In 2011 Freie Universität Berlin reduced its energy consumption for the eleventh consecutive year. Compared with the baseline 2000/01, with the total utilized area remaining constant, the university used around 43 million kilowatt hours of electricity and heat less in 2011 than at the beginning of the last decade, or 26.3 percent less. As indicated by the energy balance drawn up by the university’s coordinator for energy and environmental management Andrew Wanke, this represents an annual reduction of 12,800 tons of carbon dioxide in comparison to the baseline.

An international workshop on the digitization of Yemini manuscripts will be held in Berlin on May 9 and 10. It is being organized by Freie Universität Berlin and the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek). The workshop is part of the Yemeni Manuscript Digitization Initiative (YMDI) co-funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). YMDI is a collective of research librarians and leading scholars of classical Islam, Middle Eastern history, and Arabic Literature whose mission is to preserve the Arabic manuscripts in the private libraries of Yemen. Most of the meetings are open to the public (excluding the ones on Thursday afternoon), and there are no admission fees. For media representatives there will be an opportunity to conduct interviews.

Malfunctioning single proteins can cause disruptions in neuronal junctions leading to autistic forms of behavior. A current study, published in the scientific journal Nature, comes to this conclusion after examining genetically altered mice. The study, in which scientists from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the joint medical school of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence contributed, thus supports the hypothesis that disruptions in neuronal junctions, i.e. synapses, could be the cause of the development of neuropsychiatric illnesses like autism. The international research team, that included scientists from Ulm University and the Institut Pasteur in Paris, ascribes a key role to the excitatory synapses. This finding could become an important stepping stone for future autism therapies. NeuroCure is one of four excellence clusters in which Freie Universität is involved.

Twelve poets will be presenting spoken word poetry and lyric poetry from Flanders and the Netherlands on May 11 and 25. During the festival "ES GRACHT!" some of the most important performance poets from the greater Berlin region will be presenting their works, supported by the best Berlin-based spoken word artists including Bas Böttcher, Ken Yamamoto, and the singer-songwriter Dota. Two public events will be held, one on May 11 in the Maschinenhaus in the Kulturbrauerei (Prenzlauer Berg) and the other on May 25 in Heimathafen (Neukölln). Both events will start at 8 p.m. The festival is being organized by the Institute of German and Dutch Languages and Literatures at Freie Universität Berlin and the Literaturwerkstatt Berlin.

Freie Universität Berlin performed very well in the most recent university ranking by the Center for Higher Education (CHE). New good results were achieved in physics. In computer science, mathematics, Earth sciences, and pharmacy, Freie Universität’s good performance in previous evaluations was reinforced and improved by additional criteria.

A professor of educational psychology at Stanford University, Lee Shulman, will be granted an honorary doctorate from Freie Universität Berlin on May 11. With this degree, the Department of Education and Psychology is honoring Shulman’s life’s work in education research. According to a spokesperson for the department, Shulman’s academic brilliance provided important impetus for the development of teacher education in Germany. One example is Shulman’s conceptual conception of pedagogical content knowledge, which he developed in the 1980s. This conception had a great influence on teacher education in Germany and continues to shape it today. The ceremony is being organized in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Human Development. The tributary speech will be given by the educational researcher Professor Dr. Jürgen Baumert from MPI. The ceremony will be held in the auditorium of the Henry Ford Building. It is public, and admission is free.

From June 19 to 24, 2012, Freie Universität Berlin will host a meeting with representatives of the Egyptian government and four Egyptian universities. The aim is to initiate a dialogue on gender equality at Egyptian universities. This is a first step in implementing a project at Freie Universität in support of Egypt’s transition process. The project is being funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), at first for two years.

According to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Freie Universität Berlin is the most popular destination in Germany for leading researchers and young scholars from abroad. As the foundation announced in Bonn, with 286 guest visits from award winners and fellows from abroad in the years 2007 to 2011, Freie Universität attracted more than any other German university. Humboldt-Universität followed in second place with 263 visits. For both Freie and Humboldt universities, eight additional scientists are counted who are at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the joint medical school of the two universities. Professor Peter-André Alt, the president of Freie Universität, was very pleased about the university’s good performance. As he said, "The results are a positive signal and indicate that our excellence concept for an international network university is producing good results. The high reputation traditionally enjoyed by Freie Universität has been further enhanced."

On May 11th and 12th, 2012, Freie Universität Berlin’s Graduate School of North American Studies will host an international conference about North America’s understanding of Home as both a national and domestic space of identification. In their presentations, young scholars will illuminate the social, economic, political, and cultural conditions transforming the concept of Home. In the course of the conference, public lectures will be held by the historian Susan J. Matt, the urban sociologist Peter Marcuse, and the anthropologist James Clifford.

The Confucius Institute at Freie Universität Berlin is holding an Open House on April 21, 2012. Families, students, and anyone interested in China is welcome to attend. Visitors of all ages will be able to enjoy a varied program. The Open House is the prelude to more formal events marking the six-year existence of the Confucius Institute at Freie Universität. Admission is free.