Update October 22, 2026 - 11:00 a.m.: Sciebo has been updated by our colleagues in Münster and is up and running again. A global Internet security vulnerability was discovered today. As a precaution, we have decided to take ILIAS (eCampus) offline until an appropriate update is available. For the same reason, the University of Münster has also taken the Sciebo service offline. Other systems may also be taken offline in the near future. We understand that this poses challenges for teaching and therefore ask all instructors to be flexible with their students regarding any deadlines. You can find the latest information at https://unibonn.statuspage.io/

On October 19, the University of Bonn celebrated the official opening of the academic year. During a festive ceremony in the main auditorium, Rector Michael Hoch looked back on the past year and offered a glimpse into the University’s future direction. A central element of the event was the conferral of an honorary doctorate on Professor Helmut Schwarz, in recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements and his exceptional commitment to the German academic system and the University of Bonn.

The use of robots, drones and AI tools in agriculture is already paying off on 42 percent of the world’s cropland. This could increase to 50 percent in the next 20 years and to as much as 75 percent if every country tightened environmental regulations. If every country loosened its regulations it would fall to 31 percent. These are the main findings from an international study led by the University of Bonn, which is the first to estimate the profitability of smart farming worldwide. What is more, high-tech agriculture often proves profitable precisely in parts of the world struggling with environmental problems such as water stress and overfertilization. The results of the study have been published in the journal PNAS.

Oil and natural gas still account for the vast majority of the world's energy and raw materials, with all the associated environmental and biodiversity consequences. The bioeconomy is an approach to overcoming this dependence: instead of using fossil fuels, it uses renewable resources such as plants, microorganisms, and organic waste. The goal is for economic growth to go hand in hand with protecting species, the climate, and soils. The updated edition of the Global Bioeconomy Policy Report 2026, produced by the International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy (IACGB), has been launched in Dublin on 20 October. The Global South, in particular, is increasingly recognizing the bioeconomy as a sustainable and equitable economic model.

Over the past 20 years, the collection and analysis of genetic data from plants in the University of Bonn’s Botanic Gardens have significantly advanced our understanding of plant evolution. This research has also influenced how plants are classified and arranged in the gardens, raising questions about which plants belong together and why. In a new article published in the journal “New Phytologist,” Bonn botanists Tim Böhnert and Maximilian Weigend explain how new research findings can be translated into a meaningful classification of plants.  

A recent study by the platform TOPSCINET has named Professor Stefan Grimme from the University of Bonn as one of the top 10 most highly cited researchers in the world, placing the theoretical chemist fifth on its list.