Meridian – Der Wissenschaftspodcast des Berlin Center for Global Engagement cover art

Meridian – Der Wissenschaftspodcast des Berlin Center for Global Engagement

Meridian – Der Wissenschaftspodcast des Berlin Center for Global Engagement

By: Berlin University Alliance
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 Ist Wissenschaft wirklich global? Reduzieren wir sie nicht zu oft auf einzelne Standorte wie Harvard und Cambridge? In diesem Podcast erzählenForscherinnen und Forscher von ihrer Arbeit zwischen verschiedenen Welten, von Berlin bis Dakar, von Rio de Janeiro bis Manila. WelchePerspektiven eröffnen Grenzüberschreitungen? Welche Herausforderungen bringen sie mit sich? Meridian – Der Wissenschaftspodcast des Berlin Center for Global Engagement (BCGE) gibt Einblicke in spannende Biografien zwischen verschiedenen Breitengraden. Das BCGE ist ein Zentrum der Berlin University Alliance und wird im Rahmen der Exzellenzstrategie von Bund und Ländern gefördert. Weitere Infos unter www.berlin-university-alliance.de.Berlin University Alliance Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Meridian - #19 - „The Democratization of Knowledge. Open Science from Latin America to the World“ - with Prof. Fernanda Beigel

    Meridian - #19 - „The Democratization of Knowledge. Open Science from Latin America to the World“ - with Prof. Fernanda Beigel
    Jun 18 2025
    Open Science is a movement focused on how knowledge is produced and shared, aiming to dismantle the long-standing barriers that have kept academic research behind paywalls and limited to institutional elites. It calls for greater transparency, inclusivity, and accessibility in order to diversify global knowledge systems. Few countries have embraced Open Science as strongly as Latin America. What is the current state of the Open Science movement in this region and what risks of Open Science can be observed? How can Open Science contribute to adressing global challenges? And why is it essential to diversify how knowledge is created and shared?

    In this episode, journalist Kevin Caners explores these questions and more with Professor Fernanda Beigel. Fernanda Beigel is a Principal Researcher at Argentina’s National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), a Head Professor at the National University of Cuyo (UNCuyo), and the Director of the Research Center on the Circulation of Knowledge (CECIC). She chaired Argentina’s National Committee for Open Science from 2020 to 2023 and led UNESCO’s Advisory Committee for Open Science from 2020 to 2021. She is Principal Investigator of the project Open Science in the Social Sciences and Humanities in Argentina and Germany: Opportunities, Challenges, and Contestations, in collaboration with the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut and the Berlin University Alliance. Currently, she is a Fellow for Open Science at the Berlin University Alliance, in the Einstein Center for Digital Future.

    “Projects that are funded publicly should be open to future generations or other people not to collect the same thing. The circulation of knowledge is going to be reduced and concentrated and more asymmetrical, more unequal,” states Fernanda Beigel.

    Professor Fernanda Beigel is a sociologist based at CONICET and the National University of Cuyo, in Mendoza-Argentina and former chair of the UNESCO Advisory Committee for Open Science.
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    39 mins
  • Meridian - #18 - Giving Birth in Brazil: Gender and Politics in Global Health - with Prof. Simone Diniz

    Meridian - #18 - Giving Birth in Brazil: Gender and Politics in Global Health - with Prof. Simone Diniz
    Apr 2 2025
    Across the world, health care systems are shaped by inequalities—both in access and in how gender, race, and social class influence medical treatment. Nowhere is this more evident than in maternal health care. From childcare practices to reproductive rights, women's experiences in health care are determined by structures, policies, and interests that often fail to prioritize their needs. “Medicine often starts out from the incorrection of the female body and the belief that women bodies are inferior to technology”, states Simon Diniz. What determines the structures of health care systems? How have gender, race, and class shaped their development? What changes are necessary to better address the needs of women and societies? And what is the role of scientists in this context? Brazil provides a particularly compelling case to explore these questions, as its history of health care system development—situated at the intersection of activism, research, and politics—is well-documented.

    Professor Simone Diniz is a distinguished public health expert and advocate for women's health, gender equality, and social justice. A medical doctor by training and a full professor at the University of São Paulo (Brazil), she specializes in preventive medicine, maternal health, sexual and reproductive rights, data science, and equity in healthcare systems. Her extensive work bridges academia, policy-making and activism, including two decades with the São Paulo Feminist Collective on Health and Sexuality. „Evidence is not enough to change reality,“ states Simone Diniz.

    Professor Simone Diniz is a medical doctor and professor at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. She is Audre Lorde visiting professor 2024/25 at the Berlin University Alliance.
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    52 mins
  • Meridian - #17 - The Africa Charta: A roadmap for universities towards equitable research partnerships - with Isabella Aboderin

    Meridian - #17 - The Africa Charta: A roadmap for universities towards equitable research partnerships - with Isabella Aboderin
    Feb 5 2025
    The Africa Charter for Transformative Research Collaboration, launched in July 2023 in Windhoek, Namibia, is an Africa-centred framework for establishing a transformative mode of research collaborations. Co-created by Africa’s major Higher Education constituencies, the Charter is a major collective effort to address the power imbalances in the global science system and its major effects on international politics and economics. End of 2024 the Berlin University Alliance signed the Africa Charta, starting a new chapter of cooperation with the "Global South."

    In this episode, the journalist Kevin Caners discusses with Professor Isabella Aboderin, initiator of the Africa Charta, the reasons and effects of the global power imbalances in knowledge production, how the Africa Charta came into being and how universities and research institutions can develop a road map to put equitable research partnerships step by step into practice. “The Berlin University Alliance has the potential to play a pioneering role in fostering the discourse and work around the transformative collaborations with Africa in the German space”, she states.

    Professor Isabella Aboderin is Chair in Africa Research and Partnerships and Director of the Perivoli Africa Research Institute (PARC), Professor of Gerontology in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol, and Speaker of the Advisory Board of the Berlin Center for Global Engagement at the BUA. Her research and engagement focus on the nature and need for transformation in Africa-global North research relations, issues of ageing, and intergenerational relations and care in African contexts.

    Prof. Isabella Aboderin, Chair in Africa Research and Partnerships and Director of the Perivoli Africa Research Institute (PARC), Professor of Gerontology in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol
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    37 mins
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