Theme year 2026: People and regions

Regions are much more than geographical areas: they encompass living environments, social and cultural contexts, political and digital structures, as well as biological, technological, and functional spaces of modern societies. 

The theme year "People and Regions" is dedicated to the interplay between people and regions: How do people shape regions—and how do regions in turn shape people's lives, thoughts, and actions? Whether urban development, climate zones, cultural and linguistic areas, social milieus, global interdependencies, regional history, medical or neural regions of the body, technological infrastructures, data spaces, or virtual communities: a wide variety of perspectives open up new approaches to understanding regions.

With its theme year "People and Regions," the MAINZER WISSENSCHAFTSALLIANZ invites you to make this diversity visible and to strengthen the exchange between science and the public. Mainz, as a center of science and research, offers a special setting for this: as a region with diverse scientific, cultural, and social connections, the theme can be experienced firsthand here.