Research and Study at the University of Excellence in Bonn

Dr. Holger Aulepp, former Head Physician at Borkum Riff Rehabilitation Clinic on the North Sea island of Borkum, has formed an eponymous foundation under the umbrella of the University of Bonn Foundation. The purpose of the foundation is to provide doctoral and other students active in the field of Protestant theology funding for excavation excursions and stays in Israel. Dr. Aulepp had provided generous support for two excavation excursions before forming of the foundation.

Several hundred settlements from the time between 500 and 1400 AD lie in the Bolivian Llanos de Mojos savannah and have fascinated archaeologists for years. Researchers from the German Archaeological Institute, the University of Bonn and the University of Exeter have now visualized the dimensions of the largest known settlement of the so-called Casarabe culture. Mapping with the laser technology LIDAR indicates that it is an early urbanism with a low population density - the only known case so far from the Amazon lowlands. The results shed new light on how globally widespread and diverse early urban life was and how earlier societies lived in the Amazon. The study appeared in the journal Nature.

The senior leadership team from the University of St Andrews is visiting the University of Bonn. Prof. Sally Mapstone, who heads the renowned Scottish university, has traveled to Bonn with a top-ranking delegation in order to discuss the strategic development of the two excellent universities and their diverse partnership activities.

Twenty-one top researchers were the focus of an award ceremony held on Thursday evening in Berlin, where they were presented Germany’s most valuable research award, the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. Among them was AI ethicist Prof. Dr. Aimee van Wynsberghe, who has been conducting research at the University of Bonn for the past year and a half. During the festive event, Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger and Hans-Christian Pape, President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, presented the awards which come with up to €5 million in funding.