Latest news from science communication
April 24, 2025
“Planet Africa” on tour
The exhibition “Planet Africa - An Archaeological Journey Through Time” is making an international stop: after opening in Ghana and Eswatini, it will be on display at the Munich State Archaeological Collection from May 2025.
The Ghana exhibition was opened on March 27, 2025 in the specially built extension of the Archaeological Museum of the University of Ghana in Accra Legon.
Cornelia Kleinitz/ DAI KAAK
The “Planet Africa” exhibition tells the extraordinary story of Africa in six modules - from the first representatives of the Homo genus to technological innovations and early nutritional concepts. In Ghana, the exhibition was opened on March 27, 2025 in the specially built extension of the Archaeological Museum of the University of Ghana in Accra Legon. The opening was attended by representatives of the University of Ghana, the Ethiopian consul, the deputy ambassador of Algeria and the German ambassador Daniel Krull.
A significant milestone was also celebrated in Eswatini at the beginning of April: The Prime Minister, His Excellency Russell Mmiso Dlamini, officially opened the dual exhibition on San culture in Eswatini and “Planet Africa” at the Lobamba National Museum. With the support of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Pretoria and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), visitors can learn more about an important historical era in the kingdom itself, while also gaining an insight into the archaeology of the entire African continent.
Exhibition on a USB stick
For the exhibition concept in Africa, it quickly became clear that various reasons - such as enormous distances, logistical problems, different legal, linguistic and political circumstances - would make it impossible for the exhibition to travel physically. “Planet Africa” therefore focuses on stories rather than objects, using visual material, street art, graphics, texts and cinematics: ”This means that the exhibition content can be stored on digital media and conveniently travel to the location where it is to be shown. There it can be printed out and its films shown on screens. If necessary, the content can be adapted to local requirements and objects from our own collections can be added without having to cross customs or national borders,” explains Jörg Linstädter, Senior Director of the Commission for the Archaeology of Non-European Cultures at the DAI. Depending on the available space and financial resources, the exhibition can be shown at will, supplemented with local objects and at the same time always remain up to date.
One exhibition on two continents
While the exhibition will be set up separately at each location in Africa, “Planet Africa” will move from Berlin to Munich in May: On May 16, the exhibition will open to visitors at the Archaeological State Collection, where it will be on display until September 28, 2025.
Background to the research project
The DFG-funded priority program “Entangled Africa: Inner-African Relations between the Rainforest and the Mediterranean, ca. 6,000-500 years before today” will shed light on sub-Saharan Africa in 13 projects: The aim is to research and make visible intra-African relationships and networks of the last 6,000 years up to the beginning of the colonial era. Scientists at the DAI and leading universities in Berlin, Münster, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main are working in close cooperation with African colleagues. The exhibition is funded by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the National Museums in Berlin.
Scientific contacts:
PD Dr. Jörg Linstädter
Senior Director of the Commission for the Archaeology of Non-European Cultures at the DAI
Further information can be found at
April 24, 2025
More colorful birds live in cities than in the countryside
New study by researchers from the University of Granada and the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence
Researchers from the University of Granada and the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence show that there is a link between urbanization and the plumage color of birds. Bird species that thrive in the city are less brown and have more striking colors in their plumage. This is probably due to the urban habitat structure (less forest), different background colors and the lower number of raptor species in the city. The study is based on data from more than 1200 bird species and is a vivid example of the impact urbanization can have on wildlife.
Urbanization has an enormous impact on the ecosystem and poses major challenges for animals and plants. Advancing urbanization worldwide is considered to be one of the main causes of the ongoing decline in biodiversity. A separate field of research, urban ecology, is dedicated to the question of what impact urbanization has on various organisms. For example, many studies have investigated how city noise affects the communication of birds. So far, however, we still know little about whether and how the color of animals is related to urbanization.
More at home in the great outdoors: brownish forest birds, such as the white-throated treecreeper (Cormobates leucophaeus) seen here, usually have a hard time in urban regions.
