No. 116/2024

4 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 116/2024 EDITORIAL Welcome to the new edition of Kosmos! If in your life as a researcher, you could have three wishes, you might think about tenure, access to the best sources in the world and unlimited research funding. But depending on where you live, your background, your gender and your social status, your dream of a career in academia may look quite different and involve a stable power supply and a funda- mental right to education. It is a sad fact that researchers around the world live and work under unequal conditions. The reasons are often determined by history, in some cases by the experience of violence and oppression that have their roots far back in time. We at the Humboldt Foundation are convinced that anyone like us who wants to promote world-spanning research collaborations on an even playing field must be aware of the colonial continuities that still influence developments in science in many places. So, in this edition of our Foundation magazine, we examine the role played by (western/European) science in the colonial appropriation of Indigenous and local knowledge. How can we, here and now, create equal opportunities and establish a fair science system? In this context we also take a critical look at our eponym, Alexander von Humboldt, and his part in the colonialisation of Central and South America. We introduce you to Humboldtians who are working on a reappraisal of colonial history in Europe and the world, and pointing the way forward to a common, historically sensitive future. In doing so, we should always check on our own blind spots. Did you know, for instance, that in Ancient Egypt there were pregnancy tests? We wish you an interesting read! YOUR KOSMOS EDITORIAL TEAM CONTENTS 06 03 HUMBOLDTIANS IN PRIVATE “Climate change will affect us all!” 06 BRIEF ENQUIRIES What drives researchers and what they are currently doing COVER PHOTO Humboldt Foundation/ raufeld/Olaf Janson Financed by