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In its initiative focussing Central Asia and the Caucasus the Foundation especially supports the capacity development in research and higher education in the region. In Tbilisi, Georgia, 11 postgraduates now benefit from a novel, clearly structured doctoral program.

On September 24, 2018, a cyber attack on the event-portal of the Volkswagen Foundation triggered several mass e-mailings. Personal user data remained protected.

Key criterion for becoming a Freigeist Fellow of the Volkswagen Foundation is the readiness to depart from mainstream research and dedicate oneself to ground-breaking and therefore risk-laden research. Eight early-career researchers recently convinced the Foundation's international review panel with their unconventional project proposals, which they will now implement at universities in different parts of Germany.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research awards grantees of the Foundation the German-African Innovation Promotion Prize / The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing continues its commitment to Africa with the ISEE Conference

At a selection conference held in Cameroon, seven early career researchers were able to score success with their project ideas submitted under a call for proposals titled "Resources, their Dynamics, and Sustainability".

Finite resources, social inequality, climate change, terrorism – the world is facing major challenges. The UN's "Sustainable Development Goals" are a contribution towards overcoming these threats. The Volkswagen Foundation, together with partner foundations in Europe, wants to underscore the role played by the sciences in reaching the SDG targets by offering a new funding scheme. Initially, support is given to international research projects on social inequality. Cooperative teams can be funded with up to 1.5 million Euro; deadline for applications is October 30, 2018.