Symposium "Brought out of the Concept"

On 24 October 2025, an interdisciplinary symposium by researchers for researchers took place at the Thuringian University and State Library at the University of Jena. The aim of the event, which was organised by the "Gender in Focus" project, was to promote understanding and exchange on the different concepts of sex and gender.

The "Gender in Focus" project promotes the development of a support structure for sex and gender-sensitive research at the University of Jena. One challenge is that the concepts of "sex" and "gender" are sometimes used in different ways in different research areas. In addition, sometimes only one of the two terms has potential relevance for the research in question. The reasons for these differences can be found in the disciplinary background and the self-image of the discipline, as these have a significant influence on which references in the history of ideas, scientific theory and methodology characterise the use of the terms "sex" and "gender".

The symposium "Brought out of the Concept" offered the opportunity to discuss these different conceptualisations and to enter into an interdisciplinary dialogue. Researchers from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences took part in the event, which was moderated by three dedicated colleagues from Philosophy. The contributors first gave keynote speeches to provide compact insights into the use of "sex" and "gender" in their fields of research, followed by lively discussions on similarities and differences in the concepts in an interdisciplinary exchange.

The symposium was accompanied by a professional graphic recording to clearly visualise the diversity and complexity of the concepts presented and the results of the discussions.

Overall, this symposium showed how important and informative it is to communicate across disciplinary boundaries. After all, in order to understand why a colleague from another discipline uses these particular distinctions and considers them central to their own research, it is necessary to engage in interested discussions and provide each other with insights into the respective research work. The symposium should therefore be seen as a prelude to further events of this kind. Until then, the interdisciplinary impulses presented will be made available to all interested researchers in a publication.