Eight Cluster of Excellence

forsch 2025/02 in fall/winter

Eight clusters of excellence for the University of Bonn: What this means and what happens next in the excellence process.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: How to learn to learn, the new inclusive fitness course, and AI in research.

Cover der forsch: Acht Exzellenzcluster für die Universität Bonn

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Eight Cluster of Excellence

Room for parents and kids

How a Fitness Trail is Opening up Outdoor Training for Everyone

Project Polyglot: Four Young Researchers at the University of Bonn Develop Open-Source Language Models

With the power of our supercomputer Marvin, numerous innovative projects have already been realized. Seven of them, selected for their outstanding results, competed in a university-wide contest in March 2025—on the occasion of Marvin’s first birthday. The grand prize: exclusive support from the High-Performance Computing (HPC) team to further develop their research. First place went to Tucano, a kind of ChatGPT for Portuguese, which had already received funding earlier this year from the Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) "Sustainable Futures". The creators of Tucano come from different disciplines and countries: Dr. Nicolas Kluge Correa (Philosophy, Brazil), Aniket Sen (Physics, India), Shiza Fatimah (Computer Science, India) and Sophia Falk (Resource Economics, Germany). Close friends as well as colleagues, the four researchers share a clear vision: language AI must be open, ethical, and—most importantly in the future—available for more languages, especially those that are underrepresented online. Unlike English, these languages often lack the large, high-quality datasets needed to train language models—a major challenge. In this interview, the team talks about their project Polyglot, what they’ve learned over the past months, and their hopes for the future.

How a team is using process management to bring about change at the University of Bonn

Going forward, students are to use a central online platform to apply for semesters abroad. The aim is to make the process faster, simpler and more transparent for applicants and staff alike. Before any digitalization work can begin, however, the Organizational Development team at the University of Bonn gets involved.

Bonn hosts student congress for comparative literature for the first time in 10 years

Julia Keuer and Simon Wiener, two comparative literature students at the University of Bonn, organized the 15th Comparative Literature Student Congress (Studierendenkongress der Komparatistik, or SKK)—the largest German-speaking conference for students of comparative literature—together with a team of fellow students. Entitled “Literatur und Grenzen” (“Literature and Borders/Boundaries”), it brought nearly 30 speakers and some 100 other participants together. In an interview and podcast, the pair discuss their challenges and successes—and why they would go through all the trouble all over again.

Learning to Learn

Loads of written exams, deadlines for handing in term papers, not enough time—for many students, things can quickly become too much. There is unlikely to be anybody who knows how to learn more effectively and divide up their time better as does Kathrin Herrmann from the Central Study Advisory and Counseling Service at the University of Bonn. In her workshop, entitled “Learning Strategies and More,” she tells students how they can “learn to learn” and what strategies are out there.

Second Life to Used Furniture from the University Main Building

What actually happens to the old furniture from the Main Building, now that it is being fully vacated for pending renovation works? This is a question many people in Bonn are pondering upon. Good news: The office desks, shelves and associated items will not be disposed of—they will remain in use.

Editorial forsch 2025/02

Dear Readers, The University of Bonn has come out right on top once again, retaining its crown as Germany’s most successful University of Excellence by securing eight Clusters of Excellence—more than any other university in the country.

Full House: University of Bonn awarded eight Clusters of Excellence

The University of Bonn once again made history in the contest to secure Clusters of Excellence. Having already set a record back in 2019, when it was awarded six clusters, it went two better on May 27 of this year, when the Excellence Commission accepted all eight of its proposals in the final round—more than any other university in the competition. The research being conducted at the eight Clusters span the full spectrum of different disciplines.

AI Think Tank “AI is a Must-Have for Anyone Who Wants to Do Top-Level Research”

How is the use of artificial intelligence going to shape research, teaching and administration at the University of Bonn? AI expert Professor Christian Bauckhage, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Bonn, Co-Director of the Lamarr Institute and Speaker for the University-wide AI Think Tank, explains how systems of this kind are already transforming people’s day-to-day work and why the power of human judgment is set to become ever more important in the future.