© MPI für biologische Intelligenz / Kaspar Delhey
Warmth and camouflage
Color fulfills numerous important functions in the animal kingdom: For example, it helps to keep animals warm or protect them from overheating (thermoregulation). It can also play a role in camouflage, mate selection and competition. In cities, it is generally warmer, there are fewer predators, but more artificial light and different background colors, for example due to concrete and asphalt. It is therefore quite conceivable that the urban environment has an influence on the coloration of animals. Under the leadership of Bart Kempenaers, researchers at the MPI for Biological Intelligence and the University of Granada got to the bottom of this issue. They used a global dataset with the abundance of over 1200 bird species in habitats with varying degrees of urbanization. The team combined this with data on plumage color and analyzed the extent to which the relative abundance of species in urban areas can be determined by color.
Are gray plumages more of a disadvantage in the city?
The study showed that the bird species that are successful in the city are less brown. “Shades of brown are more common in nature than in the city. We therefore assume that brown birds have disadvantages in a rather gray city. The predominant city colors and the lack of suitable habitats can therefore be decisive for which bird species do well there,” explains Kaspar Delhey, one of the two first authors of the study. In the city, there are also more bird species that have striking colors in their plumage - this is particularly true for females. Urban habitats therefore seem to favor more colourful bird species. This could be because there are fewer predators in urban areas and “being seen” is less of a risk than in the countryside.
Previous studies suggested that color diversity is lower among urban birds - but the team was able to show that the opposite is true. “There are fewer species in urban regions than in the countryside. If we take this into account in our analysis, the bird populations in the city actually have a greater variety of colors,” says Juan Diego Ibáñez-Álamo, first author of the study.
Rather inconspicuous in the city: the blue-eared honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis) has successfully colonized urban regions in Australia. Like many city-dwelling bird species, it is characterized by striking colors in its plumage.
© MPI für biologische Intelligenz / Kaspar Delhey
The study thus shows that successful urban birds differ in colour from those that do not cope in the city - urbanization and the colouring of birds are therefore linked. Future studies must now show whether this also applies to other animal groups.
Source: Science Information Service (IDW)
April 24, 2025
Can the enjoyment of music be inherited?
An international team of scientists has investigated how genetic and environmental factors influence our enjoyment of music.
Does the ability to enjoy music have a biological basis? A study recently published in the journal Nature Communications shows that musical enjoyment is indeed partly hereditary. An international team led by scientists from the Max Planck Institutes for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, investigated how genetic and environmental factors influence our enjoyment of music.
The ability to enjoy music is partly hereditary.
MPI für empirische Ästhetik / F. Bernoully
Music plays an important role in human emotions, social bonds and cultural interaction. But not everyone feels the same way. Why do some people enjoy music more than others, for example? “The answer to this question can give us an insight into more general aspects of the human mind - for example, how experiences become pleasures,” explains first author Giacomo Bignardi from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. “We wanted to understand whether genetic differences between individuals lead to differences in music enjoyment and what these differences can tell us about musicality in general.”
Data from more than 9,000 twins examined
To find out whether genetic factors influence music enjoyment or the perception of reward from music, the team used a research design comparing the similarity between identical and fraternal twins: If identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins, genetics probably plays a role. In collaboration with the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, the researchers were able to use data from more than 9,000 twins, including information on the perception of reward through music and the ability to perceive musical characteristics such as pitch, melody and rhythm.
The results show that the ability to enjoy music is partly inherited: Using the twin design, the researchers were able to determine that 54 percent of the differences in the Swedish sample were genetic. The team also found that the genetic influences on the perception of musical reward are partly independent of musical perception skills and the general (non-musical) perception of reward. This means that differences in how rewarding we personally perceive musical enjoyment are also partly genetically determined and cannot be explained solely by individual differences in our general human reward system. In addition, the researchers discovered that different facets of music enjoyment are partly influenced by different genes, such as emotion regulation, dancing to the beat or making music with others.
“These results paint a complex picture. They show that our enjoyment of music does not depend exclusively on our ability to perceive musical sounds or to feel pleasure in general,” reports senior author Miriam Mosing from the MPIEA. “Rather, it seems that there are specific genetic and environmental factors that influence our musical perception.”
“Gertrud” is up and running
While the present study is based on data from Swedish twins, the MPIEA, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, recently launched the first national twin registry in Germany, called “Gertrud”. The aim of this initiative is to create a comprehensive resource in Germany for research into the interactions between genes and the environment that underlie individual differences. Twins who would like to contribute to scientific progress and participate in research studies are invited to register at www.gertrud.info.
