Beamline for Schools (BL4S) is a physics competition that was initiated by CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, and is open to secondary school pupils from all around the world. Participants are invited to submit a proposal for a physics experiment to be undertaken at the beamline of a particle accelerator, either at CERN or at one of the partner institutes: DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron in Hamburg, Germany) and ELSA (Elektronen-Stretcher-Anlage of the University of Bonn, Germany). In 2025, a record number of five winning teams have been chosen, based on both the scientific merit of their proposals and the communication merit of their submission video.

The University of Bonn has awarded teaching prizes to 14 teaching staff in recognition of their outstanding work. The prize recipients were chosen by students themselves. Professor Klaus Sandmann, Vice Rector for Teaching, Learning and University Development presented the prize certificates at a ceremony on the Hofgarten lawn in Bonn as part of the Universitätsfest attended by over 7,000 people.

The University of Bonn held a lavish party to mark the 20th anniversary of its Universitätsfest, an occasion steeped in tradition. More than 2,000 graduates flooded onto the Hofgarten lawn together with over 5,000 of their friends and family—a new record. It was a truly epic day, one that began with a graduation ceremony and ended with a stirring anniversary party given the tagline “Forever Uni Bonn.”

Research is not an end in itself. Ultimately, it must have an impact on society, politics, culture or the economy for its purpose to fully unfold. And that is what the UGB Transfer Prize created by Universitätsgesellschaft Bonn (UGB) is all about. The 10,000-euro Prize is awarded in recognition of projects through which University of Bonn staff and students effectively transfer knowledge in innovative yet practical ways so as to visibly benefit society at large.

Artificial intelligence is here to stay, as became abundantly clear at the University of Bonn’s second digital AI Day. About 200 staff members joining the online event on June 30, 2025 were shown informative use cases giving them lots of ideas and insights into the strategic role that AI can play in administration. Looking back at the developments that occurred last year, Vice Provost Holger Impekoven talked about the specific structures, tools and formats the AI pilot initiative has yielded thus far and discussed the next steps planned in the evolutionary process. His talk touched on technical advances, training opportunities and how the primary goal in deploying AI—in a responsible manner—is to heighten productivity and relieve administrative burden in day-to-day operations. Highlighting the importance of this change process, Provost Holger Gottschalk encouraged all administrative staff to actively participate in it.

Three days of scientific exchange, workshops, and new impulses: Until July 2, 2025, members of the Bonn-Cumming Host-Directed Pandemic Therapeutics Program are gathered at University Hospital Bonn (UKB) for a symposium to reflect on the current state of their research and discuss further steps. The joint program of the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics at the University of Melbourne and of the University of Bonn aims to combat future pandemics with novel therapeutics.