However clichéd the phrase may seem on the surface, 2022 was truly a year like no other. While it looks like we’re over the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, many people – especially students – are still grappling with the aftershocks. The Russian invasion of Ukraine horrified the world, prompting our academic institutions, employees, and students to take action and show solidarity with those impacted by the conflict. Freie Universität Berlin also took measures to counter the acute energy crisis and the ongoing climate emergency. In May, Margot Friedländer, a Holocaust survivor and writer, received an honorary doctorate from Freie Universität Berlin, while Anita Traininger was honored with the highly prestigious Leibniz Prize at the end of the year. Plus, a new Executive Board was appointed at Freie Universität over the summer.

Through thick and thin, we managed to overcome many challenges throughout 2022 – and that success will sustain us as we head into 2023. To give you an insight into not only the sheer breadth of activities our members are engaged in, but also their expertise, innovativeness, and perseverance, we've put together a highlights reel of selected accomplishments throughout the past year below.

University members launched into action to help refugees from Ukraine find financial support, accommodation, language classes, and much more at the outbreak of the war. The desire to show solidarity and offer tangible help has remained consistently high across a number of areas, especially at the Institute for East European Studies.

Pictured above is president of Freie Universität Günter M. Ziegler greeting eighteen students who are Ukrainian refugees (mostly from Kyiv) at a networking event during the summer.

Freie Universität Berlin immediately suspended relations with scientific and academic institutions in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The liaison office in Moscow, which had been in operation since 2010, was closed mere days after the outbreak of the war, and has since been reopened in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi with Tobias Stüdemann at the helm.

Holocaust survivor and writer Margot Friedländer was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Department of History and Cultural Studies at Freie Universität Berlin on May 25, 2022, for her dedication and contributions to public history, democratic education, and keeping the memory of the Shoah alive.

Distinguished literary and cultural scholar Aleida Assmann gave the laudatory speech. The event was held in the Henry Ford Building and included a panel discussion with Professor Paul Nolte and history student and journalist Vincent Bruckmann.

The new Executive Board of Freie Universität Berlin began work during the summer. 

Dr. Amy Gutmann, the new United States Ambassador to Germany and former president of the University of Pennsylvania, held her first official public address at Freie Universität Berlin. In her speech Ambassador Gutmann formulated three key goals for her term of office: strengthening transatlantic relations, innovating inclusively, and defending democracy.

The steep increase in heating and electricity prices following the invasion of Ukraine also affected Freie Universität Berlin. We had to reduce our energy consumption by over ten percent so that we could keep our premises up-and-running for our students, instructors, researchers, and employees, and took a number of measures to achieve this.

Read more about the current challenges in an interview with Andreas Wanke, director of the Unit for Sustainability & Energy Management at Freie Universität Berlin.

After a break of two years due to the pandemic, Freie Universität was finally able to once more open its labs, archives, and lecture halls to the public during the Long Night of the Sciences. The event gives scientific institutions the chance to showcase their research and engage with a wider audience. A number of events are specifically designed with children in mind in order to broaden their horizons and make learning fun.

An estimated 2000 students, employees, and friends of Freie Universität gathered at the Holzlaube for the seventh Campus Run and Summer Fest on June 16, 2022. The Campus Run team with the most participants was Team Global, organized by Freie Universität’s Division of International Affairs.

Many visitors who had traveled to Freie Universität Berlin for International Week spontaneously decided to sign up and showed up at the starting line in blue Team Global running shirts. With a record-breaking 1110 participants, the 2022 Summer Fest proved to be one of the hottest events of the year. You can check out a video summarizing the day here.

Professor Susanne Baer, Justice of the German Federal Constitutional Court, held a keynote speech as part of the festivities celebrating seventy-four years since the founding of Freie Universität Berlin. Justice Baer emphasized the importance of science for democratic societies: “Academia as a whole comes into jeopardy when departments of gender studies are shut down and funding for climate research is slashed.”

