Newsroom

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'.

The Volkswagen Foundation has been experimenting with "Distributed Peer Review" since 2024. The RoRI is evaluating the experiment, in which applicants review each other's applications. One result of the collaboration is a DPR guideline, which the RoRI has now presented.

To be made sustainably fit for the future, public administrations must undergo a challenging digital transformation. But the AI required for this also harbours risks. A research project is developing a roadmap to greater transparency – with the help of a register.

What lessons can be learned from COVID-19 for future pandemics? Researcher Gülşah Gabriel and her team are opening the door to personalised medicine – and are investigating for the first time how drugs that intervene in hormone metabolism could in future be used to prevent severe viral progression.

Why does neurodegeneration research need new impetus - and how can interdisciplinarity help to achieve a breakthrough? Our Program Directors Dr Theresa Kratzsch and Dr Franziska Rönicke explain the vision behind the new 'NEXT – Rethink Neurodegeneration!' call.

How do democracies change in the face of global challenges? And what can science contribute to their resilience? Researchers and stakeholders outside of academia are to develop answers in cooperation projects funded by the Volkswagen Foundation for up to five years. Nora Kottmann and Cora Schaffert-Ziegenbalg present the programme.