News — University of Bonn

Sustainable AI Lab officially opened

Now the Sustainable AI Lab at the University of Bonn is officially launched being a space for excellent researchers from different fields to work, collaborate, and brainstorm about the environmental, social, and economic costs of designing, developing, and using AI across society.

Reduced meat diet has many advantages

Which diet is better: moderately reduce meat consumption and eat more fruit, vegetables and wholegrain products, as recommended by the German Nutrition Society? Follow our southern neighbors' example and eat more fish and seafood? Or even switch completely to a vegan diet? A new study by the University of Bonn shows that the answer to these questions is not as clear-cut as one might think - depending on which impacts one closely looks. The results are published in the journal Science of The Total Environment.

Chemists design "molecular sea of flags"

Researchers at the University of Bonn have developed a molecular structure that can cover graphite surfaces with a sea of tiny flagged "flagpoles". The properties of this coating are highly variable. It may provide a basis for the development of new catalysts. The compounds could also be suitable for measuring the nanomechanical properties of proteins. The results were published online in advance in the journal "Angewandte Chemie". Now the print edition has been published, which shows a part of the sea of flags as the cover image.

Next round for two Collaborative Research Centres

Great success for two research collaborations at the University of Bonn: The Collaborative Research Centre Transregio (CRC-TRR) 224 "Economic Perspectives on Societal Challenges" and the CRC-TRR 228 "Future in Rural Africa" have convinced with their research work of the past four years. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is therefore funding both collaborations for a further funding period with several million euros each. In the CRC-TRR 224 project, scientists from the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim are jointly opening up economic perspectives on social challenges. The CRC-TRR 228 project brings together researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Cologne, the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC) and the German Development Institute (DIE) to work on shaping the future of rural Africa.

New Collaborative Research Centres for the University of Bonn

New boost for excellent research at the University of Bonn: The German Research Foundation (DFG) is establishing two new Collaborative Research Centres (CRC). In the CRC 1502 "Regional Climate Change: The Role of Land Use and Water Management", researchers are investigating the hypothesis that human-induced land use change and intensified water management influence the regional climate. The speaker of the consortium is Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kusche. In the Transregio-CRC 333 "Brown and Beige Fat Organ Crosstalk, Signaling and Energetics ( BATenergy)", the research teams are looking at different types of adipose tissue and their role in metabolic diseases. The network is a collaboration of the Universities of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn, the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum München. The speaker is Prof. Dr. Alexander Pfeifer.

One Year as a Fairtrade University

The University of Bonn has every reason to celebrate, as it has now been entitled to call itself a “Fairtrade University” for a whole year. The honor is given to universities that are committed to fair and sustainable trade and consumption practices. For instance, the Studierendenwerk Bonn sells fair-trade coffee, tea and chocolate, while the student initiative organizes events such as a goal wall challenge in the Hofgarten. During the “Sustainable September” campaign month, this drew the attention of passersby and University members to the poor conditions under which some sporting goods are produced and the human rights abuses committed in the countries where they are made.

Launch of the Bonn Sustainable AI Lab

On November 25 the Bonn Sustainable AI Lab at the University of Bonn will have its official launch event. A wide range of highly regarded speakers like Katja Dörner, Mayor of Bonn, Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, Dr. Enno Aufderheide, Secretary General of the Humboldt Foundation and Jan Kleijssen, Council of Europe, will address the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on society and express the urgency to conduct more research and experiments on AI to get a grip on its rapid development. The Rector of the University of Bonn, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael Hoch, and the co-director of the Institute of Science and Ethics (IWE) and head of the Sustainable AI Lab, Prof. Dr. Aimee van Wynsberghe, will perform the opening ceremony. Journalists can attend the event after registration. The start is at 16:00.