Public reading with discussion by Professor Dr. Dr. h. c. Bärbel Friedrich (Berlin) and Professor Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael Hecker (Greifswald)
The volume Die ostdeutschen Universitäten im vereinten Deutschland (2023) focuses on the dramatic upheavals that affected East German universities in particular as a result of reunification.
To what extent and at what cost did the universities in the East catch up with the democratically rooted freedom of research and teaching as it is enshrined in the Federal Republic? Two microbiologists talk about the transformation of an entire university landscape: the authors of the volume and academy members Bärbel Friedrich and Michael Hecker. They portray a coexistence of East and West at the universities that stands out from the current debates about an indiscriminately deficient situation in the East.
Bärbel Friedrich, Professor of Microbiology in Berlin, was initially at the Free University and moved to the Humboldt University in 1994. She was a member of the Science Council, Vice President of the German Research Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, as well as a member of the Council of the University of Vienna. From 2008 to 2018, Bärbel Friedrich was part-time director of the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald. She has received numerous awards, including the Burkhardt Prize, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and an honorary doctorate from the University of Greifswald. She is a member of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art.
Microbiologist Michael Hecker was the first freely elected Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Greifswald in 1990 and served as Director of the Institute of Microbiology from 1990 to 2013. He is an elected member of several national and international academies, including the American and European Academy of Microbiology, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He has received several science awards and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Göttingen in 2023.
Welcome: Professor Dr. Thomas Klinger
Moderation: Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker
There will be neither a livestream nor a recording for the Kolleg's media library for this event.
