It’s whenever multiple crises play out simultaneously that the key ways in which universities foster lively, society-wide discourse become particularly clear—in light of which the following pages introduce mdw projects that put common ground and dialogue firmly in focus. Exemplary of such efforts are Research Ambassadors, academics who visit schools to provide even very young audiences with impressions of scholarship and scientific research that help nourish positive early-life attitudes toward new research-derived knowledge. Art as a social practice, on the other hand, is central to the concept of “artistic citizenship” that thrives at the mdw as part of numerous initiatives. It all goes to show how escaping one’s own filter bubble and engaging in exchange with a wide range of people can be worthwhile indeed.