Source: Information Service Science (IDW)
Anti-pluralist parties threaten academic freedom
The increasing influence of anti-pluralist parties often goes hand in hand with less academic freedom in the respective country. This is one of the findings of the current Academic Freedom Index (AFI), which will be published on March 13, 2025. Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) publish the index annually in collaboration with colleagues from the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg. It covers 179 countries worldwide.
FAU/VDem
This year's Academic Freedom Index shows that eight of the countries included in the index have significantly higher academic freedom in 2024 than ten years ago, while scores have fallen in 34 countries or territories. Countries where the decline in academic freedom was statistically and substantially significant include several democracies, such as Argentina, Finland, Greece, Israel, Portugal and the United States, to name just a few examples. The decline in academic freedom was also measurable in Austria and Germany, but in both cases the decline remains small and is not yet substantially significant, according to the authors of the report. Although academic freedom is still much better protected in democracies than in autocracies, these examples illustrate that academic freedom can also come under pressure in democracies. This is why this year's Academic Freedom Index report focuses on countries where multiple parties are allowed to stand for election.
Electoral success of anti-pluralist parties as a factor
The AFI 2025 Update examines the electoral success of anti-pluralist parties as a plausible factor in the decline of academic freedom. The report's data covers a 50-year period and shows the following correlation: countries where anti-pluralist parties have little to no political influence tend to have high levels of academic freedom, while academic freedom typically declines where anti-pluralists are influential. The presence of anti-pluralist parties in the opposition hardly plays a role in a decline in academic freedom; academic freedom is more at risk where anti-pluralist parties become or are part of the government.
Spotlight: Argentina, Poland and the United States
FAU/VDem
Using three country examples - Argentina, Poland and the United States - the AFI Update shows how anti-pluralist parties undermine academic freedom once they are in power.
In all three cases, anti-pluralist politicians with government responsibility at national or state level used very similar methods to gain more control over science, in particular by restricting institutional autonomy or freedom of teaching and by cutting funding for research that contradicts the respective political vision. A particularly notable decline can be seen in Argentina, where the AFI score fell from a very high 0.97 to just 0.69 (on a scale of 0 to 1, low to high) within a year. The case of Poland, on the other hand, shows that the decline in academic freedom can also be halted if anti-pluralist parties lose power. Poland achieved a very high AFI score of 0.98 in 2014, i.e. before the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2015. In 2022, the country then reached a low point with an AFI score of 0.73. After the parliamentary elections in 2023, however, the country's academic freedom recovered again, reaching a score of 0.87 on the AFI scale.
Data basis
This year's update of the Academic Freedom Index is based on V-Dem version 15 data, which draws on assessments by 2,363 country experts worldwide. The data covers the period from 1900 to 2024. All data is publicly available and comprises a total of more than one million data points at coder level. The aggregated index is composed of five indicators: freedom of research and teaching, freedom of academic exchange and scholarly communication, institutional autonomy of universities, campus integrity and academic and cultural freedom of expression.
Open access and visualization
The data used for the AFI Update 2025 is freely accessible for further studies. The Academic Freedom Index website provides an interactive visualization of the data, country profiles and further information on the index project; the report itself is available at https://academic-freedom-index.net/research/Academic_Freedom_Index_Update_2025.p... . User-friendly graphic tools are also available to interested parties. These can be used by researchers, students or political decision-makers.
Fraunhofer IEM launches future podcast OUTATIME
Imagine this: Your AI avatar wakes you up and together you divide up the day's appointments between the two of you. Thought experiments like these are the starting point for the new podcast "OUTATIME - Visions. Technology. Future.", which can be heard on all common platforms from 11 February. The highlight: the hosts Prof Roman Dumitrescu and Tommy Falkowski are scientists at the Fraunhofer IEM (Paderborn). They put all visions to the test and invite you to think about the big questions of the future.
‘The future is a huge puzzle that has not yet been put together,’ says Prof Roman Dumitrescu, Director of Fraunhofer IEM and host of the podcast. ‘What seems like science fiction to us today could be reality tomorrow. That's why we spin groundbreaking visions that are nevertheless realistic. We want to inspire our listeners to think about the technologies that are changing our world - and consider how we can actively shape our future.’
Info: The OUTATIME podcast will be available on all popular platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts from 11 February. Listeners can look forward to new episodes every second Tuesday. The following episodes are currently being planned: Unlimited Energy, Infinite Knowledge, The Intelligent Building and The Transparent Human.
