Foreword
Taking care of the next generation
It is a privilege and an honour to be the director of the Zukunftskolleg: to interact with so many bright minds, to experience the development of such a diversity of research projects and to contribute to the excellence of the University of Konstanz, creating a productive environment for the next generation of scholars in the world, a next generation that is already here – and thriving. As a professor and neuroscientist, I am also a researcher – this is my “other life” – and in that role, I study the brains of honeybees and how they use smells to organize their hives. Looking at the diversity of bees (there are 20,000 species worldwide), I came across an image of the nest of the Australian stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria: they build the nest for the next generation of bees – the brood nest – in the shape of a spiral.
I could not help thinking about the Zukunftskolleg’s activities here. It is as if we are adding individual honeycomb cells to a large building, some close to the centre, some further away. Please enjoy the variety of activities that we present in this annual report: fellowship formats from the ‘small’ ZUKOnnect to the 2+1 Postdoctoral Fellowship and the ZENiT Research Fellowship, some with a greater geographical outreach (like ZUKOnnect), some closer to home and others both (like ZENiT). Activities ranging from photo exhibitions in our library to international conferences. Institutional contacts within the University of Konstanz and to other institutes, such as the Martin Buber Society of Fellows in Jerusalem, the Network of European Institutes for Advanced Study (Netias) or the global network of University-Based Institutes for Advanced Study (UBIAS). Like in the spiral of the Tetragonula’s nest, activities far away and close by are interconnected and form a continuum, a common building that houses us all.
Such a common building needs, of course, its inhabitants: they are its lifeblood. In the past year, we were able to welcome many new fellows of different types to the Zukunftskolleg family: the first cohort of ZENiT Fellows, the sixth cohort of ZUKOnnect Fellows and already the 18th cohort of Postdoctoral Fellows.
ZENiT was introduced in 2023 and stands for “Zukunftskolleg Exchange Network: interdisciplinary Talent”. The programme aims to enable the University of Konstanz’s young researchers (who do not yet have a tenured position) to establish interdisciplinary working groups across the world and allows for research funds and regular meetings in Konstanz for a period of three years. The working groups could, for example, develop new research ideas, write a book or apply for joint funding, to name but a few possibilities. In the summer of 2024, we launched the second ZENiT call for applications, with a deadline of 15 October 2024. We once again received some great applications from postdoctoral researchers at the University of Konstanz, which shows that we have identified an important need among young researchers with this new initiative, allowing them to traverse new boundaries, think beyond and across disciplines and investigate exciting questions in collaboration with colleagues around the world.
Five years ago, the Zukunftskolleg advertised ZUKOnnect Fellowships for the first time in order to target researchers from low-income countries and create stronger ties across the world with Konstanz. Since then, we have welcomed eight researchers within this programme each year – from a wide variety of disciplines and cultures – and invited them to join us for 3-4 months on site at the Zukunftskolleg and 9 months via our hybrid digital affiliation. This has created lasting links. For example, two former ZUKOnnect Fellows have successfully applied for a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Zukunftskolleg and one fellow for our new ZENiT programme.
In addition, our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) – which held its annual meeting at the Zukunftskolleg on 16 and 17 May – congratulated us on our successful activities at the Zukunftskolleg over the last year(s). In particular, the ZUKOnnect Programme was highlighted as a great initiative, and the SAB found it very valuable that the Zukunftskolleg is contributing to reciprocity in this fellowship format by introducing a return visit from the local hosts’ groups to the institutions of the ZUKOnnect Fellows.
The critical voices of our friends in the SAB are also important for further developing the Zukunftskolleg and avoiding going off track.
To stay with the image of a building that houses us all: Hohenfels Castle was our “home” for a few days in September, when the Zukunftskolleg held its Scientific Retreat and discussed the role (or existence?) of academic values. We invited science journalist Jan-Martin Wiarda, who gave a very interesting lecture on “The value of academic values”. You can learn more about this in Story 4.
Please read about the activities and research underway at the Zukunftskolleg. I won’t keep you in suspense any longer and hope that you enjoy immersing yourself in another exciting year at the Zukunftskolleg!
Yours,
Giovanni Galizia