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News 08 December 2021

Artificial Intelligence: Nearly 10 million euros in funding for new projects

With its "Artificial Intelligence" funding initiative, the Volkswagen Foundation is strengthening interdisciplinary and transnational research into the responsible further development of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. It is now funding seven project consortia from the social and technical sciences with a total of 9.8 million euros in this context.

Story 10 November 2021

Careers in Science

Career planning has never been an easy matter for people working in research. Due to the pandemic, many are losing patience and optimism. How is the science system doing to counteract the impending brain drain? 

Frau mit Maske auf der Stirn, ein Mann dahinter mit Maske auf dem Mund
Story 05 October 2021

Science Communication: A Question of Perspective

As the covid crisis has shown: If scientific arguments are to be taken seriously in the public discourse and subsequently acted upon, researchers must make a greater effort to master the rules of today’s mediatized society. The following is a subjective situation report in five sequences.

News 21 September 2021

Afghanistan: Special funding for refugee researchers

With special funding, the Volkswagen Foundation offers researchers who have fled Afghanistan the chance to continue their work in Germany. This is made possible by additional funds for funded projects and further fellowships at the Academy in Exile. A total of up to 2.9 million euros will be available for this purpose.

Story 13 September 2021

New ideas for improving diagnostics

Detecting viruses, bacteria, tumor markers or dangerous environmental toxins quickly and accurately saves lives. Two innovative projects funded by the Foundation in the corona context show what effective diagnostics could look like in the future.

Eine bewaffnete Frau aus Südafrika zeigt den Stinkefinger
Story 27 August 2021

A chance in the pandemic – learning from each other

What are the consequences of corona-related mobility restrictions and who is affected and in what way? In close cooperation, scholars from Germany, South Korea, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo want to conduct comparative research on this issue. 

Stories

Portrait eines Mannes
Story 09 July 2025

How does working with AI impact on research?

As a tool of science, artificial intelligence entails numerous risks, opportunities, and ambivalences. These need to be identified and classified. However, there is no revolution in sight, according to Jens Schröter.

Eine Illustration einer Person mit Handy, die schlangenhaft von Social media Beiträgen angegriffen wird. Eine Person, die einen protesteanten interviewt. Die Karte von Deutschland, aus der schwarz-rot-goldene Tropfen heraustropfen.
Story 22 May 2025

What fascinates young people about the far right?

Hostility towards democracy is on the rise in Germany. Yet politicians and academics pay little attention to the attitudes of a particularly important group: young voters. An interdisciplinary project in eastern Germany is determined to change that.