14.11.2018
Neues Museum
The Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA), which is led by Dr. Verena Lepper from the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyussammlung, will be funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with an additional 3.3 million euros through January 2020. Since 2013, AGYA has been supporting outstanding early-career researchers from Arab countries and Germany who have successfully implemented interdisciplinary research projects and initiatives at the interface of science and society.
On the occasion of the opening ceremony of the new AGYA Regional Office in Cairo at the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) on 25 October 2018, Representative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Peter Webers announced another important milestone in the recent history of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA): The BMBF will support AGYA with an additional 3.3 million euros through January 2020. Peter Webers credited this decision to AGYA’s ‘dynamic development and outstanding networking through research collaborations between AGYA members in Germany and the Arab world’.
AGYA currently has 60 members and 20 alumni affiliated with research institutions in 17 countries: Algeria, Egypt, Germany, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Since 2016, AGYA members and alumni have conducted more than 150 interdisciplinary projects in 60 cities and 30 countries. The diverse projects address socially relevant topics such as scarcity of resources, public health, migration, education or endangered cultural heritage. AGYA Principal Investigator (PI) Prof. Dr. Verena Lepper, curator at the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung Berlin, thanked the BMBF for ‘the continuous support for AGYA’s growth and development’ and emphasized: ‘This substantial budget increase is a reaction to the amazing projects and the high commitment of the AGYA members. It will allow them to continue researching at this high level on a variety of topics. In addition, we can also build the AGYA Alumni Network and establish new project lines for the first generation of AGYA alumni’.
AGYA is based in Germany at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW). The president of the BBAW Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Martin Grötschel, who is also Co-Chair of the AGYA Advisory Board, sees AGYA ‘beyond the exciting projects and the scientific dynamic, also as a very important instrument of science policy, which can open new communication channels that are otherwise difficult to access. Thanks to its successful networking, AGYA even manages to set up offices in Arab countries’. This is why BBAW president Grötschel welcomes the renewed, generous support of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). With the additional funding, AGYA continues to play a key role in internationalizing and building bridges in research and cooperation.
The Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) is based at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) and at the Academy of Scientific Research & Technology (ASRT) in Egypt. It was established in 2013. It is the first bilateral young academy worldwide. AGYA promotes research cooperation among outstanding early-career researchers from all disciplines who are affiliated with a research institution in Germany or any Arab country. The academy provides partnership building opportunities and funding to support the innovative projects of its members in various fields of research as well as in science policy and education. More than 50 members—in equal number Arab and German scholars—have been selected to join AGYA since 2013. AGYA is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and various Arab cooperation partners.