Catherine Herfeld: Model Transfer and its Role in Awakening Sleeping Beauties in Science

RMZ Science Works · Apr 15, 2026 · 45m

Model transfer—the use of models developed in one domain to address problems in another—is widespread in science. Yet it remains underexplored, both empirically and philosophically. In the first part of this talk, I outline some initial ideas about how we might systematically and empirically study model transfer. In the second part, I go more into detail and ask whether, and in what ways, model transfer can shape the impact trajectory of “sleeping beauty” papers—papers that “go unnoticed (‘sleep’) for a long time and then, almost suddenly, attract significant attention (‘are awakened by a…