Academic research needs freedom to unfold. In research in the humanities and social sciences, freedom of action means in particularly time, as well as a creative environment, even for conducting unconventional research.
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In addition to institutional funding, which accounts for more than one third of all state funding, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Framework Programme opens up a wide range of perspectives to researchers and, at the same time, opens up new possibilities for experimentation and freedom in which they can choose their own research topics and contribute to academic development.
The Käte Hamburger International Centres are a successfully tried and tested funding instrument for top-level research in the humanities in Germany. They enable researchers to conduct research freely on topics of their own choosing. It is intended that future International Centres should dedicate themselves to new, innovative questions – also across disciplines.
Free and innovative research requires diversity and the networking of strong disciplines and research fields. The German university landscape is currently dominated by 162 secondary subjects, with around 80 percent in the humanities, cultural studies, social sciences and economics. With their unique specialist knowledge, they contribute to the profile and structural development of German universities, as well as to internationalisation. They will also continue to receive support.
In addition, digital scientific methods open up new opportunities. The BMBF will therefore provide targeted support for the theoretical, methodological and technical development of the digital humanities.
The experimental spaces provide great potential for issues of the future: Above all, they give younger academics the space for unconventional, high-risk research.
