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176 international guests from academia, the political arena and business joined Humboldtians currently conducting research in Germany at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s Summer Reception in Berlin. By analogy with Alexander von Humboldt’s Berlin Kosmos Lectures, which introduced the public to the newest scientific findings two centuries ago, every year around Humboldt’s birthday, the Humboldt Foundation issues an invitation to a lecture on a current topic.
The South African mathematician, Daya Reddy, spoke on inclusion in global science: “Collaboration is the lifeblood of intellectual progress. We are collectively responsible to actively develop equitable global North-South collaborations.” His lecture followed this year’s Humboldt Residency Programme entitled “Power and Knowledge” that addressed inequality in global knowledge systems. “Scholarship is optimally pursued in a collaborative and inclusive, equitable way, which fosters a sense of global community,” Reddy emphasised.
Networks help to promote fairness, underlined the President of the Humboldt Foundation, Robert Schlögl. “Global knowledge circulates in asymmetrical structures. And what is worse, it doesn’t benefit everyone. We are convinced that networking and cooperation amongst researchers from all over the world can break down hierarchies and imbalances of power.”
Schlögl also noted that cooperation with the Global South was a focus at the Humboldt Foundation. “We want to make the Humboldt Network inclusive. In order to attract more gifted individuals from the countries of the so-called Global South into global science, in our new strategy we have set ourselves the goal of decisively expanding our networks.”
The Summer Reception took place during the 2024 Humboldt Residency Programme on the topic “Power and Knowledge.” This year’s speaker, Daya Reddy, is a Professor Emeritus of applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town and a former President of the International Science Council. He is the chair of the Humboldt Foundation’s International Advisory Board, a committee of experts that advises the Humboldt Foundation on questions of strategy.