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The WG Engaged Science addresses (individual and institutional) scientific practices, role understandings, conflicts and dilemmas and aims at a cross-disciplinary discourse on the question: What are principles of "good" engaged science and where are their limits?

Society is at a historic crossroads. It can choose to enable or to hinder changes toward a more socially just and ecologically sustainable economic system. But this transition is seldom discussed in public. The Research Group “Money and Society” aims to change this and to link economic aspects with cultural ones.

In recent years, concepts and practices of internationalization have changed rapidly. In the Research Group on internationalization, this change is subjected to critical reflection and it is discussed how internationalization can be rethought with a view to global power asymmetries.

The "Artificial Intelligence" research group of Die Junge Akademie would like to approach the topic through concrete applications of AI methods and thus enter into an interdisciplinary conversation about the possibilities and limits of selected AI applications. In doing so, the RG would also like to discuss technologically, socio-scientifically and legally informed regulatory proposals for AI use.

From a self-reflexive perspective, we ask: are there forms of science that are more usable for the political process and social development than others? And if so, what do these look like and what value is attached to new knowledge? Another focus of the WG is to apply the sustainability indicators that scientists use to measure environmental sustainability (for example, to evaluate certain technologies or policies) to scientific practice.

In a world in which the human is increasingly called into question by ecological crises and technical innovations, do categories of consciousness, subjectivity and intelligence need to be renegotiated? The Research Group explores the posthuman, more-than-human and non-human in its temporal density. Historical perspectives, present urgencies and future thought experiments are equally considered.

Although language as a medium of communication is ubiquitous and seemingly self-evident, it must be continuously questioned and reconsidered in everyday research and artistic practice. From an interdisciplinary perspective, the Language Research Group explores language concepts and associated discourses on sensitive and barrier-free language use, complexity reduction in science communication or model-forming language imagery.

The research group ‘Cultures of Debate’ focuses on the role of academia in social discourse. What does it mean for a society when expertise and academic analysis no longer automatically hold a position of authority, but find themselves confronted with accusations of elitism similar to those that are currently being directed at journalism and politics? Does the public realm lack important intellectual figures with the power to influence political debates? And what would it take to change this?

Our research group Transfer of Innovation in Academia (TROIA) serves as a holistic platform within Die Junge Akademie. TROIA covers central topics of academia such as innovation and innovation transfer.

The research group Science Policy focuses on surveys, proposals and events on different aspects within the context of science and politics. This task has an academic as well as a scientific-political dimension: Not only does it demand a verdict on the efficiency of funding regarding the set goals and the non-intentional consequences of the measures, as far as they can be predicted, it also demands the weighing of contradictory goals as well as a verdict on the reasonableness and the desirability of the goals themselves.