Past = Future in Perfect
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TRA Present Pasts: Past Worlds and Modern Questions - Cultures Across Time and Space

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The TRA Present Pasts works to overcome the eurocentric view of history through the transdisciplinary study of past cultural, political, social and economic constellations and their specific forms of communication. By developing new concepts of heritage and related practices we can better understand our own present day and ensure that we leave behind a sustainable legacy for future generations.

Research

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Projects

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Offers

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News from the TRA

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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.
Dec 03, 2025
© Volker Lannert / University of Bonn
Social Networks in the Colonial Era
An international research project has been launched involving Dr. Eva Marie Lehner and Julia Schmidt of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn. The project aim is to study how bureaucratic classifications of people influenced social orders in southern Africa during the colonial period. The collaborative project titled “Economies of Trust: Digital Infrastructure on the Urban Poor in the Cape Colony” is receiving €253,000 of funding from the Gerda Henkel Foundation. A further subproject at the BCDSS is devoted to studying the social networks of single women.
Oct 10, 2025
© Photo: LEIZA/Ursula Brosseder
The Dynamics of Bronze Age Societies
A new study combining archaeological and genetic research offers fresh insights into social organisation and population dynamics in the Late Bronze Age (approximately 1500 to 1000 BCE). Conducted by an international team of researchers—including scholars from the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA) in Mainz and the University of Bonn, both in Germany—the study focuses on burial practices in Mongolia. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Sep 26, 2025
© Photo: Volker Lannert/Universität Bonn
Brilliant minds connect disciplines
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. 
Sep 15, 2025

Highlights and Announcements

Get Involved in the TRA

As a member of the TRA, you can access funding opportunities, take part in events and build new networks. 

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Our Members

Our members are independent researchers from all faculties and central institutions, from PhDs to postdocs to professors. Together, they conduct research on current debates and related phenomena from the past.

Join us!

TRA members benefit from regular funding opportunities and the chance to network beyond disciplinary borders.

Meet our Researchers

Inter- and transdisciplinary research actively pursued at the University of Bonn and is promoted across faculty boundaries. The faces of the TRA Present Pasts are our Argelander Professor and the numerous dedicated researchers.  

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TRA Present Pasts Spokesperson

Prof. Dr. Matthias Becher

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TRA Present Pasts Spokesperson

Prof. Dr. Karoline Noack

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Joint Fellow BCDSS and TRA Present Pasts

Prof. Dr. Sophia Labadi

Contact

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Dr. Kim Alings

+49 228 73 54477

TRA manager | Strategic Development and Quality Assurance Unit
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Transdisciplinary Research Areas

Spaces for innovation in research and teaching - these are the six transdisciplinary research areas at the University of Bonn.

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University of Excellence

Since summer 2019, we have been one of eleven German Universities of Excellence. Read more about our research profile and our future concept.

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Research Funding

Research and Innovation Services at the University of Bonn will support you in all matters relating to your externally funded project.

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