Interview with finja isabel augsburg

Drawing on experience across transatlantic contexts, including positions at the Goethe-Institut in Washington, DC, the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, and as a visiting scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, Finja brings both academic and practical perspectives to the evolving challenges of science diplomacy.

During her fellowship at the American-German Institute, her research examines how scientific uncertainty is increasingly shaping political debates and public discourse in Germany and the United States. By engaging directly with stakeholders at the science-policy interface, her work seeks to identify strategies for maintaining trust, strengthening dialogue, and navigating complex global challenges such as climate change and planetary health.

Finja has also been actively engaged in the DWIH network, including her participation as a panelist at the 2024 DWIH Future Forum in Washington, DC. Her research on scientific uncertainty in science diplomacy is further reflected in her contribution to the forthcoming Handbook of Science Diplomacy.

In the following interview, Finja Augsburg shares insights into her research, her experience in Washington, DC, and the role of communication in strengthening transatlantic cooperation.

Interview:  Finja Isabel Augsburg

 What inspired you to apply for the fellowship at the American-German Institute?

As a communication scholar and committed transatlanticist, I applied for the DAAD/AGI Research Fellowship at the American-German Institute to research transatlantic dialogue while also actively participating in it at its core in Washington, DC, just steps from Capitol Hill. At a time when this dialogue is increasingly challenged yet remains crucial, AGI’s combination of in-house policy expertise and its extensive transatlantic network provides an exceptional platform to analyze current dynamics, understand key challenges, and explore remaining avenues for scientific collaboration and dialogue, which I am especially passionate about in my work.

Could you tell us more about your research project and how it contributes to understanding transatlantic relations or policy challenges today?

My research addresses the role of, and communication about, science by examining two intersections. The first one is science and policy, which I explored through a transatlantic case study on the implications for national and international science-policy dynamics arising when science cannot provide clear, simple, or definitive answers to pressing questions. Developments on both sides of the Atlantic show that such scientific uncertainty is increasingly exploited to devalue science and instrumentalize its outputs for strategic political purposes. During my time in Washington, I engaged with key stakeholders bridging transatlantic science and policy on the particularly polarizing issue of climate change to gather diverse perspectives on the challenges and opportunities arising as science comes under growing strain and transatlantic agendas diverge.

The second intersection I am focusing on as part of the UncertainTEAM Project funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, is science and the public, aligning closely with this year’s DWIH focus topic: science for society. Similar to my work on the science-policy interface, I explore the challenges and opportunities for strengthening ties through effective communication rather than contributing to the divides we see in both Germany and the United States. To achieve this, I work directly with journalists who actively shape the science-public interface. Together, we co-create strategies for communicating science, including its inherent uncertainty, at a time when trust in science is both crucial and increasingly endangered.

As a result, my work on these two intersections contributes actionable insights and strategies for communicating science effectively to policy makers and the public, grounded in the perspectives of those actively navigating current challenges and pressures on both sides of the Atlantic.

How can academic and policy institutions on both sides of the Atlantic collaborate more effectively on shared challenges such as technology governance, climate policy, or security?

Over the course of my research in Germany and the United States, two factors repeatedly emerged as crucial for reinforcing transatlantic ties under current circumstances. First, the long-standing people-to-people connections that have historically characterized U.S.-German academic collaboration remain essential and will continue to form the backbone of transatlantic science diplomacy, especially as universities and research institutions face political strain and severe funding cuts. Second, maintaining these ties requires continued mobility and direct engagement, traveling to the respective other side of the Atlantic to sustain crucial conversations and explore avenues for collaboration, even when this demands creativity and resilience. From my perspective, support mechanisms such as programs offered in collaboration with the German Academic Exchange Service are vital for enabling committed scholars to continue transatlantic collaboration and dialogue.

For the DWIH NY’s forthcoming “Handbook of Science Diplomacy”, you wrote a chapter about scientific uncertainty in science diplomacy on emerging climate technologies. Can you give a short overview why uncertainty is such an important issue to consider?

Scientific uncertainty, arising, for example, from inconclusive data, statistical limitations, or a lack of expert consensus, has become a pivotal and often contested factor in climate change discourse. Questions of whether to act despite uncertainty, to delay policy action because of it, or, in extreme cases, to neglect scientific input for policy due to science’s inherent uncertainty, continue to shape national and international debates on climate change mitigation. As climate change is a global threat that requires dialogue and action across national boundaries, science diplomacy plays a key role, using international scientific collaboration to address common challenges and strengthen international relations.

Around the turn of the millennium, research on scientific uncertainty in climate issues and its implications for science diplomacy gained momentum, before gradually losing traction again in the early 2000s. However, the increasingly complex landscape of climate change research, pressing global challenges and rapidly evolving technological innovations contributing significantly to the development of solutions, biotechnology being one example, call for renewed consideration of uncertainty in science diplomacy, which is the focus of my chapter.

What role do you think early-career researchers and fellows like yourself can play in shaping the future of transatlantic cooperation?

I believe that fostering and maintaining strong transatlantic ties requires a high degree of flexibility in response to rapidly changing, crisis-driven political and social environments, with COVID-19 being just one example. Early-career researchers and fellows, myself included, have been trained in such contexts during our formative years, equipping us with strong adaptability while also leaving less room for youthful naivety, inevitably replacing it with increased pragmatism. Most importantly, however, I see dialogue between different generations of transatlanticists as highly valuable for much needed and thorough ongoing reflection on past and present challenges on both sides of the Atlantic.

What has surprised or impressed you most about working and living in Washington, D.C., especially within the think tank and policy community?

In the conversations I was fortunate to have with members of the think tank and policy community in Washington, I was particularly impressed by the resilience and courage they demonstrate in their day-to-day work. I see this as an inspiration for science-policy intermediaries in Germany, who, amid the rise of the AfD and the growing instrumentalization of science, increasingly need to cultivate these competencies or are already in the process of doing so.