Sustainability research at the University of Freiburg bears fruit

The Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation has been funding sustainability research at the University of Freiburg with a total of around 3.5 million euros since 2020. This has made a significant contribution to sharpening the university's profile. What was initiated back then is now bearing fruit. This week, this became clear in several respects. 

On January 24, the Sustainability Innovation Campus was launched, the fifth and for the time being last innovation campus model in Baden-Württemberg, which is funded by the State Ministry of Science and Research. Together with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the University of Freiburg is striving for comprehensive social, technical and economic innovations as a network of science, business, politics, administration and civil society under the motto "Transformations for city regions of the future - climate protection, resource conservation and well-being" in order to contribute to the "Great Transformation" towards a sustainable society. The foundation has funded the conceptual phase of the innovation campus with 200,000 euros (link).
 

The Young Academy for Sustainability Research gives young postdocs the opportunity to initiate joint interdisciplinary projects in sustainability research. The first phase is coming to an end this year, was evaluated very positively and on this basis the foundation has extended its funding for a second phase (see current calls for applications). Michael von Winning: "Sustainability research must be interdisciplinary, because the challenges do not adhere to the boundaries of academic disciplines. This is particularly demanding for young scientists, as specialization is the key to a career in research. We are impressed by how the participants of the Junge Akademie deal with this area of tension, how they make use of the Academy's offerings and how the format has developed appeal at the university and beyond as a result. We are therefore very much looking forward to the continuation in phase 2."   

The first series of a Junge Akademie podcast has also been released this week. The weekly episodes present the Junge Akademie's players and content (link - German only).  

On January 26, Katrin von Lehmann's exhibition will open at the T66 Kulturwerk in Freiburg. She will be presenting the results of her work on the topic of sustainability from her time as artist in residence at the Junge Akademie für Nachhaltigkeitsforschung (link - German only).