Newsroom

Ein Pokal aus Glas steht auf einem Tisch.
News 31 July 2025

Women's Impact Award 2025: Three winners nominated

Together with "Falling Walls Female Science Talents" and the Elsevier Foundation, the Volkswagen Foundation sponsors the Women's Impact Award. The shortlist of winners for 2025 has now been finalised - congratulations!

Grafik mit jungen Menschen, die politische Botschaften auf einer Demonstration von sich geben.
News 29 July 2025

Focus on Democratic Change: Nine New Research Projects Receive Funding

The VolkswagenStiftung has granted approximately €1.6 million to support nine innovative projects addressing current democratic challenges: from digital deradicalisation strategies and democratic structural reforms to protecting museums from far-right attacks. These projects adopt transdisciplinary approaches with practical relevance. 

Illustration mit zwei Portraitbildern
Interview 15 July 2025

AI & Society: An initiative with impact

For five years, the foundation supported projects addressing the social dimension of artificial intelligence. We look back on the successes, challenges and the question of how sustainable the initiative's impact has been – and look ahead to the future.

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.

mehrere Holzfiguren stehen vor und hinter einer Lupe
In Brief 02 July 2025

Distributed Peer Review (DPR): New findings on the review process

Articles in the journals Science and Nature summarise recent experiences with the use of the innovative DPR method, which were presented at the Metascience 2025 conference in London.

Das Foto zeigt mehrere nebeneinander liegende Hefte mit Aufdruck "status 2024"
Publication of the Foundation 27 June 2025

status 2024 – Annual report of the Volkswagen Foundation

In 2024, the Volkswagen Foundation approved 728,8 million euros for scientific projects. Figures, data and facts from our 2024 annual report.

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.