(07/01/20) On the afternoon of 23 June, the North American office of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), together with the German Consulate General in New York, the American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) and the New York office of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), held a virtual town hall meeting for German researchers in the area covered by the Consulate General (New York State, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania). Invitations were issued through the German Academic International Network (GAIN). The meeting focused on questions relating to transatlantic science cooperation amid the coronavirus pandemic and provided an opportunity to discuss practical everyday issues in the USA, as the country appears to increasingly seal itself off from the rest of the world.

The date could hardly have been better chosen, since – as Consul General David Gill noted in his introduction – just the day before, President Donald Trump had prompted a rising degree of uncertainty among international researchers in the USA by announcing restrictions on the issuing of visas. Various visa categories, including those which allow German researchers to work in the USA, are currently being targeted by White House policy. Although the German Consulate General was unable and unwilling to issue any legal advice on US visa policy, background information on various aspects of the regulations affecting travel between Germany and the USA clearly helped to reassure the more than 50 participants who attended the virtual event.

For the second topic, the presentations by the participating funding organisations – Cathleen Fisher on behalf of AvH, Benedikt Brisch for the DAAD and Georg Bechtold on behalf of the DFG – focused on continuity, above all adjustments to funding activities in line with the rapidly changing situation and the development of virtual formats for collaboration and ultimately also research marketing. Here too, the questions from academics made it clear how much this topic is currently preoccupying the scientific community, how important signs of stability are in uncertain times, and how gratefully networking events like this town hall meeting are received.