Life Sciences at the Wissenschaftskolleg
The Life Sciences program of the Wissenschaftskolleg is open to a diversity of subjects and attracts scholars that especially benefit from the atmosphere provided by the institution. Scientists are invited based on merit, either individually or as part of a focus group, during the respective year class. Furthermore, each year class welcomes junior fellows; promising younger scientists are therefore especially encouraged to apply and will find a highly rewarding environment with the opportunity to interact closely with their peers and with outstanding personalities from the different disciplines. None of the usual goals have to be achieved during a time spent at the Wissenschaftskolleg. Yet, ample rewards for one’s own future work are certain given a willingness to interact with other fellows and a readiness to reflect and exchange own ideas. The opportunity to work free of constraints in a stimulating environment not only helps focusing on one’s questions but has, more often than not, fostered important new research directions and insights – a benefit that more than outweighs the loss in laboratory time. The track record of successful stays by leading researchers at the Wissenschaftskolleg testifies to this unique concept.
"I developed two new collaborations, which never would have arisen outside of Wiko‘s opportunities for long, uninterrupted discussions."
Steven Frank, Fellow 2006/2007
"Wiko showed me an intellectual world - in biology and more importantly out of science - that convinced me that I needed out of my rut. (...) by the end of our Wiko year, I had all my graduate student enthusiasm back, and in spades. I now feel high voltage flowing through me and, once again, I feel sorry for people who don't get paid to think about evolution and infectious disease."
"It was my most productive year in terms of both quantity and quality of papers (...)"
Andrew Read, Fellow 2006/2007
"The Wissenschaftskolleg protects an endangered species: The scientist as a thinker!"
Joachim Kurtz, Fellow 2006/2007
"There's a growing need for theory in medical science as well as in biology (...).
Unanticipated carreer developements deserve innovative research support. Future branches of research will require that gifted young scientists be encouraged to explore terra incognita by temporarily abandoning the straight and narrow carreer path lined with the conventional programs, projects and financing."
Rüdiger Wehner, Permanent Fellow
"If an early-carreer academic (...) can write a 700 page account that covers relatively little of his own research, there is still some hope that we can bring the reading and writing of books back into fashion among younger biologists."
The opportunity to present one's work and ideas to scholars from completely different backgrounds and training often forces each scholar to go beyond the turf that she would normally restrict herself to during conversation with insiders. I know of no better method of fostering unhindered creativity.
Raghavendra Gadagkar, Permanent Fellow
"Wiko invites you to partake in the abiding creative ferment and otherwise stimulating environment that is Berlin's."
Paul Schmid-Hempel, Permanent Fellow
"Our conversations, whether formal or at the Colloquium or wine-warmed at dinner, stripped away years of calcification from my imagination. (...) In finding what we had in common, we remembered what mattered most to each of us: the beauty of ideas. (...) Our bond was a shared trust that ideas matter."
Wayne Maddison, Fellow 2006/2007
"(We) created a large enough critical mass of people all interested in different angles of evolutionary biology, so that the 'bioloquium' was one of the best seminars I have ever attended."
"The whole evolutionary immunology group participted at a workshop in the Austrian alps, where another colleague of ours noticed: 'There seems to be an invisible bond between all of you that works like a magnetic force to bring you all together from time to time.'"
Sylvia Cremer, Fellow 2006/2007
