At its annual conference on 1 June 2019 in Greiswald (Germany) the “Netzwerk Diakoniewissenschaft” (German Network of Diaconal Sciences) voted to join ReDi as a regional network. It is the first network to join the association formally. The decision builds on the close relations within the already existing network with the aim to further increase exchange among scholars internationally and to develop the academic discipline of diaconal sciences further.
The German Network of Diaconal Sciences is an international, German-speaking platform for a large variety of scholars and is operating for several decades. It emerged from German Diaconal Sciences and Diaconia Germany. The aims of their annual conferences are the exchange among scholars concerning training & research as well as current challenges and new developments in the field of diaconal sciences. Curricula processes and epistemological questions are also part of the discussions at the conferences which have a changing theme each year.
In 2019 the members of the board are Prof. Dr. Ralf Hoburg (Hannover), Prof. Dr. Johannes Eurich (Heidelberg), and Prof. Dr. Christoph Sigrist (Bern).