Linda delivered the keynote address celebrating the opening of the 2025/2026 academic year at the University of Freiburg in Germany.  

Her talk was titled “Forests and Signals: Strategic Guidance for Universities in the 21st Century,” and was inspired by two Clusters of Excellence at the university: Future Forests (Adapting Complex Social-ecological Forest Systems to Global Change) and the Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies (CIBSS). 
 
It provided the talk with two frames of reference:  

  • The great challenge of climate change and biodiversity loss and the push back we are witnessing against efforts to mitigate these.
  • The challenge of distinguishing the signal from the noise in a world where research and science are under attack and a populist targeting of the value and role of higher education is increasingly common. 

The central point of Linda’s address overlapped with the main message of Trinity’s recently-launched strategic plan, “Thrive”: set against the current global context, our mission was never clearer: to provide - and fiercely defend - a pluralist university education, enhanced by research, rooted in academic freedom, enriched by diverse backgrounds and perspectives, and marked by critical thinking.  
 
On social media, Linda thanked Rector Prof. Dr Kerstin Krieglstein and her team for the very warm welcome saying, “Er war eine grosse Ehre und eine grosse Freude!”. 

 

Collage of three images from the University of Freiburg's opening ceremony. In one image, Linda sits in the audience looking up at the stage. In another image, she is speaking on stage with Trinity's Strategic Plan, Thrive, displayed on a screen behind her. The final image features Linda speaking to an attendee of the ceremony.