DFG annual meeting issues pledge to academic freedom and criticism of AfD's science policy

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has concluded its annual meeting with recommendations to protect and strengthen the freedom and independence of science against increasing hostility and attacks in Germany, while calling out far-right party AfD's science policy.

During the annual meeting in Bonn from 29/06 to 01/07/2026, DFG President Katja Becker called for a joint commitment to the freedom and independence of science and knowledge-driven research funding.

"Democracy and science assume that arguments should be stronger than authorities, criticism more productive than certainty, and learning more important than being right. Without free science, a society loses its ability to distinguish between knowledge and assertion, and knowledge and ideology. Anyone who restricts the freedom of science weakens it and undermines the foundations of an open society," she said.

In view of the upcoming state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in September 2026, the science policy of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and its consequences in the event of participation in…