Freie Universität Berlin and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have had a strategic partnership since 2011. Employees from both institutions met in Berlin for a Joint Staff Week to discuss successful internationalization. Because this type of framework is highly productive, the Center for Continuing Education and the Division of International Affairs want to offer more events in this format in the future. This was just one of many successful staff exchanges that took place throughout 2022.

Working together for equal opportunities: Researchers from Freie Universität, University of Cape Coast, and Kenyatta University joined forces to develop measures promoting equal opportunities at universities within the EQUIP project. Part of the project involved developing a training program for equal opportunities advocates at UCC.

About 500 DAAD scholarship holders from 100 countries came together at Freie Universität in May. The event gave participants the opportunity to network with each other and strengthen their ties to the DAAD.

The SupraSwing (pictured above) designed by artist Katja Marie Voigt was installed on the premises of the new SupraFAB Building, which is home to large-scale nanoscience equipment. Professor of chemistry Rainer Haag (right), professor of physics Stephanie Reich (center), and former provost Peter Lange (left) were at the official opening ceremony.

The Veterinary Center for Resistance Research (TZR), which was officially opened on April 26, is a one-of-a-kind research center that will play a significant role in global efforts to prevent anti-infective resistance in veterinary medicine. The scientific work carried out at the TZR will be directly incorporated into the training of future veterinarians at the department as well as continuing education programs for veterinarians in Berlin and throughout Germany.

Jannis Grimm, Mariam Salehi, and Hannah Franzki are each leading a new research group at the INTERACT Center for Interdisciplinary Peace and Conflict Research, which was established at Freie Universität Berlin last November. Under the titles of “Transnational Conflicts,” “Radical Spaces,” and “Blurring Boundaries,” the researchers want to take an multifaceted approach and contribute their findings to the discourse on flashpoints around the world – from Egypt, to Tunisia, to Argentina.

Dr. Sutapa Chakrabarti is a Heisenberg professor at the Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry. She researches processes related to the degradation of mRNA molecules in cells and has been funded by the German Research Foundation’s Heisenberg Program since 2022. Her interview highlights the use of innovative new methods to understand the complex processes behind cytokine production in the immune system and the typical pitfalls of conducting these scientific experiments.

Anita Traninger, professor of Romance languages and literatures with a focus on rhetoric at Freie Universität Berlin, was awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2023 by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Each award comes with 2.5 million euros to be used by the recipient to pursue their research. President Ziegler sent his congratulations and was effusive in his praise, saying “Professor Traninger’s work covers an extraordinary scope of topics and her vast knowledge of literary and historical sources is supplemented by her innovative mastery of methods and theories.”

Proving once again that our university members are not only top performers in their fields, but also in their extra-curricular activities, the chamber choir of Collegium Musicum Berlin was this year’s German Choir Championship winner.

French veterinary medicine student Carine Hadjadene received an award from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) on October 12, 2022. The prize honors outstanding international students and doctoral candidates at German universities who make a significant contribution to society and have an excellent academic record.

A rousing mariachi band provided the soundtrack to the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the Institute for Latin American Studies at the Henry Ford Building. The Peruvian Ambassador to Germany, Elmer Schialer, sang along to the lively tunes.

Dahlem Humanities Center celebrated its fifteen-year anniversary. Chad Wellmon (University of Virginia) held a guest lecture on the future of work in the humanities as part of the festivities.

Prof. Dr. Ferenc Krausz held the twenty-first Einstein Lecture at the Max Kade Auditorium of Freie Universität Berlin on November 2, 2022. His talk was about how light waves and electrons could be used in the field of medicine to treat cancer.

Translator and author Karen Nölle (left) was appointed August Wilhelm von Schlegel Visiting Professor in Poetics of Translation at Freie Universität Berlin for the winter semester. As a freelance translator she has translated literature from a host of international female authors into German. She is pictured here with Olga Radetzkaja, board member of the German Translators’ Fund.

Communicating effectively in a foreign language is not easy, but Arthur O'Connor (left), Vera Scholvin (middle), and Paras Mehta (right) are developing an app that makes learning proper pronunciation simple and engaging. Sylby is being developed with the support of Profund Innovation, the service institution for knowledge and technology transfer within the research division of Freie Universität Berlin.