciences, University of Gothenburg

08 May
Chemikalien in food packaging und Co: Risikobewertung, Regulation und politische Diskussion
Dr. Jane Muncke, Food Packaging Forum

22 May
Der schwere Weg zur Kreislaufwirtschaft
Dr. Henning Wilts, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy

05 June
Plastic Expertise and the Paradox of the Circular Economy
Prof. Alice Mah, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick

19 June
Plastic as a Political Material
Prof. Gay Hawkins, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University

03 July (HZ 1)
Do Microplastics pose a Toxicological Risk in the Environment?
Prof. Alistair Boxall, Department of Environment and Geography, University of York 

4 pm c.t., HZ 3 
Campus Westend/Hörsaalzentrum
Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main
Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 5 
60323 Frankfurt am Main 

More about the research group PlastX

Flyer lecture series “Living in the Plastic Age”