The German economy has coped with the end of Russian gas supplies and would have also been able to withstand an import stop from April 2022. This is the result of ananalysis of a team around Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick, member of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute of the Universities of Bonn and Cologne and designated President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, joint with Prof. Dr. Benjamin Moll (London School of Economics) and Dr. Georg Zachmann (Bruegel). The study has been published as "ECONtribute Policy Brief".

The German Chemical Society (GDCh) is to present the Hildegard Hamm-Brücher Prize for Equal Opportunities in Chemistry to the project entitled “Women In Supramolecular Chemistry (WISC) – an international network supporting equality, diversity and inclusion within supramolecular chemistry.” The team led by Assistant Professor Dr. Anna McConnell from the University of Siegen will receive the award on September 4 at an event to mark the opening of the GDCh Science Forum Chemistry (WiFo) in Leipzig. Also on board is Dr. Larissa von Krbek from the Kekulé Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Bonn. The researcher is head of an Emmy Noether research unit and a member of the Matter Transdisciplinary Research Area.

Two researchers from the University of Bonn have been awarded a Proof of Concept Grant by the European Research Council (ERC) as part of a program designed to help researchers translate their ideas from previous ERC projects into commercial applications. Biologist Prof. Dr. Bernardo S. Franklin from the University Hospital Bonn and physicist Prof. Dr. Simon Stellmer will thus each receive €150,000 over a period of around one year.

Prospective students will once again have the opportunity to get some tips on choosing the right degree program this year during the University of Bonn’s “Academic Advising Night,” which will be held in German. Anyone with questions about studying will be able to find answers from the various information stands, brief talks and consultations on offer. The event is free and will take place from 5 pm to 8 pm on Thursday, June 15, outside the lecture halls on the Poppelsdorf Campus. 

A laboratory and seminar building called the “Rotation Building” is being erected on the University of Bonn Poppelsdorf Campus, built by BLB NRW, the construction and real estate agency of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The created space is to provide interim housing for University institutes during transition (“rotation”) periods. A topping-out ceremony was held marking completion of the building shell as the latest milestone in the construction project.

The Centre for Comparative Theology and Cultural Studies (ZeKK) at the University of Paderborn and the International Center for Comparative Theology and Social Issues (CTSI) at the University of Bonn are further expanding their existing cooperation in the area of comparative theology. The Ministry of Culture and Science for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW NRW) is providing roughly 2 million euros in funding for a joint research project on societal transfer of comparative theology. Ina Brandes, Minister of Culture and Science for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, formally presented the grant notification letter to the project's directors. 

Research for more sustainable crop production: A new type of research greenhouse is now being built at the University of Bonn's Klein-Altendorf campus. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing 8.1 million euros in funding for the project, called START. Partners from various institutions will be working together here on an interdisciplinary basis over the next four years. Construction of the deep water culture greenhouse at the Klein-Altendorf campus is scheduled to begin this year so that demonstration operations can begin in 2024.

relios.vision GmbH, a University of Bonn start-up that has developed the SmartContrast software, receives funding from the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) Women TechEU program. Experts from the fields of medicine and mathematics are involved in the company. Using artificial intelligence, SmartContrast aims to lower the use of contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, thus reducing examination costs and potential risks for patients and the environment.