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
  • Meridian - #16 - Calculate with Africa: Transforming the world through mathematics - with Dr. Dominic Bunnett and Marwa Zainelabdeen

    Meridian - #16 - Calculate with Africa: Transforming the world through mathematics - with Dr. Dominic Bunnett and Marwa Zainelabdeen
    Sep 2 2024
    Mathematics serves as an engine for innovation across a broad spectrum of applications – from sustainable energy and mobility to health to artificial intelligence. Mathematicians provide the foundations for the use of the ever-growing amounts of data in other disciplines, seeking solutions for future challenges. But how can cooperation with the Global South in mathematics contribute to finding solutions for global challenges? How does international cooperation, for instance with Africa, look like? What do mathematicians do and is maths really a universal language? In this episode, Kevin Caners discusses how mathematics can transform the world with Dr Dominic Bunnett and Marwa Zainelabdeen, both members of the Cluster of Excellence MATH+, a collaboration of FU, HU, and TU Berlin, the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics (WIAS) and the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB). MATH+ has ties with African institutions, such as the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS).

    „International cooperation is the absolute most important and most enjoyable part of one’s research. You cannot get as far by yourself. You are limited by your own mind,“ states Dominic Bunnett.

    Dominic Bunnett is a postdoc at TU Berlin working in algebraic geometry and member of the program committee for the Young African Mathematicians program of the Cluster of Excellence MATH+.

    Marwa Zainelabdeen is a MATH+ doctoral student at the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics and Freie Universität Berlin and lecturer at the University of Khartoum, Sudan.

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    42 mins
  • Meridian - #15 - Weltweit kooperieren für das postfossile Zeitalter - mit Alexandra Krumm

    Meridian - #15 - Weltweit kooperieren für das postfossile Zeitalter - mit Alexandra Krumm
    Jun 12 2024
    Die Folgen des Klimawandels sind weltweit spürbar und fallen zunehmend drastisch aus. Trotz des immensen sozialen und politischen Drucks fällt es vielen Regierungen und Ländern schwer, den Ausstieg aus fossilen Energien, wie Kohle, zu planen und zu gestalten. Die Komplexität und internationalen Abhängigkeiten im fossilen Energiebereich sind oft so groß, dass die Gestaltung eines partizipativen und gerechten Wandels unmöglich scheint. Wie sehen diese internationalen Abhängigkeiten aus? Wie kann der Energiewandel gestaltet werden, damit der Ausstieg aus fossilen Energien auch weltweit gelingt? Wie wurde beispielweise der Kohleausstieg in Deutschland organisiert und wie können andere Länder von dem Wissen darüber profitieren? Wie diskutiert man fossile Energien in anderen Kontexten und was kann man in Deutschland davon lernen? In dieser Episode diskutiert Philipp Eins mit Alexandra Krumm über neue Formen der wissenschaftlichen Zusammenarbeit, um die globale Energiewende gerecht und nachhaltig zu gestalten. Das kollaborative deutsch-kolumbianisch-südafrikanische Forschungsprojekt TRAJECTS bringt Universitäten und rund 40 weitere Akteur*innen aus Zivilgesellschaft, Forschung und Privatwirtschaft zusammen. Im Mittelpunkt stehen Maßnahmen für den Klimaschutz wie der Ausstieg aus fossilen Brennstoffen sowie Änderungen in der Landwirtschaft und im Ökosystemschutz.

    Alexandra Krumm ist akademische Co-Koordinatorin von TRAJECTS an der TU Berlin und wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der Europa-Universität Flensburg. In ihrer Promotion beschäftigt sie sich mit der Energiewende und dem Kohleausstieg in Deutschland und Indien mit einem Schwerpunkt auf Partizipationsmöglichkeiten von Akteur*innen und der Integration von sozialen Aspekten in die Energiemodellierung.
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    34 mins
  • Meridian - #14- Collective Dreaming for a world in crisis: New visions for a sustainable future in India – with Ashish Kothari

    Meridian - #14- Collective Dreaming for a world in crisis: New visions for a sustainable future in India – with Ashish Kothari
    Feb 20 2024
    People feel increasingly overwhelmed and helpless in the face of the many political, economic, social and environmental crises the world is currently facing, from global warming, pollution and loss of biodiversity to war, authoritarianism, landgrabbing, inequality, and deprivation. Visions and pathways out of the crises are required, but cannot lie in the same paradigms of patriarchy, capitalism and racism that created them. The globally dominant idea that economic growth results in well-being of human beings has failed, argues the environmentalist Ashish Kothari. But what are alternative ideas to ensure economic and socio-cultural well-being in line with nature? What can individuals and local communities do to address global challenges, through radical democracy and local ecological and economic security? Which role does the environmental movement play in India and where are differences to the German movement? What can the ‘Global North’ learn from the ‘Global South’?

