TRA Present Pasts: Past Worlds and Modern Questions - Cultures Across Time and Space

The TRA Present Pasts works to overcome the eurocentric view of history through the transdisciplinary study of past cultural, political, social and economic constellations and their specific forms of communication. By developing new concepts of heritage and related practices we can better understand our own present day and ensure that we leave behind a sustainable legacy for future generations.
Research
Learn more about our research profile!
About Us
Learn about our hard facts!
Projects
Learn more about ongoing funded TRA Present Pasts projects!
Offers
Seed funding - Networking - Events. Find out about our offers here!
News from the TRA
Notifications
Highlights and Announcements
Get Involved in the TRA
As a member of the TRA, you can access funding opportunities, take part in events and build new networks.
Our Members
Our members are independent researchers from all faculties and central institutions, from PhDs to postdocs to professors. Together, they conduct research on current debates and related phenomena from the past.
Join us!
TRA members benefit from regular funding opportunities and the chance to network beyond disciplinary borders.
Meet our Researchers
Inter- and transdisciplinary research actively pursued at the University of Bonn and is promoted across faculty boundaries. The faces of the TRA Present Pasts are our Argelander Professor and the numerous dedicated researchers.
Critical Museum and Heritage Studies Professorship
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julia Binter
Julia Binter joins the Global Heritage Lab in TRA Present Pasts. Her transcultural research opens new collaborations to the natural sciences and theologies.
TRA Present Pasts Spokesperson
Prof. Dr. Matthias Becher
Historian Matthias Becher researches the political culture of the early and high Middle Ages as well as the communication and integration strategies of this period in transcultural comparison.
TRA Present Pasts Spokesperson
Prof. Dr. Karoline Noack
Karoline Noack is an ancient Americanist and director of the BASA Museum. Her research ranges from transculturality and dependency in the Inca state and its continuities to relations between Latin America and Europe, shaped by migrations of people, images and objects.
Joint Fellow
Prof. Dr. Sophia Labadi
Sophia Labadi is Professor of Heritage at the University of Kent and has been extending the GHL for a year, initially with a Humboldt Fellowship and now with a joint fellowship from TRA Present Pasts and the Cluster of Excellence BCDSS.
Contact
Kim Alings
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Transdisciplinary Research Areas
Spaces for innovation in research and teaching - these are the six transdisciplinary research areas at the University of Bonn.
University of Excellence
Since summer 2019, we have been one of eleven German Universities of Excellence. Read more about our research profile and our future concept.
Research Funding
Research and Innovation Services at the University of Bonn will support you in all matters relating to your externally funded project.