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Funding offer 12 December 2023

Challenges and Potentials for Europe: Intergenerational Futures (completed)

The call "Challenges and Potentials for Europe: Intergenerational Futures" is aimed at international research groups from the social sciences, cultural studies and humanities. Call is closed

Frau schaut von historischer Bahnbrücke in die Ferne
Story 05 December 2023

Happy ending or apocalypse?

Narratives can either drive or discourage people. Transformation researcher Karoline Augenstein is convinced of this. She wants to find out how narratives of the future can impact on the way it is shaped.

Illustration of university life and business life side by side
Story 02 December 2023

Professorship? Not necessarily...

Ines Drefs is fascinated by research – and most of all by the topic of media development assistance. A new position at the interface of science and practice came just in time.

Woman on stage speaking into a microphone
News 15 November 2023

Ukraine aid: "A project for the post-war future"

The Volkswagen Foundation is funding the virtual Ukraine Institute for Advanced Study with almost one million euros. The opening and the first conference have now taken place in Berlin.

Funding offer 06 November 2023

"Momentum" initiative provides funding for recently tenured professors

The Volkswagen Foundation supports professors three to five years after taking up their first tenured professorship at a university in Germany.  Next deadline for application is April 28, 2025.

Portrait of a man in front of a dark background
Story 11 September 2023

New climate models for reliable future scenarios

Climate researcher Niklas Boers works on optimizing climate models with the aim to improve predictions about extreme weather events and potential tipping points in the Earth system – out of a deep sense of responsibility for future generations.

Eine Frau, die aufmerksam zuhört
Story 06 March 2025

So that everyone can have their say: Citizens' assembly on AI research

Rhetoric expert Anika Kaiser researches how people can make themselves heard on the major issues of our time – artificial intelligence (AI) being a case in point. She is the right person to take care that this grassroots democratic process does not remain too detached from reality: in her first life, she trained as a painter.

Frauen mit Kopftüchern sitzen an Tischen und haben Steinblöcke mit Inschriften vor sich liegen, die sie betrachten.
Story 26 February 2025

Archaeology as reconstruction: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Mosul

He came to Mosul with the task of excavating ancient Nineveh. In the meantime, however, the mission of the ancient orientalist Stefan Maul goes far beyond this: he is rebuilding the study of antiquity in Iraq. And he is teaching the people what the Islamists robbed them of: pride in their cultural heritage.