Research Cultures in Germany - A Study commissioned by the Volkswagen Foundation

Abstract:

As part of the project "Research Cultures in Germany" (2022), we analysed how scientists in various research fields and disciplines perceive working and living in Germany as a research location and what opportunities and challenges they identify for research cultures in Germany. Much of the available research focuses on epistemic cultures, however, research cultures are significantly shaped by other framework conditions that are located at a societal and organisational level: Structures of research funding, career opportunities in and outside science, social reputation of the field, broader social and political changes. The study emphasises currently pressing and interwoven challenges in the context of research cultures in Germany: the role and the embedding of third-party funded projects, the current impossibility of forming semistable research teams, career paths beyond the professorship, gender and diversity, scientific reviews and research assessment.