Liberal democracy is a basic prerequisite for a scientific landscape with independent freedom of research. But how can we protect our democratic structures? And what dangers are they exposed to? Ten newly funded research projects are dedicated to these and other highly topical questions of democracy research.

As the covid crisis has shown: If scientific arguments are to be taken seriously in the public discourse and subsequently acted upon, researchers must make a greater effort to master the rules of today’s mediatized society. The following is a subjective situation report in five sequences.

Freigeist Fellow Rainer Kaufmann has the courage to leave the comfort zone – his video project "Black Box Science" gives an uncompromising view of research culture. An interview about the realities of everyday life in research and the origins of the "Black Box" project.