When we talk about cutting CO₂, we usually think of green electricity or transforming transport. However, a less obvious area – the building sector – offers huge potential for savings. A Kassel University researcher wants to combine biomaterials with digital manufacturing technologies and make them available for architecture.

Narratives can either drive or discourage people. Transformation researcher Karoline Augenstein is convinced of this. She wants to find out how narratives of the future can impact on the way it is shaped.

Ines Drefs is fascinated by research – and most of all by the topic of media development assistance. A new position at the interface of science and practice came just in time.

Climate researcher Niklas Boers works on optimizing climate models with the aim to improve predictions about extreme weather events and potential tipping points in the Earth system – out of a deep sense of responsibility for future generations.

What makes a life with science so special, and what framework conditions must be in place to make it possible for universities as our high-performance academic institutions to offer opportunities and fulfillment? A conversation between Enrico Schleiff, President of Goethe University Frankfurt, and the Secretary General of the Volkswagen Foundation, Georg Schütte – moderated by Christine Prußky.

In the very large thematic area of biodiversity, Joachim Haug works on very small objects: insect and crustacean larvae. His wife is also an enthusiastic zoologist. So, it's hardly surprising that the passion for research also took hold of their two children at an early age.