LeNa Summit "Excellent research in social responsibility - How can this succeed?"
The researchers in the BMBF-funded joint project "LeNa Shape" presented their results at the Fraunhofer Forum Berlin on 27 February 2024 and discussed them with stakeholders from the science system.
We can look back on a varied programme in terms of content and disciplines, exciting perspectives and inspiring discussions on the importance of research with societal responsibility. In the morning, we focussed on the topic of excellent research with societal responsibility, while in the afternoon we looked at values in science. 84 people, primarily in person, took part in the lively exchange between researchers from the LeNa network together with invited science experts - and discussed incentives, tools and framework conditions for the implementation of research results. Everyone agreed that a free and responsible science system is equally necessary. Freedom and responsibility should not be seen as a contradiction, but rather as an encouragement to overcome obstacles together, for example in the form of boundaries between disciplines and research organisations, as well as across the gap between science and practice. In this context, we took an in-depth look at the concept of sustainability in all its facets, opportunities and dilemmas and agreed that we as a society need to establish a culture of sustainability that should be thought of holistically and not negotiated in legislative periods. It is therefore about a collective awareness of sustainability that calls for more dialogue with society, more participation and more transdisciplinary projects. You can find the programme here.
You are cordially invited to follow our findings: you can look at or download the presentations and posters, photos and video messages from the LeNa Summit here.
With contributions from Prof. Dr. Dr. Martina Schäfer from TU Berlin, Dr D. Isabell Mader, who works at the University of Osnabrück, and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Renn from the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology. With words of welcome from Mario Brandenburg MdB, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), from the President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Hanselka, from the Rector of RWTH Aachen University Prof. Dr. Dr. Ulrich Rüdiger and from Prof. Dr. Kora Kristof, Vice President for Digitalisation and Sustainability at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and from the Vice President of the Leibniz Association Prof. Dr. Barbara Sturm.