Research meets politics and practice: Working together to combat loneliness
From 11 to 13 June 2025, around 150 participants from over 30 countries are meeting in Hanover for the first of two foundation-funded theme weeks on '(Tackling) Loneliness'. The event brings together leading international scientists, practitioners, political decision-makers and civil society actors to shed light on the socially highly relevant topics of loneliness and social isolation in their many facets.
By supporting the theme week '(Tackling) Loneliness', the foundation is pursuing a clear goal: loneliness should be understood as a phenomenon that affects society as a whole, not just individuals, and that touches on issues of profound social transformation such as demographics, urbanisation and digitalisation. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, at the latest, loneliness has also been recognised as a public health issue with implications for mental and physical health. The German government's loneliness strategy underscores the need for political action, which the foundation also aims to address with this theme week. The exchange during the theme week is intended to generate solutions for greater social participation and cohesion and to promote research in this area.
At the heart of the first theme week '(Tackling) Loneliness' are four interdisciplinary symposia:
- Tacklink Loneliness Among Young People in Africa (Prof. Dr. Shuyan Liu, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin; Dr. Mary Mwanyika Sando, Africa Academy for Public Health; Prof. Dr. Maya Adam, Stanford University)
- The next big questions on loneliness: Integrating national and international perspectives in research and policy priorities (Prof. Dr. Maike Luhmann, Ruhr University Bochum)
- Loneliness in Democracy (PD Dr. Janosch Schobin, University of Kassel; Prof. Dr. Claudia Neu, Paul Lachmann, University of Göttingen; Melanie Weiser, Das progressive Zentrum e. V.)
- Loneliness as a social phenomenon: Cross-cultural approaches to a human condition (Dr. Celia Spoden, Dr. Carolin Fleischer-Heininger, German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo; Prof. Sachiko Horiguchi, Temple University, Japan Campus; Dr. Aaron Hames, Chinese University of Hong Kong)
The theme week kicked off with keynote speeches by Prof. Pamela Qualter (University of Manchester) and Prof. Dan Stein (University of Cape Town), who emphasised that 'Loneliness is a social condition that is culture- and context-bound' (Stein) that 'is not just about individual feelings' and that 'poverty is the biggest reason for loneliness' (Qualter).
The theme weeks combine intensive working sessions within the individual symposia with elements that all participants attend together. A variety of formats such as gallery walks, poster sessions, fishbowls, world cafés and field trips ensure a lively exchange between the participants of the individual symposia. This is because building a network across sectoral and national boundaries – between science, politics and practice – is particularly important to the foundation during its theme weeks. The grant recipients particularly emphasise the impetus that the foundation provides where no funding or networking of this kind has been possible before. Prof. Maike Luhmann, for example, emphasises that 'this is one of the first international symposia on loneliness'.