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Continuity                                                                                   Independence                                                                                   Excellence

The German academies of sciences and humanities are both scholarly societies and research institutions at once. Since their work is oriented toward continuity, independence and excellence, they are able to conduct research projects requiring sustained efforts over long periods of time. The focus is on fundamental research conceived for longer time frames and with an interdisciplinary approach. Such research includes the compilation of scientific dictionaries, encyclopaedias and critical editions of the complete works of philosophers and composers, or longitudinal studies at the interface of the natural sciences and the humanities. Through this research, the academies produce repositories of knowledge for the future and provide a foundation for the application of this knowledge for the scholarly community and the public.

The Academies' Programme

The Academies' Programme is currently the largest research programme for the humanities and social sciences in Germany. In our Project Databank you can find all current ongoing research projects.

The Academies' Programme has been financed at both federal and state level since 1979/80 as part of the funding of long-term research endeavours in the humanities and social sciences. It is coordinated by the Union of Academies and with a total funding of 72.9 million Euros encompasses 128 projects with approximately 188 research units (as of 2022). These consist of 18 dictionaries, 108 editions and two projects concerning foundational research in social and cultural studies. The projects as a whole engage approximately 900 staff members. The research projects of the Academies Programme work in cooperation with over 60 countries across the globe.

 

AGATE

The AGATE-Portal is the communal research information system of the academies of sciences.

The new research information system of the Union of Academies, AGATE - A European Science Academies Gateway for the Humanities and Social Sciences, bundles both the wealth of knowledge in the humanities research performed at the Academies and their methods and research tools for the first time in in a single fully searchable and curated online portal. The long-term goal is to build AGATE into a pan-European digital platform that will raise the visibility and locatability of the European academies’ research in the social sciences and humanities and will promote international cooperation. The databank is filled with both current and already completed research projects, which between 1979 and today have been or are currently being funded in the Academies Programme, as well as projects with academy-independent funding. Also included are projects from Switzerland in both German and English.

 

Experts

In our members database you can find all of the experts united under the Union of Academies umbrella.

More than 2,000 researches are united under the Union of Academies umbrella, who nationally and internationally are counted among the most distinguished representatives of their fields. In our databank of members one can search according to name, academy affiliation, specialist field and location, in order to find competent contact persons for particular topics and research fields in a targeted and efficient manner.