The Berlin Center for Global Engagement (BCGE) is the platform of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) for research cooperation with the “Global South”*, for academic freedom, and for science diplomacy. As part of the Alliance’s long-term goal of creating a joint research environment in Berlin, BCGE supports the four partner institutions in integrating their collaborative efforts into the complex web of global science. The great challenges of our time, such as climate change, pandemics, and migrations, know no borders and require research that engages in partnerships that are truly global in scope. As a result, the relevance of internationalization as a task that has to resolutely take all regions of the world into account cannot be denied. However, the growing pressure facing global cooperation in recent years also means that internationalization is becoming increasingly complex. Research and innovation have become fields of geopolitical confrontation. In many places, authoritarian regimes and populist movements are encroaching on academic freedom. With BCGE, the four partner institutions have created a center that interconnects and systematically develops the disciplinary, regional, and country-specific areas of expertise and competence within the Berlin University Alliance to jointly seize the opportunities presented by global cooperation in science. As a responsible alliance, BUA aims to contribute to the creation of a more equitable, inclusive, and secure international research system.

With its calls for proposals, BCGE supports projects aimed at intensifying global cooperation. Four BCGE Signature Projects are running in the period 2022-2025. They address topics as diverse as the mental health of mothers in Germany, Vietnam and Jordan, humanities and social science theorising from Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey or Chile, or the living conditions of ‘essential workers’ in a global comparison. In addition, the center facilitates collaboration between BUA researchers and their partners in the “Global South” by inviting BCGE Guests.

Funded BCGE projects by country (as of March 2024)

With the BUA Forum on Diplomatic Resilience, the BCGE intensifies networking within BUA in the field of science diplomacy and enables collaborative partners* to deal responsibly with challenges in their science relations.

Furthermore, BCGE hosts eventson current issues surrounding internationalization. It works together with various institutional partners to organize panel discussions on topics such as globally inclusive science or the interaction of research and foreign policy. It also networks BUA researchers by holding internal round tables on special topics. With the theatre project Hidden Research, which is funded by the BMBF as part of the Science Year 2024, the BCGE is developing innovative event formats on the topic of scientific freedom.

BCGE offers a training program to make researchers – especially those at the beginning of their academic careers – more aware of little-known aspects of global research cooperation. It thus fills an important gap in qualification programs for researchers.

Finally, the Center strives to make global science collaborations more visible in Berlin, for example, with the podcast Meridian, that presents the work of inspiring researchers who cross the border between North and South in science to a broad audience.

BCGE sends out a news bulletin on a regular basis. To subscribe, please send an email to bcge@berlin-university-alliance.de.

* The Center does not define the Global South preliminary as a geographical area, but rather as a term that challenges existing hierarchies in knowledge production. Accordingly, the Global South includes countries that, for various reasons which are often correlated with economic and political asymmetries, occupy a marginalized position in global science production.

Learn more

• BCGE Projects
• BUA Forum on Diplomatic Resilience
• BCGE Guests
• BCGE Events
• BCGE Trainings
• Meridian - the science podcast of the BCGE
• Hidden Research – a theatre project

Contact

Dr. Romain Faure, Coordinator Berlin Center for Global Engagement (BCGE)
Tel.: +49 30 / 838-50813
Email: romain.faure@berlin-university-alliance.de

Dr. Sarah Wessel, Program Manager Berlin Center for Global Engagement (BCGE)
Tel.: +49 30 / 838-69750
Email: sarah.wessel@berlin-university-alliance.de

Dr. Florian Kohstall, Head of Program “Global Responsibility” at Freie Universität Berlin and Project Responsible Berlin Center for Global Engagement (BCGE)

Christiane Wolf Suzuki, Project Coordinator BUA Forum on Diplomatic Resilience
Tel.: +49 30 / 838 622 70
Email: c.wolf.suzuki@fu-berlin.de

Dr. Angelika Wilhelm-Rechmann, Program Manager Berlin Center for Global Engagement (BCGE)
Tel.: +49 160-99 14 37 03
Email: angelika.wilhelm@berlin-university-alliance.de