The Berlin Center for Global Engagement (BCGE) regularly organizes training sessions on scientific cooperation with the Global South, academic freedom, and scientific diplomacy. This year the topics are: Safer Research Communication – Handling Politically Sensitive Contexts and Contents (June 16/17), Global Equity in Open Scholarly Communication (July 5/6), and Research Collaboration with Partners in the “Global South” – Opportunities and Best Practices (November 18/19). The program and registration details can be found on the BGCE website. The events take place in English and are aimed at researchers, but may also be interest for administrative staff such as coordinators who deal with these topics.

Through the establishment of the Berlin Center for Global Engagement (BCGE), the Berlin University Alliance created a platform for existing and new projects in the fields of (1) research on, from, and with the Global South, (2) science diplomacy, and (3) academic freedom.

With its BCGE the Berlin University Alliance has a threefold ambition:

• to underline the credibility of the Alliance partners as responsible and recognized institutions of excellence whose outreach and institutional culture are truly global
• to develop and disseminate new insights into the ethical, political, and cultural challenges of scholarly interaction with academic partners worldwide, and
• to enhance the scholarly reach and recognition of Berlin as a center for knowledge production, that combines research in different disciplines with expertise on and from the so-called Global South.

The Center does not define the Global South preliminary as a geographical area, but rather as a term that challenges existing hierarchies in knowledge production. Accordingly, the Global South includes countries that, for various reasons which are often correlated with economic and political asymmetries, occupy a marginalized position in global science production.