The new Academic Freedom Index data is now available. The 2022 report shows that academic freedom has decreased substantially in many countries.

Neuroscientist Sarah McCann wants to improve the quality of biomedical research and make it more reproducible. The Volkswagen Foundation is funding her research as a pioneering project in the new profile area "Understanding Research – Evaluation and Science Practice".

There is less and less free space for scientifically controversial discussions. The Yehudit and Yehuda Elkana Fellowship Program wants to create this space for scientists.

Freigeist Fellow Niklas Boers develops novel prediction models for the earth and climate system. In this interview, he explains what findings they are already delivering - and what should be concluded from them.

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.

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.