News

On 7 February 2026, as part of Black History Month Würzburg, a hybrid symposium followed by a concert will take place under the theme "Uniting People Through Sounds: Musical Arts, Inclusion and Cultural Partnerships."

Die Feiern zum 60-jährigen Jubiläum der Städtepartnerschaft Würzburg–Mwanza beginnen. Den Auftakt bildet eine Kunstausstellung im Rathaus Würzburg, der im Verlauf des Jahres eine im Rahmen des ACCUW erarbeitete Ausstellung zu den Partnerstädten und ihren Nachwuchswissenschaftler:innen folgen wird.

How do literature, music, and politics negotiate the complex power relations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo? On 14 January 2026, the Africa Competence Centre (ACCUW), together with the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, invited audiences to an evening rich in perspectives. Following a thematic introduction by Dr. Philipp Gieg, an interdisciplinary panel discussed how cultural forms of expression can reshape resistance and participation.

In Issue 12 of the Young Africa Centre Series, Boris Ouattara analyzes landscape fires and their induced emissions in West Africa.

From May 29 to June 1, 2025, the Africa Competence Centre was once again be represented with the university tent at Europe's largest and oldest festival for African music and culture. The University Tent of the Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg has been an integral part of the Africa Festival for more than 15 years.

With the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), the world's future largest radio telescope is currently under construction. More precisely, it involves two networks of many antennas and individual telescopes: one is located in Australia, the other is being built in South Africa and should be fully operational in the early 2030s. The Chair of Astronomy at JMU is involved in preparatory projects such as the MeerKAT array together with African and global partner groups.

In 2024, the Forum Africa Centre was once again represented at Europe's largest and oldest festival for African music and culture. The Forum Africa Centre presented a selection of the many Africa-related projects of Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in the university tent, which has been an integral part of the Africa Festival for 15 years.

The German-language “Handbook Democratic Republic of the Congo” offers a total of 36 articles that shed light on all facets of the country. Many of the articles were written by academics from the Africa Center Forum and Congolese alumni of the University of Würzburg. The handbook is now available as a hardcover and as an e-book – and is freely accesible from the University of Würzburg's network.

Claudia Roth, Staatsministerin für Kultur und Medien, besuchte am zweiten Tag des Africa Festivals 2024 das Uni-Zelt. Dort diskutierte sie mit mehr als 20 Studierenden über die Aufarbeitung des Kolonialismus.

Im neuen Masterstudiengang „Epidemiology and Biostatistics“ haben die bilateralen Veranstaltungen zwischen der Uni Würzburg und der Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences in Mwanza begonnen.

For years, the University of Würzburg has been a centre for intensive, internationally acclaimed research on Africa and with African partners. One example of this is the research and innovation project UPSCALE.