Ongoing Projects
How does the foundation fulfill its purpose and what are its areas of focus? In accordance with our purpose, we only support the University of Mannheim. With your help we do everything we can to provide the university with the equipment and financial support it needs, so that research and teaching are promoted in the best possible way. In addition, the foundation supports motivated students and doctoral students at the University of Mannheim.
Below you will find projects and programs that are currently funded by the University of Mannheim Foundation. Feel free to contact us, if you would like to get involved or have your own ideas.
Beste-Köpfe-Programm by Dr. Hans-Peter Wild
Credit: Axel Heiter
In addition to highly motivated students, a university must offer an inspiring environment with excellent colleagues in particular, in order to attract renowned researchers. Therefore, Dr. Hans-Peter Wild initiated the Beste-Köpfe-Programm through a generous donation together with the University of Mannheim Foundation in 2015.
With the help of this program, the University of Mannheim has supported research projects in recent years and has thus been able to retain internationally sought-after researchers at the university or attract them to Mannheim from abroad, so that it can remain globally competitive. “I am very happy to support the University of Mannheim in continuing to perform as well as it has and in building on its excellent reputation in the face of increasing international competition in the long term. High-quality research benefits not only the university itself, but also the economy and society – far beyond the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region”, says Dr. Wild, owner of Wild Group and initiator of the Beste-Köpfe-Programm.
Since 2021, he has supported the University of Mannheim Foundation with another major donation of 2 million euros. This donation will be divided into five annual payments of 400,000 euros. The money will be used to fund new projects of the University of Mannheim. Additional support for the Beste-Köpfe-Programm is always welcome. Feel free to contact us.
In addition to the editorship of the American Political Science Review, which ended in 2020, as scheduled, the program currently supports the following projects:
International Program in Survey and Data Science (IPSDS)
A pioneering project led by Prof. Dr. Frauke Kreuter from the Department of Sociology has been financed since 2018 as well. It is a pilot project in Internet-based teaching which is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with a seven-figure grant. The project “International Program in Survey and Data Science (IPSDS)” aims at covering the increasing demand for specialists in the field of data collection and analysis by offering an Internet-based degree program for working professionals.
Since it was so successful, the IPSDS has been continued as “Mannheim Master in Applied Data Science and Measurement” and connected with the Mannheim Business School as well as the newly established Mannheim Center for Data Science since the summer semester 2020. The latter is to receive special support in the future as part of the new foundation campaign.Collaborative research: Equal opportunity, market regulation and stable financial markets
One of the projects funded by the University of Mannheim Foundation since 2018 is an innovative program managed by Prof. Dr. Martin Peitz (Economics) for the promotion of junior professors as part of the new collaborative research center (CRC) „Economic Perspectives on Societal Challenges: Equality of Opportunity, Market Regulation, and Financial Stability“. Within the next 12 years at most, the CRC will deal with key issues of economics and economic policy, making it one of the central economic research institutes in Germany.
Retention of outstanding researchers
The financial support by Dr. Wild allows us to provide special assistance to leading early-stage researchers. This is very crucial for the success of the collaborative project between Bonn and Mannheim.
The support provided by the Beste-Köpfe-Programm gave me the opportunity to advance my studies in the fields of conflict research and human rights and to participate in publishing the American Political Science Review.