Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society

Rachel Carson center logo subtitle
Front view of the Rachel Carson Center

The Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC) is an international, interdisciplinary center for research and education in the environmental humanities located in Munich, Germany. It was founded in 2009 as a joint initiative of LMU Munich and the Deutsches Museum, and it is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.[1] The center is named after the American biologist, nature writer, and environmentalist, Rachel Carson.

The RCC's directors are Christof Mauch of LMU Munich and Helmuth Trischler of the Deutsches Museum. Since the introduction of the LMU Chair of Environmental Humanities in 2023, Sonja Dümpelmann has also joined the RCC as a director.[2][3]

Research

The Rachel Carson Center facilitates research on the interaction between human agents and nature. Its goal is to strengthen the role of the humanities in current political and scientific debates about the environment. While the center is located in Munich, Germany, its working language is English and the RCC's staff and fellows come from all over the world.

After the program's launch in 2022, the center hosted a rotating group of nine international Landhaus fellows, who lived at the RCC Landhaus at Hermannsdorfer Landwerkstätten during their fellowship.[4] The Landhaus fellowship program ended in summer 2025.[5] An Alumni fellowship program takes its place in 2026 and brings six alumni fellows back to the RCC.[6][7]

Besides the funded fellowship program, the RCC hosts a number of postgraduate programs. This includes the structured Doctoral Program Environment and Society (ProEnviron),[8][9] the Master of Arts Environment and Society,[10] a certificate program for Master students in Environmental Studies,[11] and the International Doctorate Program Rethinking Environment (IDK), which is organized in cooperation with the Environmental Science Center at the University of Augsburg.[12]

To share and discuss the work of its researchers and visitors, the RCC hosts a series of public colloquia, conferences, and workshops. The center’s outreach program also includes the development of exhibitions in collaboration with the Deutsches Museum.[13]

The RCC has tight connections to its partner institutions all across the world, including Madison, Pécs, Beijing, Tallinn, Venice, Vienna, and Zurich.[14]

Outreach and publications

The Rachel Carson Center is represented in print through Environment in History: International Perspectives, an English-language book series developed in collaboration with the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) and published by Berghahn Books and through Umwelt und Gesellschaft (Environment and Society), a German-language book series with Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

The RCC also curates the Environment and Society Portal, a gateway platform that aims to make digitized environmental humanities resources and interpretive exhibitions more accessible to academics and the public at large.[15] In addition, the RCC has three ongoing online publications, Arcadia,[16] Springs: The Rachel Carson Center Review,[17] and Seeing the Woods.[18][19]

Additionally, the RCC manages a YouTube account.[20]

References

  1. ↑ "About the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society". Rachel Carson Center Homepage. LMU Munich. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  2. ↑ "Directors". Rachel Carson Center Homepage. LMU Munich. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  3. ↑ "Sonja Dümpelmann—About". Homepage Sonja Dümpelmann. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  4. ↑ Wassermann, Merlin (31 July 2022). "Glonn: Wissenschaftler des Rachel Carson Center in Herrmannsdorf". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  5. ↑ "Fellowship Program". Rachel Carson Center Homepage. LMU Munich. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  6. ↑ "Call for Applications: RCC Alumni Fellowships in Ecological Justice". Rachel Carson Center Homepage. LMU Munich. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  7. ↑ "Current Fellows". Rachel Carson Center Homepage. LMU Munich. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  8. ↑ "Doctoral Program Environment and Society". Doctoral Program Environment & Society Homepage. LMU Munich. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  9. ↑ "From the Käte Hamburger Kolleg to an international hub for environmental research: The Rachel Carson Center Environment and Society". Special "Globale Herausforderungen". Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "Master in Environment and Society". Master of Arts Environment and Society. LMU Munich. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  11. ↑ "Environmental Studies Certificate Program". Environmental Studies Certificate Program. LMU Munich. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  12. ↑ "Internationales Doktorand_innenkolleg Umweltdenken / International Doctorate Program "Rethinking Environment"". IDK Homepage. Augsburg University & LMU Munich. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  13. ↑ "Events". Rachel Carson Center Homepage. LMU Munich. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  14. ↑ "Collaborations". Rachel Carson Center Homepage. LMU Munich. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  15. ↑ "Environment & Society Portal". Environment & Society Portal. Rachel Carson Center. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  16. ↑ "Arcadia". Environment & Society Portal. Rachel Carson Center. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  17. ↑ "Springs: The Rachel Carson Center Review". Springs: The Rachel Carson Center Review. Rachel Carson Center. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  18. ↑ "Seeing the Woods". Seeing the Woods. Rachel Carson Center. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  19. ↑ "Rachel Carson Center—Journals". Rachel Carson Center Archive. University Library (UB) Munich. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  20. ↑ "Rachel Carson Center". YouTube—Rachel Carson Center Channel. Rachel Carson Center. Retrieved 17 July 2026.

48°09′18″N 11°34′58″E / 48.1551°N 11.5828°E / 48.1551; 11.5828

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