Research Profile: Top-Level Research

The University of Bonn has stood for top-level research for over 200 years. The founding professors already saw Bonn as a research university aimed at answering scientific, social and technological questions. Researchers, teachers and early-career researchers all benefit from this today, taking advantage of established German and global networks and strong scientific and social partnerships—with measurable effect.

Transdisciplinary Research

The six Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs) at the University of Bonn create spaces for innovation in research and teaching.

More about our TRAs

Eine Wissenschaftlerin und ein Wissenschaftler arbeiten hinter einer Glasfassade und mischen Chemikalien mit Großgeräten.

Fakultätsschilder beim Absolventenfest © Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn

Seven Faculties

The University of Bonn has divided its teaching and research activities into seven faculties, which are themselves subdivided into institutes, departments and even clinics. The faculties constitute the heart and center of the University.

Explore our Faculties

Excellence in Research and Teaching

“We invest in people. We foster networks. We create impact.” We follow this strategy to create the ideal environment for creative scientific work by outstanding researchers that extends beyond our six Clusters of Excellence and to promote talented researchers at all career levels.

Excellence Strategy

The Best Minds

The outstanding research performed by our researchers is shown by the many awards that have been received.

Excellent Researchers

Cooperative Research Culture

Innovative top-level research in many national and international partnerships and collaborative projects sets us apart.

Collaborative Projects

Diverse Appointments

The diversity of our externally funded professorships is a sign of our close cooperation with economy and society.

Externally Funded Professorships

What sets our research profile apart?

01.

Excellence

The University of Bonn is one of eleven German Universities of Excellence and the only university with six Clusters of Excellence. Recent decades have seen us produce more Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners than any other German university.

02.

Networked

Embedded in the UN city of Bonn and a region of cutting-edge research, the University of Bonn is one of the leading research-oriented universities in Germany.

03.

Transdisciplinary

Our seven faculties cover a broad range of disciplines. This strong range of disciplines is supplemented by six cross-faculty, interdisciplinary “Transdisciplinary Research Areas” (TRAs) that create areas for exploration and innovation to facilitate academic exchange.

04.

Comprehensive Support

Our goal is to create the ideal conditions for internationally networked research to attract and develop the best researchers. Our Argelander Program for Early-Career Researchers offers comprehensive support to promote early independent research.

Transdisciplinary Research Areas

Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs) focus our research on key scientific, technological and social issues of the future and create areas for exploration and innovation.

Mathematics, Modelling and Simulation of Complex Systems

How do complex systems actually work? Interaction of mathematical modelling, classical observational methods, data simulation and creative spirit.

TRA Modelling

Building Blocks of Matter and Fundamental Interactions

How do the building blocks of matter interact? How do complex structures emerge at the different length scales of nature? Find out more about our research.

TRA Matter

Life and Health

Understanding the complexity of life - developing new strategies for health.
Read more about TRA Life and Health.

TRA Life and Health

Individuals, Institutions and Societies

Complex relationships between the individual, institutions and societies – developing new views of micro- and macrophenomena.

TRA Individuals & Societies

Past Worlds and Modern Questions. Cultures Across Time and Space

We foster and network research on the preconditions and conditions of the emergence of modern societies as well as on negotiation processes of heritage.

TRA Present Pasts

Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Futures

The TRA Sustainable Futures researches institutional, science- and technology-based innovations in the field of sustainability.

TRA Sustainable Futures

Latest Research and Teaching News

New vulnerability of asthma immune cells discovered

Why do certain immune cells remain permanently active in allergic asthma – even in an environment that should actually damage them? A team from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn has discovered that these cells only survive because they activate a special antioxidant protection mechanism. When this mechanism is blocked, allergic inflammation in mouse models decreases significantly. The results have now been published in the scientific journal Immunity.

Quantum sensors: Highly precise measurements in moving brains

What is happening in the brain during an epileptic seizure? How do nerve cells function after a stroke-induced paralysis? What happens in the heads of those suffering from Parkinson’s disease? Investigating these types of questions has been difficult up to now because patients had to keep still. However, Optical Pumped Magnetoencephalography (OPMEG) is making it possible to also scan the brain while the patient is moving. Prof. Dr. Dominik Bach, Hertz Chair for Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience at the University of Bonn, is currently setting up this type of research infrastructure on the campus of the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and will receive funding of almost four million euros over the next three years from the EFRE/JTF program run by the European Union and the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia.

How hunger affects mood

When we are hungry, our mood often drops – a phenomenon colloquially known as “hangry.” A new study by the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, and the University Hospital Center Tübingen now shows that this connection is not caused by unconscious metabolic processes. Rather, the decisive factor is that the lack of energy is consciously perceived as hunger – it is this conscious feeling of hunger that leads to a worse mood. The results have now been published in the journal eBioMedicine.

Sustainable pest management would have positive effects across the globe

What would happen if farmers around the globe were to switch over to sustainable pest management? An international study headed by the University of Bonn and ETH Zurich focused on precisely this question. The study is based on assessments provided by more than 500 leading experts from around the world who work in various disciplines from ecology through to economics. Most of those surveyed believe that the consequences of such a transformation would be positive in the long term – even from an economic perspective. However, the main effects of this transformation will vary around the world depending on the region. The results were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

Microplastics filter inspired by fish

Wastewater from washing machines is considered a major source of microplastics – tiny plastic particles that are suspected of harming human and animal health. Researchers at the University of Bonn now have developed a filter to curb this problem. Their filter was inspired by the gill arch system in fish. In initial tests, the now patent-pending filter was able to remove over 99 percent of plastic fibers from washing machine wastewater. The results now have been published in the journal npj Emerging Contaminants.

A starting point for the development of new pain and cancer drugs

The human P2X4 receptor plays an important role in chronic pain, inflammation and some types of cancer. Researchers at the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have now discovered a mechanism that can inhibit this receptor. The results were recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications and open up a pathway for the development of new drugs.

EU Project: Bonn Robot Unjumbles Ancient Jigsaw

In what had long been merely the stuff of dreams for archaeologists, a “smart robot” has now put shattered ancient murals from Pompeii back together, piece by tiny piece. A team of researchers led by Professor Maren Bennewitz from the University of Bonn taught the robot how to solve its jigsaw puzzle as part of “Reconstructing the Past: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Meet Cultural Heritage” (RePAIR), an EU collaborative project that has recently concluded.

EU Environment Commissioner Meets Researchers from the University of Bonn

The EU’s Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall visited Bonn on December 1 to find out about the research being done in the University of Bonn’s PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence. Discussions focused on three main topics: digital agriculture, sustainable food systems and preserving biodiversity.

We think without borders

With our magazine, we give you an insight into the research and teaching being done at our University. We focus on our transdisciplinary research and the work that we are undertaking in our six Clusters of Excellence. By virtue of their reputation and sheer number, they are without parallel in the entire German university sector.

Find out more about us in the reports on the University, on our research and on some of our favorite places in Bonn—an extremely likeable city that is home to numerous international organizations.

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Contact

Research and Innovation Services

+49 228 / 73-60915
GZDez7@verwaltung.uni-bonn.de

The research division manages the entire research process - from initial information on funding, handling third-party funded projects and the exploitation of results.

Also see

Transdisciplinary Research Areas

The six Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs) at the University of Bonn create spaces for innovation in research and teaching.

More on TRAs

Clusters of Excellence

The University of Bonn has six Clusters of Excellence, more than any other university in Germany.

Our Clusters

NeurotechEU

NeurotechEU is an alliance that have set themself the mission of building an innovative, trans-European network of excellence for brain research and technologies.

Learn more