Scientific contacts:
Roman Dumitrescu (roman.dumitrescu@iem.fraunhofer.de)
Tommy Falkowski (tommy.falkowski@iem.fraunhofer.de)
Further information:
Direct link to the podcast on all channels: https://lnk.to/outatime-fraunhofer
All information about the podcast can be found at www.outatime-podcast.de(in German language)
The Instagram channel also provides exciting insights into future scenarios: Instagram
Future technologies on YouTube: Tech Talk with Prof Dumitrescu Tech Talk - YouTube
Latest AI trends on YouTube: Insight AI with Tommy Falkowski Inside AI - YouTube
Futuristic thought experiments
Every episode of OUTATIME starts with a thought experiment. Imagine this: Your brain has a cloud backup function and you can save, edit and retrieve your memories at any time. Or: Your house knows you better than you do. It recognises that you are stressed, plays your favourite music and sends a drone over with your favourite snack. Science fiction - or soon to be reality? The AI assistant Ginee takes listeners on a journey into a possible future. Hosts Roman Dumitrescu and Tommy Falkowski categorise these visions, talk about opportunities and challenges and shed light on the current state of the art. The first episode focuses on the development of omniscient artificial intelligence. How close are we to this future? What risks and opportunities would it entail - for our everyday lives, but also for the economy, politics and society?
Science meets science fiction
The name OUTATIME is a reference to the famous DeLorean in the classic film ‘Back to the Future’. The podcast hosts are avowed science fiction fans. Despite all their enthusiasm for self-driving cars and AI avatars: They view technologies primarily in their role as scientists. Roman Dumitrescu is Director at Fraunhofer IEM, Professor of Advanced Systems Engineering at the Heinz Nixdorf Institute at Paderborn University and Managing Director of the it's OWL technology network. Tommy Falkowski is responsible for the GenAI Incubator at Fraunhofer IEM. ‘I love technology and always follow the latest trends, but I'm also always concerned about the potential impact,’ says Tommy Falkowski. ‘In OUTATIME, we analyse which technologies are actually changing our world - and how we can ensure that these changes are for the good of society. Our message: think, have a say, take responsibility!’
Will death be followed by digital survival?
Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT) presents study ‘Ethics, law and security of digital afterlife’
New technologies such as AI make it possible to live on after death in the form of digital representations (avatars) or chatbots. The digital afterlife industry, which offers such possibilities, is considered a promising growth market. An interdisciplinary research team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT and the University of Tübingen has developed design proposals for dealing with avatars and summarised them in the study ‘Ethics, law and security of digital afterlife’. The study can be downloaded free of charge here: www.sit.fraunhofer.de/edilife-studie (in German language).
According to a report by the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology in Darmstadt published by Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (idw), many people want to leave something behind that will outlast their own death. Many bereaved wish to be able to speak to a deceased person again. Digital imitations of deceased persons promise to fulfil such longings. Examples range from the voice of a deceased grandmother speaking audio books, to chatbots that simulate written communication with a deceased person, to digital avatars that also imitate a person's appearance and gestures. Recent developments in the field of AI and virtual worlds suggest that avatars of deceased people will appear much more realistic in the future, both externally (voice, gestures) and in terms of behaviour. New digital technologies also allow increasingly realistic interactions between people and avatars.
Unanswered questions
This gives rise to many unresolved cultural, legal and technical questions: How can avatars be combined with reverence and mourning? How can the rights of the deceased be protected and how can the possibility of attacks and abuse be prevented? These and other questions are being investigated by researchers in computer science and law at Fraunhofer SIT and the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities IZEW at the University of Tübingen.
IT security and data protection in virtual worlds
First, the researchers analysed the changes in the culture of death, mourning and burial up to the emergence of the digital afterlife industry and (pop) cultural ideas. The second part deals with the current technical possibilities of creating digital human likenesses, as well as the protection and security of personal data required to create an avatar. Finally, the third part of the study deals with the legal view of digital survival, the obligations of service providers, the legality of data processing and possible threats to personal rights.
The study concludes with guiding principles and recommendations for dealing with avatars of digital survival: grieving people who use services for digital survival should receive special legal protection to protect them from abuse and exploitation in their exceptional emotional situation; transparency and explanation obligations should be introduced for commercial providers, especially with regard to data processing for the creation of a digital avatar. The researchers also recommend labelling avatars as such and limiting their scope of action. With this study, the researchers hope to contribute to ‘paving the way for the successful implementation of new digital practices in the context of death and remembrance’, according to the text.
