Whether in objects, archives or libraries – the world is full of cultural treasures. One of the most important tasks of the humanities and social sciences is to discover, examine, preserve and make this cultural diversity accessible to both scholars and to the public.
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Who are we? Where do we come from? What makes us special – then as now? Our cultural heritage reflects our values, norms, symbols and forms of communication, the basis of all socialisation. They create the common basis for social cohesion and, at the same time, for the discussion and assessment of implementation options, decisions and evaluations. Again and again.
For years, the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) has been supporting scientists in keeping this cultural heritage alive and has launched several funding programmes to this end. These programmes include "eHeritage", "The Language of Objects" and the "Alliance for University Collections".
There are currently over 1193 collections at 77 universities, in which several million objects are preserved and utilised. In 2015, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research published the funding guideline "Networking - Cataloguing - Research. Alliance for University Collections" was published in 2015. 15 cooperation projects between universities and museums were funded in this context from 2016 to 2021. The funding guideline was published once again in 2021. Part of this funding guideline is an accompanying project of the "Coordination Centre for Scientific University Collections", which supports the integration and transfer of knowledge into the broader collection community in Germany, among other things. The project runs until 2027.
University collections are part of the material cultural heritage of the sciences. They serve as research infrastructure for various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences as well as the natural and technical sciences. Direct engagement with the objects in the collections and the organisational principles of collections help to answer scientific questions or to pose new ones. In 2015, the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) launched the funding programme "Networking - Developing - Researching. Alliance for University Collections" funding programme for the first time in 2015: 15 (joint) projects were funded under this programme between 2016 and 2020 with a total of over 9 million euros. The funding guideline was published once again in 2021. In addition to research projects focusing on the humanities and social sciences, which were launched in mid-2023, an accompanying project of the "Coordination Centre for Scientific University Collections" (see below) is also being funded, which supports the integration and transfer of knowledge to the broader collection community in Germany, among other things. The project will run until 2027.
The aim is to demonstrate the broad utilisation potential of the collections by means of targeted research projects. By integrating the collections, the funding also provides sustainable impetus in areas such as collection management and indexing, collection digitisation as well as conservation and restoration. The collections are given the opportunity to enter into alliances with resource-rich external or internal university co-operation partners. For example, they can involve museum partners who can advise and support them with digitisation or conservation issues, presentation techniques, inventories or teaching formats.
The coordination centre for scientific university collections in Germany, funded by the BMFTR from 2012 to 2022, supports the visibility and usability of scientific collections nationwide. From 2022 to 2027, it will implement the above-mentioned accompanying project as part of the BMFTR funding guideline "Alliance for University Collections II".
Since 2021, the BMFTR has also been funding a pilot project at Göttingen University's Forum Wissen together with the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture. Until the end of 2026, research will be conducted here into how university collections and interdisciplinary research can be translated into different formats for science communication and knowledge transfer and made visible to society.
Cultural heritage harbours important potential for the future shaping of society. A look into the past is essential for understanding and dealing with current social developments. This also includes research into the history of the GDR.