    In this Meridian episode, Kevin Caners discusses with Ashish Kothari new theories and practices in India and the ‘Global South’ for a sustainable future. Kothari presents recent developments in local communities and how they successfully managed to improve living conditions with nature and not against it.

    Ashish Kothari is founder-member of Kalpavriksh and taught at the Indian Institute of Public Administration. He coordinated India’s National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan, served on boards of Greenpeace International & India, ICCA Consortium as well as judge on the International Tribunal on Rights of Nature. He helps coordinate the Vikalp Sangam (Alternatives Confluence) process in India, and the Global Tapestry of Alternatives. He is co-author/co-editor of Churning the Earth, Alternative Futures, and Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary. In 2023, he was a Mercator Fellow at Kassel University, Germany.

    Ashish Kothari, Indian environmentalist, Kalpavriksh, Pune/India and co2libri Fellow at the Berlin University Alliance
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    43 mins
  • Meridian - #13 - Forschungszusammenarbeit neu denken: Bewältigung globaler Herausforderungen in einer ungleichen Welt - mit Adam Habib

    Meridian - #13 - Forschungszusammenarbeit neu denken: Bewältigung globaler Herausforderungen in einer ungleichen Welt - mit Adam Habib
    Nov 28 2023
    Klimawandel, Pandemien, Massenmigration - die Welt ist voller komplexer und miteinander verbundener Probleme. Um sie zu lösen, ist eine intensive internationale Zusammenarbeit in der Forschung und darüber hinaus erforderlich. Doch die Kooperation mit Partnern in ärmeren Kontexten ist immer noch begrenzt und wird oft von Wissensregimen aus Institutionen des globalen Nordens dominiert. Warum ist sie jedoch so wichtig für die Zukunft? Wie kann sie auf gerechte Weise organisiert werden? Wie kann die Hochschulbildung für eine globalisierte und gerechtere Welt neu konzipiert werden? 

    In dieser Meridian-Folge diskutiert Kevin Caners mit Professor Adam Habib darüber, wie man globale Herausforderungen in einer ungleichen Welt angehen kann und warum es wichtig ist, globale Wissenschaft, globale Technologie und lokales Fachwissen zusammenzubringen. 

    Adam Habib ist der Direktor der SOAS Universität London und Mitbegründer der African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA). Zuvor war er Vizekanzler und Rektor der University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, Südafrika, wo er auch in Zeiten der Apartheid aufwuchs und sich als politischer Aktivist engagierte. Transformation, Demokratie und integrative Entwicklung sind grundlegende Themen seiner Forschung.  

    Prof. Dr. Adam Habib, Direktor der SOAS Universität London 
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    37 mins
  • Meridian – #12 – Unsichtbare Kriege und blinde Flecken: Auslandsberichterstattung und ihre Problemlagen – mit Carola Richter

    Meridian – #12 – Unsichtbare Kriege und blinde Flecken: Auslandsberichterstattung und ihre Problemlagen – mit Carola Richter
    Jun 14 2023
    Weltweit eskalieren Konflikte, Krisen und gar Kriege – viele entgehen der medialen Aufmerksamkeit oder werden nur gelegentlich erwähnt. In dieser Meridian-Episode geht es um Auslandsberichterstattung und vergessene oder unsichtbare Konflikte, wie beispielsweise im Jemen – laut den Vereinten Nationen einer der größten humanitären Katastrophen unserer Zeit. Es geht um Frage, was nicht berichtet wird und warum? Wie hat sich die Auslandsberichterstattung in Deutschland verändert und was hat dies für Konsequenzen in Bezug auf die Wahrnehmung internationaler Entwicklungen? Wie könnte eine verantwortungsvolle internationale Berichterstattung der Zukunft aussehen?

    Carola Richter ist seit 2011 Professorin für Internationale Kommunikation an der Freien Universität Berlin. Ihre Forschungsschwerpunkte liegen auf Mediensystemen und Kommunikationskulturen im Nahen Osten und Nordafrika sowie Kriegs- und Auslandsberichterstattung. In ihrer Forschung setzt sie sich systematisch mit der Frage auseinander, wie die Welt in unseren Medien umfassender abgebildet werden kann.

    Seit einigen Jahren offeriert das von ihr mitgegründete Netzwerk AREACORE über die Plattform www.areacore.org/ims auch authentische Einblicke in Medienkulturen anderer Länder.  

    Prof. Dr. Carola Richter, Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, Freie Universität Berlin
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    26 mins