In the wake of Russia’s criminal war of aggression against Ukraine, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) has established the “Young Network TransEurope” (YNT), together with partners such as Die Junge Akademie.

The impetus for setting up the network stems from the realisation that expertise on the countries colloquially termed “Eastern Europe” has been neglected and marginalised in Germany and its western neighbours over a long time. This lack of knowledge has had dire consequences. BBAW and its partners have formulated the manifesto Reclaiming Europe  to address this situation and to outline possible steps to overcome it.

In the spirit of the manifesto, YNT will contribute to such steps by generating deeper understanding of the multiple European perspectives through the cooperative work of outstanding multipliers from different academic fields and diverse European regions.

YNT membership lasts for five years (with subsequent status as alumnus). The current members will work on interdisciplinary projects with their colleagues, expand their networks, and use YNT as a platform enabling them to intervene into public debates, thus amplifying the impact of their research. New members will be admitted every year.

The prefix “Trans” signals – in contrast to the dichotomisation East/West – that YNT aims at transcending borders (geographical, cultural, scientific, disciplinary, etc.) and at enabling projects that promise to do so. In view of the continuing Russian war of aggression, the main focus of the network’s work will, for the foreseeable future, be on Ukraine and its neighbouring states, i. e. the above-mentioned countries in “Eastern Europe”.