Career planning has never been an easy matter for people working in research. Due to the pandemic, many are losing patience and optimism. How is the science system doing to counteract the impending brain drain?
Detecting viruses, bacteria, tumor markers or dangerous environmental toxins quickly and accurately saves lives. Two innovative projects funded by the Foundation in the corona context show what effective diagnostics could look like in the future.
What lessons can be learnt from the pandemic? How must research and the science system change to become more resilient? Professor Johannes Schöning and Dr. Georg Schütte exchanged ideas about possible solutions.
Preventing pandemics: New funding initiative initiated
How can viruses be prevented from being transmitted from animals to humans and thus triggering the next pandemic? With its new funding initiative, the Volkswagen Foundation is supporting researchers who are looking for answers to this complex question.
The pandemic has a huge impact on research: Projects are delayed or even fail completely to get off the ground. New fields of research are vaguely beginning to emerge. All this calls for agile and flexible action, and the Volkswagen Foundation is gearing up for it.
