Earth system science as a new leading concept for the geosciences
At a Leopoldina symposium held on December 19, 2022, the Secretary General of the Volkswagen Foundation Dr. Georg Schütte presented a new funding initiative. Fifty years after publication of the "Limits to Growth" report, the foundation creates a renewed geo-scientific focus on the Earth system as a whole.
Tbilisi: International Doctoral School successfully established
The foundation provided around 800,000 euros for the substantial and sustainable improvement of PhD training in Georgia. Ilia State University and the Rustaveli Foundation also participated in the financing of the pilot program.
Status 2021 - The Volkswagen Foundation in figures
In 2021, the Volkswagen Foundation approved EUR 238.8 million for scientific projects. The most important figures, data and facts from our 2021 annual report.
Around 17 million euros for unusual, high-risk research projects: Thirteen scientists were able to convince in the assessment process and receive a Freigeist Fellowship, which offers them maximum freedom for their research.
In the following interview, Hanna Denecke, leader of the "Exploration" funding team, and Tobias Schönwitz, funding officer for the NEXT program, explain how we are paving the way for new topics and research methods under the NEXT funding framework.
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.
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.