About the study
The study was conducted as part of the joint project ‘Ethics, law and security of digital survival’ (Edilife) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and led by the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW) at the University of Tübingen with the involvement of the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT. The aim of the project was to analyse, evaluate and anticipate the opportunities and challenges of future social and technological developments.
PISA study: Young people feel insecure when assessing online information
Klaus Becker Corporate Communications Center
Technical University of Munich
Source: Informationsdienst
Although the majority of 15-year-olds in Germany can easily find information on the Internet, they do not have the confidence to assess its quality. Young people rate their own skills worse than the average in OECD countries. They are also less likely to consider their teachers competent enough to use digital media in the classroom. This is shown by a new analysis of the latest PISA study.
Do young people feel able to distinguish trustworthy websites from fake online information? In the latest PISA study, 15-year-old students were asked how they rate their own ability to find and assess digital information. The study team in Germany has now analyzed this part of the survey separately. Most of the results had not yet been published in the main study.
Pupils often overwhelmed
The PISA study shows that young people in Germany feel competent when they want to find information on the internet. More than two thirds (69%) of 15-year-olds state that they are able to do this without any problems. However, only less than half (47%) of pupils feel capable to make a well-founded assessment of the quality of the information they find. On average across OECD countries, more pupils feel confident in doing this (51%). Just under 60 percent of young people in Germany compare different sources. The OECD average is 72%. In addition, around a third of young people do not check whether online information is correct before sharing it on social media.
“Unfortunately, many pupils are not sufficiently able to identify fake news as such. They have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to dealing critically and reflectively with information on the internet. The PISA study underlines the urgent need to address this shortcoming in order to prepare young people for the challenges of the digital world,” says Prof. Samuel Greiff from the Center for International Educational Comparison Studies (ZIB) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), head of the PISA study in Germany.
In the eigth PISA study (Program for International Student Assessment), the skills of around 6,100 representatively selected 15-year-old students at around 260 schools of all types were tested in Germany in 2022. The young people were also asked about their learning conditions and attitudes as well as their social background.
The research team also analyzed which factors influence the study results. There is a strong correlation with young people's self-efficacy, their interest in digital media and their socio-economic status. 15-year-olds who rate themselves more highly in these areas or have better qualifications rate their skills higher. Girls state more frequently that they check the accuracy of online information and consult various sources when researching.
The students were also asked about the digital skills of their teachers and their openness towards the use of digital media. Only just under half of young people think that teachers have the necessary skills to use digital devices in the classroom - significantly less than the OECD average (70%). Around 60% of 15-year-olds state that their teachers are open to using digital media in the classroom. This proportion is also well below the OECD average of 77%.
These perceptions of young people are also important because the study shows a correlation with their self-assessment of their skills. “Both the digital skills of teachers and their openness to digital media can have a positive influence on the development of pupils' digital information skills,” says Samuel Greiff. “Teachers should therefore be supported in integrating the use of information found online as a regular part of lessons in various subjects.”
Digital media often does not work reliably
The main “PISA 2022” study had already shown that teachers in Germany state that they use digital tools in their lessons and for homework less frequently than the OECD average. The majority of school heads reported in the survey that teachers do not have enough time to prepare lessons for the integration of digital media and that schools do not have enough qualified staff to provide technical support.
The new evaluation shows that only around 60 percent of young people say that digital media works reliably at their school. The OECD average is 71 percent. In addition, only 46% of pupils think that digital media is easily accessible in the classroom - significantly less than the OECD average of 67%.
Further information:
The PISA studies are coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The German part of the study is managed by the Center for International Educational Comparison Studies (ZIB) on behalf of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, in which the Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education (DIPF) and the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) are involved alongside TUM.
The results of PISA 2022 in mathematics, reading and science were published in December 2023, the results in creative thinking in June 2024.
