Global crises, climate change, AI, and societal polarization: our world is changing rapidly, and many challenges are more interconnected than they first appear. Researchers at the Berlin University Alliance are therefore exploring interdisciplinary solutions to these major issues of our time. A key element is the active involvement of citizens, ensuring that scientific innovations have a tangible impact on everyday life.

The COVID-19 pandemic made one thing unmistakably clear: the world is undergoing profound change. Health crises are spreading ever faster, climate change is now causing extreme temperatures and flooding even in Germany, and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence is making it increasingly difficult to distinguish what is real from what is not. At the same time, societies are becoming more polarized, scientific findings are being questioned, and climate targets are steadily being weakened. Since February 2026, for example, climate-damaging greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas are no longer officially classified as hazardous to health in the United States – with negative implications for international climate policy. Additionally, recent developments in Europe, like the revision of the planned 2035 ban on new combustion-engine cars, in favor of manufacturers, are also shaping the public debate.

All of these changes and transformations raise fundamental questions. The fact that many developments are unfolding simultaneously – and influencing one another – makes clear that solutions cannot be considered in isolation. A warming climate, for example, can facilitate the spread of new infectious diseases, as disease carriers such as mosquitoes reproduce more rapidly at higher temperatures. Migration, globalization, and new supply chains also allow diseases to spread more quickly around the world. At the same time, growing distrust in science can make it more difficult to implement solutions such as vaccines or climate protection measures. As a result, ecological, social, and technological challenges must be addressed together and understood as interconnected.

At the Berlin University Alliance (BUA), researchers from different disciplines and institutions are working together to develop sustainable solutions to these major challenges of our time. At the center of this effort are five key areas identified through the Grand Challenges Initiative in response to global transformations: social cohesion, global health, responsible innovation, quantum technologies, and climate change. In laboratories and research facilities, teams collect data, analyze complex problems, and develop new methods and technologies. Yet the decisive step comes at the end of this research chain: translating scientific insights into real-world practice. This can only succeed in a sustainable way if the public is actively involved.

How can an entire population be persuaded to accept a new vaccine? What specific needs do people with disabilities have when it comes to adapting to flooding caused by the climate crisis? How can social cohesion be maintained in an increasingly polarized society? Under what conditions can digital care technologies be successfully introduced in aging populations? And which socially relevant problems might be addressed with quantum technologies?

The perspectives and experiences of citizens provide essential insights into how scientific solutions are accepted and implemented in everyday life. Patterns of use, for example, reveal whether a technology designed in theory actually works in practice. At the same time, participatory research gives a voice to groups that are often underrepresented in social decision-making processes. In this way, it turns people into partners in the scientific process—helping to develop solutions that are both practical and sustainable.