Gambrinus Forum Addresses Migration, Education, and Energy Transition

Prof. Manfred Bayer welcomed numerous guests from academia, industry, and urban society at the Westfälischer Industrieklub [Westphalian Industry Club]. The Gambrinus Forum, as emphasized by the President of TU Dortmund University, aims to strengthen the dialog between science and urban society.

Utilizing the Opportunities of the Energy Transition

Prof. Andreas Löschel spoke about the opportunities of the energy transition and how they can be utilized. In his presentation, he showed that there are various ways to achieve the Paris climate goals, which heavily depend on the initial situations in the respective countries. However, all scenarios share the common thread that renewable energy use is the central driver and fossil fuels will decline significantly, though not disappear completely. He identified dealing with “dark doldrums” and “solar storms” – times when it's either dark and windless or sunny and stormy simultaneously – as a central challenge for energy markets. However, not only the temporal, but also the spatial dimension poses challenges: after all, producers and consumers of renewable energy are often far apart, causing a spatial mismatch between supply and demand. Löschel also addressed the required trillion-euro investments necessary for the transformation to make the energy transition secure, clean, and ultimately affordable. These investments are needed for grid expansion, storage technologies, and the further development of green hydrogen as an energy carrier.

Löschel has been Professor of Environmental/Resource Economics and Sustainability at Ruhr University Bochum since 2021. Previously, he worked at the Universities of Münster and Heidelberg. He is extensively involved in policy advisory work and has repeatedly been counted among Germany's most influential economists by the F.A.Z. He has also contributed as a lead author to various reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Super-diverse Childhoods in Germany

Sociologist Prof. Aladin El-Mafaalani spoke about the challenges facing the German education system, including in relation to migration. Researchers have noted a significant decline in academic performance not just since the pandemic, but over the past ten years – across all federal states, age groups, and school types. This has also led to an increase in the number of students leaving school without qualifications. Schools and teachers face the additional challenge of “super-diversity,” which describes the changing nature of migration: diverse societies like Germany become more complex when more people from an increasing number of countries of origin immigrate, with each group becoming more diverse internally – for example, through different generational affiliations, religions, or languages. Today, 43% of children under five across Germany have a migration background, but many active teachers are not prepared for the new social complexity that comes with this. Improving school conditions and the well-being of all students is an essential task, as Germany depends on migration due to declining birth rates and the impending exit of the large “baby boomer” generation from the labor market.

Prof. Aladin El-Mafaalani has been researching education, migration, and racism for many years, most recently as Professor of Educational Science at Osnabrück University. Since 1 April 2024, he has been Professor of the Sociology of Migration and Education at TU Dortmund University. For his outstanding commitment, the Federal President awarded him the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2023.

Stefanie Hammacher from the Corporate Center University Development and Organization received the award in the administration category for her significant support in expanding TU Dortmund University’s English-language degree programs – now up to 15 programs in the past four years. The start-up Sochili – a pun on “socially” – received the award in the transfer category: Through the sale of fairly produced chili sauces, founder Moritz Everding, who is supported by TU Dortmund University’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Transfer, provides people in Senegal with first-time access to electricity, creating new perspectives.

The Dortmund Gambrinus Fellowships

Since 1993, the Gambrinus Fellowships have supported research stays of international scientists at TU Dortmund University. The fellowships were established in 1993 by the Association of Dortmund Beer Brewers to commemorate the city’s 700-year brewing rights. More than 200 visiting scientists have already been welcomed in Dortmund, and numerous international collaborations have been established. The annual Gambrinus Forum, featuring lectures by internationally renowned scientists, is aimed at a non-university audience and has been held at the Westfälischer Industrieklub since 2016.

Impressions from the  Gambrinus Forum: