Dinner speech - Bernd Kortmann

Together with its main Freiburg partner, the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI), and four partner institutions in Germany and France, FRIAS has applied for founding a Merian International Centre for Advanced Studies in Subsahara Africa, an initiative by the Federal Government of Germany to strengthen the humanities and social sciences on other continents. Through this initiative three centres have already been approved in New Delhi, Guadalajara and São Paulo. After a hearing in September, it will be towards the end of this year that the winning consortium will be announced for the current call on Subsahara Africa. The maximum funding period is 12 years, starting in 2018.

In this dinner speech, the project will be presented, including a discussion of the potential benefits for FRIAS and the University of Freiburg.  Most importantly, we are looking forward to comments, suggestions, and expectations from our fellow community concerning such a Research Centre. New ideas are most welcome and might still find their way into our project design.