Dossier Alexander von Humboldt Professorship

Great flexibility, exemplary freedom of research and, last but not least, a vast amount of money: since 2008, the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship has been attracting top international researchers to Germany.

If you want to trace the history of knowledge transfer in the aesthetics of the 18th century, you need old books – and they exert a particular fascination on Elisabeth Décultot.

A conversation with Enno Aufderheide, Secretary General of the Humboldt Foundation, on recruiting research luminaries and the benefits they bring German universities.

The behavioural ecologist Margaret Crofoot describes her research methods and talks about her role as a model for women in science.

The Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light emphasises: "In my experience, academia is the ideal environment for diversity. Research continuously scrutinises established patterns of thought."

“Museums are extremely important for our societies because that is where people decide which things will play a role in the future,” says British ethnologist Sharon Macdonald.