People with temporal lobe epilepsy in particular often wander around aimlessly and unconsciously after a seizure. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) have identified a neurobiological mechanism that could be responsible for this so-called post-ictal wandering and potentially other postictal symptoms. According to their hypothesis, epileptic seizures are not directly responsible for post-ictal symptoms, but rather seizure-associated depolarization waves, also known as spreading depolarization (SD). The results of the studies have now been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The “Versäumte Bilder” (“Missed Pictures”) exhibition opened in Berlin with a special greeting from former Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel at the vernissage. Curated by science photographer Gesine Born, the exhibition is of AI-generated images of female scientists whose achievements went largely overlooked during their in lifetime. Six of the images shown are from the related University of Bonn exhibition “Bring the Portr[AI]ts!”, which served as inspiration for the project. These and eight other AI portraits will be on display at the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) in both Bonn and Berlin until mid-October.

On September 27, 2025, the Kunststiftung NRW with the Center for Life Ethics at the University of Bonn and the Stiftung Insel Hombroich, is hosting a presentation of the fellowship program “Workshop of Arts and Sciences.” Designed as an interdisciplinary dialogue between art and science in North Rhine-Westphalia, eight fellows from different fields of the arts and sciences are working together. For a period of one year, they examine the topic of ecological, individual, and social “tipping points” in a curated and moderated setting. The resulting artistic works, discourse sketches, and reflections will be on display all day at the Raketenstation Hombroich.

On Sunday, September 14th 2025, the NeuVa Art Lab started its Mandala workshop series at Bonn University’s Impulse - House for Innovation and Creativity. The event brought together scientists, artists, and the public to explore the connections between brain research and artistic expression. Together, complex brain structures are resembled in form of mandala artworks, that will be presented in an exhibition by the end of the project. NeuVa Art is a joined project by Prof. Carmen Ruiz de Almodóvar of the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn and textile artist Paula Urrutia. 

Professor Gregor Thüsing, Director of the Institute of Labor & Employment Law and Social Security Law at the University of Bonn, has been asked to join the “FinanzKommission Gesundheit,” or “Finance Committee on Health,” by Germany’s health minister Nina Warken. He is thus one of 10 experts who will be supporting the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) with the structural reform of the country’s statutory health insurers. Specifically, the committee will be coming up with measures for stabilizing contribution rates in statutory health insurance over the long term. Its ten members—five men and five women—are drawn from the worlds of economics, medicine, social security law, ethics and prevention.

The University of Bonn has been a University of Excellence since 2019 and is committed to transdisciplinary research collaboration. With eight Clusters of Excellence, the University is now the most successful Universities of Excellence in Germany. As part of its excellence strategy, it has expanded six complementary Transdisciplinary Research Areas in which important social, technological, and scientific topics of the future are addressed from a variety of perspectives. At the heart of this are professorships for brilliant minds at the interface of different disciplines, which anchor this concept across faculties. 

The University of Bonn is inviting all its new students to the traditional First-Semester Students’ Welcome on October 8, 2025. With a mix of information, advice and opportunities to meet people, the University of Excellence is putting on a varied networking program for its new students.

The International Center for Comparative Theology and Social Issues (CTSI) and the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Bonn have set up a new master’s degree program. Delivered in English, the international Master of Comparative Theological Studies program is designed for theology, religious studies or cultural studies graduates and teaches the basics of comparative theology, covering Islam, Christianity and Judaism. It focuses on topics that are key to successful co-existence in societies with an increasingly complex religious and cultural fabric. The new degree program begins in winter semester 2025/26, and interested students have until September 25 to apply.