Public History Network for Innovative Teaching (PH-Net)

PH-Net is a three-year project (October 2026 – September 2029) funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education Teaching (Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre). It responds to the rapid growth of Public History across the German-speaking world over the past decade: degree programmes, modules and chairs have multiplied, yet curricula, qualification pathways and institutional structures still vary widely from one location to the next. PH-Net builds on this momentum and pursues three goals:

1.   Anchoring the curriculum. In five working retreats, the network will develop a policy paper with recommendations for curriculum development and for the sustainable institutionalisation of Public History.

2.   Sharing qualification pathways. Annual workshops and joint training sessions will professionalise the routes into teaching Public History and make the teaching profiles of the participating institutions visible in a digital brochure.

3.  Consolidating the network. A Digital Campus will provide a reliable infrastructure for exchange, cooperation and visibility.

In this way, PH-Net strengthens both the theoretical and methodological development and the practical implementation of innovative, future-oriented teaching, and promotes the institutional anchoring of Public History at German universities.

Principal Investigator: Kornelia Kończal

Network members: twenty colleagues working in the field of Public History in Germany and beyond

Coordinator: position to be advertised in early 2027.