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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!

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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Reichstagkuppel von Innen
Interview 25 June 2025

'We cannot predict whether democracy will last'

Germany is at the centre of a maelstrom of global crises and conflicts. Right-wing populists are enjoying growing popularity. And many solutions are expected from the new federal government. And quickly! A conversation between sociologist Steffen Mau and Georg Schütte, CEO of the Volkswagen Foundation, about the end of the 'fair-weather democracy' (Mau) and the journey into the unknown.

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Menschen, die miteinander diskutieren, im Vordergrund ein klassizistisches, helles Gebäude
In Brief 13 June 2025

Research meets politics and practice: Working together to combat loneliness

From 11 to 13 June 2025, around 150 participants from over 30 countries are meeting in Hanover for the first of two foundation-funded theme weeks on '(Tackling) Loneliness'.

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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.

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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.

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