Towards a science that co-creates the future.

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Towards a science that co-creates the future.

Prof. Ali Aslan Gümüsayadvocates for a science that actively helps shape the future. He argues that in the face of rising populism and post-truth politics, science must not remain silent but actively engage in public discourse. As research freedoms come under increasing threat, he calls for academia to go beyond analysis and adopt a “pre-factual” stance—one that not only interprets the world but imagines and co-creates desirable futures. This requires interdisciplinary research with a clear societal orientation, better understanding of the gap between knowledge and practice, and stronger collaboration with politics, business, and civil society. Instead of simplifying, science must enable complexity literacy and make knowledge accessible, using formats such as research sprints and “imagination dinners” to become not just a producer of insights, but a platform for co-creative impact.

The article was published in DIE ZEIT under the title "Wissenschaftler, mischt euch endlich ein!"