Structural Injustice & Responsibility for Relational Equality (SIRRE)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jan-Christoph Heilinger
• Subject Area: Practical Philosophy
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 565556814

The proposed Scientific Network on Structural Injustice & Responsibility for Relational Equality (SIRRE) aims to establish an interdisciplinary, international collaboration to advance cutting-edge research on the topics of structural injustice, relational equality, and responsibility for justice. Building on Iris Marion Young’s seminal work, and latest research, SIRRE seeks to seize the current momentum in these debates by integrating diverse perspectives and fostering novel lines of research approaches. SIRRE endorses both a theoretical and a practical perspective in focusing on three interconnected concepts: structural injustice as a critical diagnostic tool, relational equality as a constructive ideal to respond to injustice, and responsibility for justice as a forward-looking framework to inform and guide policy and action. A cross-cutting focus on health (encompassing physical, mental, and public health dimensions and well-being), serves as a paradigmatic lens to explore these issues. The network will identify and address existing gaps in the current research and produce insights into refining the concept of structural injustice (beyond the influential work of Iris M. Young and also through engagement with critical perspectives) to identify and analyse current injustices, including their intersections with epistemic and historical injustice; advancing relational equality as a transformative ideal to dismantle systemic barriers and foster equitable, non-hierarchical relationships across local, national, and global contexts; developing distributive, and collective models of responsibility to mobilise both individuals and institutions toward addressing (global) structural injustices. Based in Germany but with a significant number of international network members and senior advisors, SIRRE connects leading scholars and early- and mid-career researchers in order to anticipate and shape future research agendas and generate impactful research. SIRRE will deploy an innovative networking format of (a) bi-monthly online work-meetings covering the different work-areas, and (b) annual in-person conferences synthesising the topical discussions into a basis for future research. Beyond standard research activities that follow the agenda of strategic subjects and questions, both formats will also include time for structured activities for exchange and creative thinking, occasionally with support of or following advice of an experienced facilitator, with the aim of further consolidating the network of experts at different career levels (partly functioning as a mentoring initiative, pairing junior and senior scholars). Planned outcomes of the network include collaborative publications and joint spin-off research grant proposals to fill the identified research gaps and strategically address pressing ethical challenges.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks