Newsroom

Mobility is a defining feature of world affairs – yet our understanding of migration is still based on outdated models. The "Aufbruch"-project by Manuela Bojadžijev and Robin Celikates draws on new research designs to use migration as a means of better understanding the transformations of our time.

Creativity is indispensable in scientific research: new hypotheses or research questions rarely arise from pure rationality. Working together with a fellow researcher, computational biologist Martin Lercher is exploring how research scientists can learn to be more creative.

An authoritarian government can put pressure on universities and research institutions – because the state provides them with funding and regulates their organisation. In a study commissioned by the Volkswagen Foundation, legal scholar Christoph Möllers has examined where the German research system is vulnerable to political influence and how it can be better protected.

Many non-governmental organisations (NGOs for short), such as associations and foundations, are struggling with limited resources – and with the question of why good ideas often get stuck at the pilot project stage. Change! Fellow Prof. Dr. Orestis Papakyriakopoulos from the Technical University of Munich wants to change that.

Design researcher Dr. Judith Dörrenbächer from the University of Siegen aims to explore how ‘smart’ technologies in public spaces can foster not only efficiency but also humanity – namely in the form of patient, impartial mediators between people.

The Volkswagen Foundation and the Hertie Foundation are each providing 1.25 million euros in support of the newly established Max Planck Centre for Democracy, Security and Human Rights.