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Anniversary: 20 Years
For the last twenty years, Die Junge Akademie has brought together young academics and artists from various disciplines as they work on interdisciplinary projects at the interface of science and society on the other. Initially founded as an experiment in 2000, the concept has since established itself successfully on the international stage.
On occasion of its anniversary in 2020, members seeked to enter and intensify their exchange with society through two major series of events, an ideas competition, and other activities. The aim was to leave familiar contents, forms and contexts behind. “The motto for Die Junge Akademie’s anniversary year is ‘Changing Perspectives’. We want to invite people to rediscover science with us. Die Junge Akademie is a great opportunity for all of us to build unconventional bridges between science and society,” said the then Speaker of the Board Philipp Kanske, psychologist and neuroscientist at TU Dresden, in the press release marking the launch. The anniversary year was marked by particular challenges: planned events had to be cancelled at short notice, rescheduled and moved online. The Covid-19 pandemic dominated everyday life. Nevertheless, the members were able to carry out many of the planned activities.
Press release marking the start of the anniversary year (16 January 2020)
Press release regarding changes due to the pandemic (5 May 2020, in German)
Ideas Competition „visions / solutions for a sustainable tomorrow“
As part of its online competition, the Sustainability Research Group at Die Junge Akademie accepted digital entries that engaged with visionary ideas or concrete approaches to a sustainable future. Participants had until 15 May 2020 to submit entries in the categories of "Visions" or "Solutions" in a broad range of formats – from images and videos to texts and songs to multimedia content. Prizes in the amount of 2,000, 1,500 and 1,000 euros were awarded to the three best entries in each category. Die Junge Akademie was celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2000 and the competition, which received support from the UmweltBank AG for the Solutions category, represented a continuation of its engagement with sustainability as an issue affecting both the scientific community and society as a whole.
The "Visions category" honoured visionary concepts for a society in which sustainability is understood in more than just environmental and economic terms. The competition looked for artistic and creative perspectives on how to create another, better world, where sustainable behaviour also extends to social, cultural and aesthetic practices.
The "Solutions category" recognised ideas for original solutions to sustainability-related problems. The categories were based on the belief that technical and technological solutions are essential for a sustainable lifestyle. In particular, the competition was looking for innovative climate and environmental processes and environmentally friendly ideas for solving concrete problems in our daily lives and at work.
Full details about the award winners can be found in the press release dated 4 August 2020 and on the Sustainability Research Group’s website.
Series of events: diejungeakademie@
Where does science take place and who can participate in scientific debates? The requirements for communicating scientific findings have changed. The call for public science is becoming increasingly stronger as social challenges continue to grow.
In its anniversary year 2020, Die Junge Akademie left the usual places of scientific activity behind and entered the heart of society with a series of events as part of diejungeakademie@. Members planned to host events at cinemas, cultural centres, pubs and even public transport to offer an insight into their work and current debates in their disciplines. The Covid-19 pandemic meant that, in many cases, face-to-face interaction with people moved online.
Serien of events: "Cha(lle)nging Perspectives"
Whether sustainability, art, debate or artificial intelligence – in our anniversary year 2020, the major and important issues were to take centre stage. As part of the lecture and discussion series “Cha(lle)nging Perspectives”, three research groups from Die Junge Akademie hosted events at the Heimathafen in Berlin-Neukölln or, due to the pandemic, online. Together with renowned guests from the sciences, arts and the public sphere, members discussed current scientific and other major social topics. It was also about giving critical perspectives a voice in order to provoke interesting changes of perspective.
The guests were the entertainer Harald Schmidt, the philosopher and television journalist Gerd Scobel, and the political scientist Chantal Mouffe.
History
Founded in 2000 out of the conviction that young scientists in Germany usually have few opportunities to develop freely and help shape the scientific system, Die Junge Akademie has pursued two main tasks since its foundation:
- the encouragement of academic, especially interdisciplinary, discourse among outstanding young academics and artists and
- the promotion of initiatives at the interfaces between science, art, science management, science policy and society.
Die Junge Akademie was launched on 30 June 2000, initially for 10 years. Its work began with the founders’ criticism of the deficiencies of the German academic system, which offers young academics little opportunity to develop freely or help shape the academic system. Paul Baltes, then Director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin as well as a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) and the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina, turned to the then BBAW President Dieter Simon with a first draft regarding the establishment of a "Nachwuchsakademie" in 1996.