For calls with an application deadline after January 1, 2025, researchers who submit applications for project funding can at the same time apply for funds to improve equal opportunities. Such funds can be used for measures such as childcare, support for people with physical disabilities, awareness-raising workshops, or coaching.

Trained as a mechanical engineer, the Kampala-based researcher Peter W. Olupot has spent the last decade finding ways to produce affordable water purification systems using rice husks, a common byproduct of rice production.

Human societies transform the natural environment around them. If this impact is negative, it can increase infectious disease risk. Epidemiologist Joacim Rocklöv believes changing human behavior is critical to preventing pandemics from happening in the future. 

Lower Saxony's Science Minister Falko Mohrs takes over as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Volkswagen Foundation, Germany's largest private science funding organisation. The federal cabinet and the state government of Lower Saxony have appointed a total of three new members to the foundation's highest decision-making body.

Together with ‘Falling Walls Female Science Talents’ and other partner organisations, the Volkswagen Foundation supports the Women's Impact Award. The first three shortlisted winners have now been announced - congratulations!

The Volkswagen Foundation wants to offer experimental spaces for fundamental innovations and significant improvements in all areas of the (German) research system. To this end, the Foundation will fund promising ideas for pioneer projects from the academic community. Deadline for draft proposals: October 15, 2024