Dr. Georg Schütte became Secretary General of the Volkswagen Foundation on January 1, 2020. He took over from Dr. Wilhelm Krull, who retired oat the end of December, 2019. Schütte previously held the position of State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and now he has some ambitious plans for the Volkswagen Foundation going forward.

Epidemiologist Debarati Guha-Sapir gives insights, how data analysis can help to adapt to extreme weather events and even prevent deaths.

At the symposium "Interdisciplinarity Revisited", 150 scientists from all over the world discussed the added value of interdisciplinary approaches in research and teaching.

In its funding initiative on artificial intelligence (AI), the Foundation promotes close collaboration between the technical and social sciences in order to enable future-oriented AI research in the interests of society at large. An interview with the initiative's program directors.

An international symposium at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin on October 3 and 4, 2019 discusses the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation and new perspectives.

They set themselves apart from the mainstream and deliberately tackle high-risk research questions: Nine young researchers have now convinced the Volkswagen Foundation's international panel of experts and board of trustees with their unconventional projects. Their 'Freigeist' Fellowship gives them maximum freedom and a clear time perspective for their research.