Diverse existing interactions characterize collaboration at BORA – for example, in Clusters of Excellence, collaborative research centers, research groups, and graduate schools. In addition, there are joint teaching activities, the promotion of early-career researchers, the shared use and further development of research infrastructures, as well as cooperation in appointments, dual-career topics, and much more. Since 2018, almost 30 high-caliber research projects have been initiated, over 20 joint appointments have been made, and 18 collaborations in doctoral programs have been implemented.
BORA‘s administrative office, which is based in the Rectorate, deals with both institutional cross-cutting issues and overarching topics that are important for Bonn‘s entire academic landscape. Its core tasks include network and science management, communications management, and the organization of exchange formats. These include the regular BORA Leadership Forum for strategic dialogue, as well as meet & greets and collegial exchange formats on key topics such as diversity, dual careers, and international affairs.
What does BORA do for society?
To strengthen Bonn as a research location, BORA brings together the expertise of leading research institutions and helps to position Bonn as an internationally attractive center of science. One example is Bonn Platform for Forced Migration Studies, an established collaboration between the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (bicc), the FFVT (Refugee and Refugee Research: Networking and Transfer), the University of Bonn, and the Bonn Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Learning (BIM e.V.) with its House of Diversity Migrapolis. The platform brings together experts from associations, international organizations, think tanks, and universities in the field of flight and migration in a trusting environment—through roundtables that promote exchange and collegial consultation in this transdisciplinary and sensitive field of research. On November 6, Bonn Platform for Forced Migration Studies will hold the next roundtable discussion.
Since 2021, the Plural Sustainability working group has been engaged in an open, interdisciplinary exchange on the topic of sustainability from a social and regional science perspective, including the analysis of political interfaces. From 2022 onwards, this manifested itself in Future Earth (a mandated advisory body of the German Research Foundation) with the support of the German Committee for Sustainability Research (DKN). An interdisciplinary approach to international sustainability research was developed and brought together in two publications. In the coming phase, we will test how these findings can be integrated into university teaching.
The promotion of early-career researchers is a central concern of BORA. In April 2025, the first PostDoc Day took place with the active participation of BORA members. In addition, talent support programs and joint appointments contribute to securing and further expanding excellence. Interdisciplinary excellence projects enable cutting-edge research in clusters of excellence and other research networks – often transdisciplinarily across traditional disciplinary and institutional boundaries.
Another important focus of BORA is the transfer of socially relevant knowledge: through cooperation with partners from business and politics, through consulting services for companies, and through responsible, science-based information for the public. Experts from BORA institutions advise the German federal government, various EU bodies, and UN organizations, among others, particularly on global challenges such as the climate and biodiversity crises.
