Funding opportunities
The call aimed at fostering collaboration and networking between researchers from the diverse research areas engaged in the field of "transformation of democracy" and partners from (civil) society.
News
Democracies under pressure: 14 million euros to research how to overcome the crisis
#Democracy
VolkswagenStiftung
The foundation has brought together researchers from the humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences, as well as practitioners from outside academia, to develop new ideas and solutions for making democracies more resilient.
Bringing together scientific and practical approaches – this is the goal the foundation is currently pursuing in several funding initiatives. In particular, those that affect social change absolutely require an external perspective. The foundation is therefore also bringing together scientific and practical approaches in the funding initiative "Transformational Knowledge on Democracies under Change – Transdisciplinary Perspectives" to create insights into the transformation of democracy. The program is aimed at researchers from the humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences, as well as partners from (civil) society. The mixed teams are to develop not only research but also concrete recommendations, e.g. for politics, for relevant social actors or for the economy, so that their recommendations are also implemented in practice. In the first call for proposals for cooperation projects, the foundation has now approved a total of around 14 million euros for 11 projects. We will briefly present three of them below:
Citizens Practicing Journalism – Strengthening Media Trust for a Democracy in Transition (Dr. Judith Kretzschmar, Dr. Christian Herfter, Dr. Daniel Schmidt, University of Leipzig; Lars Radau, Ine Dippmann, German Federation of Journalists, Saxony State Association; approx. 1.4 million euros)
Journalistic media in Germany have been losing trust for years. A project team of researchers and journalists is investigating whether citizens develop more trust in reporting when they themselves critically engage with journalistic work. To find out, journalists are coaching citizens in ten regions of Saxony to create and edit their own texts and publish them on social media. Researchers will support the project with surveys and group discussions and evaluate the results. Insights from this process will be incorporated directly into the coaching. The team will publish the results in journalistic articles, scientific papers, a book, a YouTube film and policy papers.
Re De Re – Redesigning Democratic Representation (Prof. Dr. Friedrich von Borries, University of Fine Arts, Hamburg; Prof. Dr. Felix Kosok, German Designer Club e. V., Frankfurt am Main; Prof. Dr. Sven T. Siefken, Federal University of Applied Administrative Sciences, Brühl; Katharina Liesenberg, Demokratie Innovation e. V., Berlin; approx. 880,000 euros)
Many citizens do not feel well represented by their elected representatives. A project team is investigating how the relationship between citizens and their representatives can be improved. To do this, the team is accompanying three members of the Bundestag from different parties for 100 days in their work in the constituency, in the party and in the capital Berlin. In a co-creative process, the researchers are developing new approaches to political representation together with their practice partners and the members of parliament. Citizens' councils are bringing the views of the population to the table. The team is publishing the results of this process through exhibitions and events, as well as scientific publications and a handbook.
Exploring and Activating the Democratic Potential of Religion in Times of Growing Antisemitism and Racism (Dr. Saskia Schäfer, Humboldt University Berlin; Prof. Dr. Sabine Achour, Freie Universität Berlin; Désirée Galert, Praxisstelle Bildung und Beratung; Kreuzberger Initiative gegen Antisemitismus, Berlin; Rabbi Elias Josef Dray, Seda Colak, Meet2Respect, Berlin; approx. 1.4 million euros)
In Germany, tensions along religious and identity lines are on the rise. The project team is investigating how religious education can strengthen democracy. Experts in political science, didactics, and political education, as well as representatives of various religious denominations, are developing and testing formats to establish democracy education as part of religious education in schools and at political education organizations. They test, support and evaluate new approaches through research and the application of practical measures. The team presents the findings in schools, at teacher training courses and on social media.
Other projects we support:
YOUng People in Remote REgions – Prospects for Strengthening Democratic Attitudes and PartiCipaTion (YouReACT) (Prof. Dr. Claudius Wagemann, Goethe University Frankfurt; Dr. Marion Näser-Lather, University of Innsbruck, Austria; Steffen Richter, Landessportbund Sachsen e. V., Leipzig; Clara Föller, Junge Europäische Föderalist:innen (JEF) Deutschland e. V., Berlin; Prof. Dr. Phil C. Langer, International Psychoanalytic University Berlin gGmbH; Theresa Schmidt, Bund der Deutschen Landjugend e. V., Berlin)
Democratic fiscal policy in transformational times (Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick, Kiel Institute for the World Economy; Prof. Dr. Michael Wolfgang Müller, University of Mannheim; Prof. Dr. Stefanie Middendorf, University of Jena; Max Krahé, Dezernat Zukunft e. V., Berlin)
LGBTIQ* Movements as Agents of Democratization: Historical, Contemporary, and Future Resources for Imagining Inclusive and Diverse Democracies (Dr. Andrea Rottmann, Freie Universität Berlin; Roman Klarfeld, FFBIZ Frauenforschungs-, -bildungs- und -informations- zentrum e. V., Berlin; Dr. Gin Müller, Verein zur Förderung der Bewegungsfreiheit/ Association for Freedom of Movement, Vienna, Austria; Prof. Christine M. Klapeer, D. Phil, University of Gießen; Prof. Dr. Eike Wittrock, Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna, Austria)
Shared Citizenship in Deeply Divided Societies: Comparing Israel, Turkey, and Cyprus (Prof. Dr. Johannes Becke, Heidelberg University for Jewish Studies; Prof. Dani Filc, MD, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Tel Aviv, Israel; Adi Bass, The Forum for Regional Thinking, Tel Aviv, Israel; Dr. Marik Shtern, Dr. Aviva Goller, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Jerusalem, Israel; Steven Stavrou, SocialTech Lab, Egkomi, Cyprus; Dr. Uri Rosenberg, University of Heidelberg)
Grassroots Responses to Green Transitions: the Environmental and Labour Struggles Remaking Democracy in Europe's Southern and Eastern Peripheries (GrassTransitions) (Dr. Lela Rekhviashvili, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig; Prof. Dr. Vasilis Avdikos, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece; Nino Gogua, Fair Energy Politics Collective, Tbilisi, Georgia; Dr. Agnes Gagyi, Solidarity Economy Center, Budapest, Hungary; Apostolis Kaltsis, Hellenic Ornithological Society, Athens, Greece; Dr. Márton Czirfusz, Periféria Policy and Research Center, Budapest, Hungary)
Judiciary and Democracy - Unravelling Present Challenges, Activating Future Potentials (JuDem) (Prof. Dr. Silvia von Steinsdorff, Humboldt University Berlin; Prof. Dr. Ece Göztepe Celebi, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey; Ipek Bozkurt, We Will Stop Femicides Platform, Istanbul, Turkey; judges at the Higher Administrative Court Berlin and the Higher Regional Court Celle)
Media and Polarization in Europe: How Journalism can support Democratic Debates (Prof. Dr. Michael Brüggemann, Universität Hamburg; Heidi Avellan, Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Malmö, Sweden; Dr. Anamaria Dutceac Segesten, Lund University, Sweden; Dr. Mike Farjam, Universität Hamburg; Dr. Thomas Schnedler, Netzwerk Recherche, Berlin)
