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Fabien Schultz heads the new junior research group Ethnopharmacology and Zoopharmacognosy at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM). He collects natural remedies in African countries - and investigates the neuroactive self-medication of chimpanzees, mountain gorillas and elephants.

Academic freedom is coming under increasing pressure worldwide. Yet it is essential for scientific knowledge and good teaching. To draw attention to the importance of academic freedom and how it has changed over the decades, researchers have developed the interactive "Globe of Academic Freedom", which was made accessible to the public for the first time this year on the MS Wissenschaft.

The 'Momentum - funding for recently tenured professors' initiative offers researchers the opportunity to further develop their professorship in terms of content and strategy at an early stage after taking up their first tenured full professorship. In our interview, Selahattin Danisman, program director at the Volkswagen Foundation, explains the key aspects of 'Momentum'. Next deadline: 28 April 2025

The last projects in the Foundation's funding initiative 'Central Asia/Caucasus'  will soon come to an end. Other research funders, including the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, will follow up in the region – and the Foundation will be continuing its international funding activities with new topics. A discussion about the complementarity of private and public funding of projects that take place abroad. 

Physicist Felix Lang discovered the self-healing powers of a soft semiconductor. He now wants to use it to improve the production of electricity in space, make solar power cheaper here on Earth, and help X-rays to produce less radiation and better resolution – in colour!

For calls with a cut-off date falling after January 01, 2025, researchers who submit applications for project funding can at the same time apply for funds to improve equal opportunities and diversity in their project. Such funds can be used for measures such as childcare, support for people with physical disabilities, awareness-raising workshops, and coaching.