{"id":50735,"date":"2026-04-14T10:36:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T11:16:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:16:32","slug":"hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/","title":{"rendered":"HITS Public Talk – Monika Mondal: The catch 22 of science & development"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Monika Mondal, 2026 HITS Journalist in Residence<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the developing world, science is often presented as a ladder to social and economic upliftment. Like many Indians, Monika Mondal, trained as an engineer, climbed that ladder, only to realize that ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. Seeking a more meaningful path, she embarked on a quest to understand: Why is the world the way it is?<\/span><\/p>\n

As an independent journalist, Mondal spent years investigating questions of the modern times \u2014 from biofuels to genetically modified crops, from pollution caused by industrial giants, to the elimination of daily problems \u2014 m\u00fcll, monkeys, mosquitoes and money.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her reporting took\u00a0her to places where solutions were proposed \u2014 from the negotiation rooms of UN climate summits to regional discussions on renewables, circular economy etc. Everywhere, one phrase echoed: „Scientific Thinking.“<\/span><\/p>\n

But what does that truly mean in a fractured world? Tracing the trajectory of science from the Enlightenment to today, this talk interrogates the narrative of modern development. It asks: Can science become a genuine tool of liberation\u2014and if so, how?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monika Mondal<\/strong>, the 2026 HITS Journalist in Residence,\u00a0 is an award-winning freelance reporter from Delhi, India. She holds degrees in electronics, communication engineering, and development studies, and has reported on topics ranging from life sciences to astronomy for publications including Nature, Wired, The Guardian, and The Hindu. Mondal has received accolades such as a Pulitzer Center fellowship, the Alexander-von-Humboldt Chancellor\u2019s Fellowship, and the Thomson Foundation Journalist Award.<\/span>
\nThe Journalist in Residence program at HITS, established in 2012, invites experienced science journalists for three- to six-month residencies to collaborate with researchers, attend conferences, and pursue independent projects. To date, fourteen journalists from Canada, the U.S., Australia, India, Spain and Germany have been awarded the HITS fellowship.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

REGISTRATION:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
The talk will be hybrid.<\/span><\/article>\n
\n
\n
If you would like to participate online, please register in advance\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/span><\/article>\n
<\/article>\n
<\/article>\n
<\/article>\n
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.<\/span><\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n<\/article>\n
\n
<\/article>\n
<\/article>\n
In case you are not able to attend, you can watch the talk afterwards on the HITS YouTube channel:\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/TheHITSters<\/a>.<\/span><\/article>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Monika Mondal, 2026 HITS Journalist in Residence   In the developing world, science is often presented as a ladder to social …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":50520,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"hits-research-group":[1333],"tribe_events_cat":[1345],"class_list":["post-50735","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","hits-research-group-communications","tribe_events_cat-oeffentliche-veranstaltungen","cat_oeffentliche-veranstaltungen"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHITS Public Talk - Monika Mondal: The catch 22 of science & development - HITS gGmbH<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"HITS Public Talk - Monika Mondal: The catch 22 of science & development - HITS gGmbH\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Monika Mondal, 2026 HITS Journalist in Residence   In the developing world, science is often presented as a ladder to social ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HITS gGmbH\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-14T09:16:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/DSC05727-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3\u00a0Minuten\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/\",\"name\":\"HITS Public Talk - Monika Mondal: The catch 22 of science & development - HITS gGmbH\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/DSC05727-1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-14T08:36:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-14T09:16:32+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"de\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"de\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/DSC05727-1-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/DSC05727-1-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Veranstaltungen\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/events\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"HITS Public Talk – Monika Mondal: The catch 22 of science & development\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/\",\"name\":\"HITS gGmbH\",\"description\":\"Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"de\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"HITS Public Talk - Monika Mondal: The catch 22 of science & development - HITS gGmbH","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/","og_locale":"de_DE","og_type":"article","og_title":"HITS Public Talk - Monika Mondal: The catch 22 of science & development - HITS gGmbH","og_description":"by Monika Mondal, 2026 HITS Journalist in Residence   In the developing world, science is often presented as a ladder to social ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/","og_site_name":"HITS gGmbH","article_modified_time":"2026-04-14T09:16:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/DSC05727-1-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit":"3\u00a0Minuten"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/","url":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/","name":"HITS Public Talk - Monika Mondal: The catch 22 of science & development - HITS gGmbH","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/DSC05727-1-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-14T08:36:55+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-14T09:16:32+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"de","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"de","@id":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/DSC05727-1-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/DSC05727-1-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1920},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/event\/hits-public-talk-monika-mondal-the-catch-22-of-science-development\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Veranstaltungen","item":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/events\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"HITS Public Talk – Monika Mondal: The catch 22 of science & development"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/","name":"HITS gGmbH","description":"Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"de"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 21:53:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/50735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tribe_events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/50735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50737,"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events\/50735\/revisions\/50737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50735"},{"taxonomy":"hits-research-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hits-research-group?post=50735"},{"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.h-its.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tribe_events_cat?post=50735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}