Pathways: “It’s Nice That People are Thinking of Us”

For many young people, embarking on a degree program at a university is a big step—even more so if they are also coming from a refugee or migration background. The University of Bonn runs a special grant program just for these students and doctoral candidates that offers them financial support as well as networking opportunities and career prospects. Two recipients of these grants explain how Pathways to Research is helping them.

Miniature Digital Treasure

What do old maps, aristocrats’ autograph books and travel journals all have in common? Across the world, historians are attempting to make historical sources like these accessible electronically. These digital treasure troves are a real font of information, including for University of Bonn students who are encountering historical sources for the first time. It is hardly surprising that the Department of Early Modern History and Rhenish Regional History is indexing precisely these kinds of data source and showcasing them on Instagram as part of the “Datendonner” (“Data Thursdays”) project, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary in July 2025.

Striving for Perfection: Effortlessly flawless?

Irina Dumitrescu describes writing as an adventure. Getting the first few lines down on a page is difficult, but when she eventually gets “in the flow,” she is enjoys the pleasure of discovery. Something unexpected always happens while she writes. “Writing is my obsession, my laboratory ... and my subconscious mind is the treasure trove I draw on,” says Dumitrescu, who is Professor of Medieval Studies at the Department of English, American, and Celtic Studies. Students attending her classes get to travel back through time: “Trying to be Perfect in the Middle Ages“ hit a nerve. Dialogue with students, new perspectives, and an intensity of production are part of her research process. Johannes Seiler interviewed Professor Dumitrescu, who is an author, essayist and podcaster.

Fit for Everday Hospital Work

Emergencies, night shifts, high-pressure decision-making ... it takes more than specialized knowledge to work in medicine. That’s why the University of Bonn Faculty of Medicine offers courses specifically designed to help students become more mentally resilient, in cooperation with Jung-Stilling Siegen Hospital—a protestant social services clinic. Extreme athlete Joey Kelly returned as one of this year’s special course participants at University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and in Siegen, who did a night hike with outdoor sleeping together with students.

Green Islands for Poppelsdorf Campus

Thanks to a student initiative, four plantbox seating islands were recently created at Poppelsdorf Campus, making this area of the University of Bonn greener and more inviting. The plantboxes promote biodiversity, improve the climate and make the campus a more pleasant place to be.

Sustainable Building in the Service of Research

The University of Bonn is continuing to invest in sustainable infrastructure and is currently constructing a new Sample and Vegetation Center for the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional, and Engineering Sciences. The newbuild will meet the most stringent environmental standards and thus serve as a role model for construction that is focused on the future.

Service for Science: Start-up for the Research Community

Dr. Katharina C. Cramer, Nicolas Rüffin, and Dr. Kristofer Rolf Söderström have successfully made the transition from researchers to entrepreneurs and founded the start-up TILLER ALPHA GmbH in early 2025. “It’s important to us to communicate this change of roles openly,” emphasizes Katharina. Their clients, like themselves, come from the scientific community: TILLER ALPHA provides data-driven and AI-supported analyses for research infrastructures. Katharina also explored this topic in her research at the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) at the University of Bonn. In this interview, she explains their business idea, the start-up journey, and the support they received from the Transfer Center enaCom.

Three new electric vehicles included in the fleet of the University of Bonn

Central administration of the University of Bonn has been in a process for several years now of progressively converting its vehicles into an e-mobility fleet. Three new electric vehicles have just been added to the fleet: an Opel Rocks-E micro car (with space for one plus cargo) and two ATX two-seater electric utility vehicles. These two vehicles by manufacturer Alkè are flexibly adaptable for any requirements, such as transporting garden tools, using a cage structure that goes on top of the cargo bed.

Mathematician and Biochemist Win Transdisciplinary Research Prize

The Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs) Modelling and Life and Health at the University of Bonn have presented their €100,000 research prize, entitled “Modelling for Life and Health,” for the second time. The winners—Argelander Professor Ana Ivonne Vazquez-Armendariz and Schlegel Professor Jan Hasenauer—will be using their prize money to study the functions of “scavenger cells” in the lungs at the interface between mathematics and medicine.