Berlin thinks ahead. Researches differently. More innovatively. And confronts the global challenges of our time. The Berlin University Alliance (BUA) is a consortium consisting of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The scholars and scientists of the BUA's partner institutions have come together to find answers to the major questions of the 21^st century and thus to confront its global challenges – Grand Challenges.

In a joint process of participants from science and society, we were seeking to identify the topic for our Next Grand Challenge. The selected topic will be researched by the BUA scholars and scientists in an inter- and transdisciplinary approach.

We consciously relied on this open and innovative approach to topic identification and sought topics from the existing research priorities as well as from emerging and new fields of research.

We were therefore particularly curious to find out which global issues are currently of most interest to young people, researchers, and students in Berlin.

Our cooperation was divided into four phases. The entire process from the collection to the selection of topics was transparent and could be watched online. The topic collection phase ended on 31 October 2022. Subsequently, the topics were grouped into topic areas. On February 28, the topics were concretized and evaluated at the Next Grand Challenge Forum. The contents of the participatory process were brought together into topic profiles, documented and forwarded to the Board of Directors of the Berlin University Alliance for the final selection of the topic for the Next Grand Challenge. For more details on the four phases of topic submission, please refer to the FAQs.

The Berlin University Alliance would like to thank all committed participants for their involvement in the participatory process of the Next Grand Challenge.