Scientific contact persons:
Prof. Dr. Samuel Greiff
Center for International Educational Comparison Studies (ZIB) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Chair of Educational Monitoring and Effectiveness
Original publication:
Tamara Kastorff, Maren Müller, Clievins Selva, Samuel Greiff, Stephanie Moser: Fake news or facts? How young people assess their digital information literacy and what role schools and teachers play in this - findings from PISA 2022. Münster 2025. DOI: 10.31244/9783830999935
Further information:
PISA 2022: https://www.pisa.tum.de/pisa/pisa-2022/ (in German language)
The challenge of science communication
The Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S. and the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung, in cooperation with the Bundesverband Hochschulkommunikation, the National Institute for Science Communication, the Volkswagen Foundation and Wissenschaft im Dialog, offer 16 to 18 young communicators the opportunity to exchange their experiences, projects and expectations in the field of science communication over the course of a whole year.
Four modules
The “WissKomm-Kolleg”, which is divided into four modules, is not only intended to provide insights into different working methods and horizons of experience, but also to enable networking and professionalization. The WissKomm-Kolleg thus also strengthens young scientists who want to promote responsible science communication and give science a lasting impact in civil society and political discourse. The annual program is aimed at young scientists from universities and research institutions as well as science journalists.
Reflecting and discussing
The program of the college includes workshops, lectures, peer learning, case studies and networking. In particular, two four-day meetings at the seminar center of the Toepfer Foundation at Gut Siggen will contribute to “intensive reflection and discussion on good science communication in various roles and the associated responsibility”, as the organizers emphasize.
A university degree (master's, diploma or equivalent qualifications) is required to apply. The application deadline is 19 February 2025, the program starts on 29 April 2025. All further information on the WissKomm-Kolleg can be found online at www.wisskomm-kolleg.de (in German language).
DAAD: Protection programmes for threatened scientists
Together with European partner organisations, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is launching the ‘Supporting at-risk researchers with fellowships in Europe’ (SAFE) programme. In cooperation with Campus France, the Collège de France and the Mediterranean Universities Union (UNIMED), the DAAD is enabling up to 60 international academics at risk to continue their research in the EU (for more information, visit https://saferesearchers.eu/). The European Commission is providing around 12 million euros for this purpose until 2027. The DAAD, which is coordinating and funding the project, is looking for experts who can help with the selection process. The decision will be made following academic reviews. The experts not only evaluate the quality of the project applications, they also assess the risk of the people at risk, reports ZEIT.
Academic freedom under pressure
‘We are seeing worldwide that academic freedom is increasingly coming under pressure. This is why protection programmes for academics under threat are becoming increasingly important in the EU,’ explains DAAD President Prof. Dr Joybrato Mukherjee. ‘With the Hilde Domin Programme, we have already established a successful programme for threatened students and doctoral candidates in Germany. It is very pleasing that we can now expand this important European pillar of protection programmes for threatened or persecuted academics together with partner organisations from France and Italy.’
European cooperation for academics under threat
According to the Academic Freedom Index, academic freedom is now severely restricted in 27 countries. This means that around 3.6 billion people worldwide live without academic freedom. The SAFE programme therefore offers scientists who are at risk in their home countries a safe framework to continue their research at European universities or research institutions. In the pilot phase, up to 60 researchers will initially be placed at universities and research institutions in the EU and funded for two years. The European Commission is supporting the project with twelve million euros until 2027.
The programme will start at the beginning of September and the first researchers are expected to be in the EU from spring 2025. European universities can nominate researchers from countries outside the EU for the programme. Individual applications from researchers to the DAAD are not possible. Non-EU citizens who are already recognised as refugees in the EU can also be nominated for the programme via a university in the EU.
DAAD protection programmes
The DAAD already offers three programmes for the protection of vulnerable students or doctoral candidates: The Hilde Domin Programme is aimed at students and doctoral candidates at risk. The ‘Leadership for Africa’ programme enables refugees from West, East and Central Africa in particular to study safely in Germany. Both programmes are funded by the Federal Foreign Office. In addition, the ‘EU Mobility Programme for Myanmar’ offers students from Myanmar in the ASEAN region the opportunity to study at a university.
Scientific contact person:
Philipp Effertz
Head of Unit ST33 Middle East, North Africa & Hilde Domin Programme
DAAD - German Academic Exchange Service
+49 (0) 228 882-8611
info.safe@daad.de
Applications for the new WissKomm programme are now open
The Alfred Toepfer Foundation F.V.S. and the Claussen Simon Foundation, in cooperation with the Volkswagen Foundation, are once again inviting applications for the one-year academy programme WissKomm-Kolleg. Applications from science communicators are possible from 9 December 2024 to 19 February 2025. Find out more on the Volkswagen Foundation website: