Fifteen years ago, the African Union decided on an ambitious program: degraded ecosystems in parts of the Sahel are to be successively restored in order to secure food for the people living there and to protect the soil against further degradation. At the same time, the African Great Green Wall is an important contribution to combating climate change. A study by the University of Bonn and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) now shows that it also makes economic sense - although not everywhere in the Sahel. The analysis also shows how much violent conflicts threaten the success of the program. It has now been published in the journal Nature Sustainability.

For almost two years now, the Corona pandemic has been shaping all aspects of our lives. Universities are no exception. A year ago, the University of Bonn had already addressed the impact of the pandemic on university operations in its magazine "forsch" and visualized it with a series of images. The cover motif, which shows students wearing mouth guards in a "hybrid" lecture, has now won 1st place in the nationwide PR-Bild Award 2021.

The ecumenical "Sermon Prize", which is based at the Protestant Palace Church of the University of Bonn and has been awarded since 2000, has a special topicality this year: the prize winner Dr. h.c. Annette Kurschus, Praeses of the Protestant Church of Westphalia, has just been elected chairwoman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). This has been brought to attention by the Dean of the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of Bonn, Prof. Dr. Cornelia Richter.

Neuroscience investigates what happens in the brain during learning processes. But even with simple experiments, mountains of data arise that need a lot of expertise in data management in order to be evaluated and compared using the most modern methods. Research groups of the Collaborative Research Center 1089 “Synaptic Micronetworks in Health and Disease” at the University of Bonn have now entered into a cooperation with DataJoint, a data solutions company in Houston (USA). The researchers expect new insights from the combined expertise of neuroscience and data science.

The University of Bonn has formally opened its newest research building: the Research and Technology Center for Detector Physics (FTD) on Kreuzbergweg was inaugurated in the presence of Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen, the Minister of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Gabriele Willems, CEO of BLB NRW, Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch and other honored guests.

The Revd. Canon Professor Mark D. Chapman, Professor of the History of Modern Theology at the University of Oxford, has received an honorary doctorate in recognition of his exceptional academic achievements, his commitment to ecumenism and his outstanding services to relations between Oxford University’s Faculty of Theology and Religion and the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of Bonn. Dean Prof. Dr. Cornelia Richter presented the honor last Friday during a ceremony in the University’s main auditorium.

While there is a growing number of research publications directed towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Sustainable Development Goals, there is little research addressing, the often hidden, environmental costs of AI. The Sustainable AI Lab of the University of Bonn (Germany) addresses this topic and is present at COP26 with a unique artwork to remind people of what nature is doing and that AI is getting in the way of this. The head of the Lab, Prof. Aimee van Wynsberghe, will speak at the conference on November 10th at 11:00.

The University of Bonn's University Election Assembly has elected Provost Holger Gottschalk for another six-year term. Holger Gottschalk had taken office at the University of Bonn at the beginning of 2017. His second term will begin on January 1, 2023.