Dear University of Freiburg Members,
As 2023 draws to an end, I would like to reach out to you all with a video message while providing you with a brief outlook for the coming year 2024:
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First, I would like to thank you very much for our joint work on the further development of the University of Freiburg and for your great personal commitment.
This year, we have once again taken decisive steps towards the “University of Freiburg 2030”. At the end of May, we submitted seven outlines for Cluster of Excellence initiatives to the German Research Foundation (DFG) and defended them in the half-hour online reviews in late summer and fall. In the summer, we finalized the University’s structure and development plan and sent it to the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts in Stuttgart. In the summer, we were also able to publish the University’s new mission statement and the revised research profile. We worked together on all of these very important developments for the University. I am also delighted that we were able to get everything in place for the launch of the Sustainability Innovation Campus and about the many individual outstanding scientific achievements, of which the six ERC grants in 2023 and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize awarded to Prof. Dr. Jörn Leonhard are just a few examples.
These and many other positive developments are based on one thing above all else: the intensive exchange within the University to which you all contribute your different expertise and perspectives. I am delighted to see the enthusiasm with which so many of you are committed to the further development of the University of Freiburg, the basis of which include research, teaching, transfer and original ideas in the various subject areas. And I would like to encourage you to continue to do this in a multitude of ways, including participating in the University-wide strategy process that we set up in 2021, individual initiatives such as the Student Sustainability Office, which was launched this year, and personal exchanges at the new “Breakfast with the Rector” format.
We will build directly on many of the things we did in 2023 in 2024.
Year after year, it becomes more and more clear about how important science and universities are places that enable evidence-based knowledge and support the principles of our coexistence, such as freedom and democracy. Taking on and assuming this social role is more important than ever. The University of Freiburg stands for this as well.
Our shared journey in 2023 gives me additional confidence for 2024. With this in mind, I wish you all happy and relaxing holidays. Enjoy the end of the year and start the new year healthy and happy.
Kind regards,
Kerstin Krieglstein
