AKADEMIE FORUM: TRANSATLANTIC INTELLECTUAL COLLABORATION IN CRISIS

Institutions that promote transatlantic cooperation are currently confronted not only with a perceived erosion of the liberal international order and increasing socio-political fragmentation, but also with significant financial and political burdens on academic institutions in both countries.

In light of the current crises, the panel will discuss how these geopolitical and ideological shifts are impacting transatlantic intellectual networks and scientific discourse. Topics will include the spread of the "post-truth" phenomenon, the impact of AI on scientific research, and the vulnerabilities of our academic institutions.

The participants will also address broader national and global challenges such as the rise of nativism, populism (from both the left and the right), and social inequality, the threat to public health, and the dangers of global warming. They will attempt to provide concrete recommendations for strengthening transatlantic academic relations in a rapidly changing world.

Melissa Eddy is the New York Times' business correspondent in Berlin. She reports on German and European companies, energy and industrial policy, and the intersection of business, politics, and society. Previously, she focused on German politics, migration, and transatlantic economic issues. She is a Fulbright graduate and the author of *Merkel’s Law: Wisdom from the Woman Who Led the Free World* (2024).

Prof. Dr. Carole Fink is Professor Emerita of Humanities at Ohio State University and Professor Emerita of History at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She is currently writing a history of the 1980s from a global perspective and is co-editor of a book on international minority rights in the 20th century. Since her retirement, she has been a visiting professor at universities in Israel, China, Germany, and Australia.
Her recent book publications include *Cold War: An International History* (2013), *West Germany and Israel: Foreign Relations, Domestic Politics, and the Cold War 1965–1974* (2019), and *Writing 20th-Century International History: Explorations and Examples* (2017). She also published the first biography of historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch, which has been translated into seven languages.

Katja Greeson is Deputy Director of the Aspen Institute Germany, a transatlantic think tank and institution dedicated to promoting values-based leadership, constructive dialogue, and international cooperation to address the pressing global challenges of our time. Previously, she was a Federal Chancellor Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, conducting research on political education in Germany and the United States. She began her career in party politics, campaigning, and public youth work as Director of Marketing for the Democratic National Committee and in North Carolina. She earned a dual Master's degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.

With a musical contribution by Paula Mejía España (violin), a student at the Barenboim-Said Academy.

In English.