AKADEMIE FORUM: TRANSATLANTIC INTELLECTUAL COLLABORATION IN CRISIS

In this roundtable discussion, three panelists will explore the challenges confronting US–German knowledge and scientific collaboration. Institutions promoting transatlantic cooperation now confront not only the perceived erosion of the liberal international order and escalating socio-political fragmentation, but also the severe financial and political pressures on academic institutions in both countries.

In addressing the current crisis, the participants will explore how these geopolitical and ideological shifts are affecting transatlantic intellectual networks and scientific discourse. They will discuss the proliferation of “post-truth” phenomena and the impact of AI on scholarly research as well as the vulnerabilities of our academic institutions. Panelists will also address broader national and global challenges, including the upsurge of nativism, populism (left and right), and social inequality, the looming threats to public health, and the perils of global warming. They will attempt to offer concrete recommendations to safeguard and strengthen vital transatlantic scholarly ties in a rapidly changing world.

Melissa Eddy is the business correspondent for The New York Times based in Berlin. She covers German and European corporate news, energy and industrial policy, and the intersection of business with politics and society. Previously, she reported on Germany’s political landscape, migration, and transatlantic economic issues. She is a member of the RIAS Berlin Commission board and chairs the German Foreign Press Association, Verein der Ausländische Presse e.V.. She is an alumna of the Fulbright Program and the author of Merkel’s Law: Wisdom from the Woman Who Led the Free World (2024).

Prof. Dr. Carole Fink is Humanities Distinguished Professor of History Emerita at the Ohio State University and Professor of History Emerita at University of North Carolina Wilmington. She is currently writing a global history of the 1980s and co-editing a book on international minority protection in the 20th century. Since her retirement, she has been a guest professor at universities in Israel, China, Germany, and Australia. Her recent books include Cold War: An International History (2013), West Germany and Israel: Foreign Relations, Domestic Politics, and the Cold War 1965–1974 (2019), and Writing 20th-Century International History: Explorations and Examples (2017). She also wrote the first biography of the historian and resistance hero Marc Bloch, which has been translated into seven languages.

Katja Greeson is the Deputy Director of the Aspen Institute Germany, a transatlantic think tank and convening platform focused on promoting values-based leadership, constructive dialogue, and international cooperation to tackle today’s most pressing global challenges. Previously she was a Humboldt Foundation German Chancellor Fellow, conducting comparative research on U.S.–German civic education. She began her career in working in political party politics, campaigns, and youth civic engagement as Director of Marketing at the Democratic National Committee and in North Carolina. She holds a dual M.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.

Presented in English
With a musical contribution by Paula Mejía España (violin), student at the Barenboim-Said Akademie

The Akademie Forum series is supported by the ZEIT STIFTUNG BUCERIUS. Additional partners for this evening are the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Fulbright Germany.