Research and Teaching at the University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is one of eleven Universities of Excellence in Germany and the only university with six Clusters of Excellence. Our seven faculties cover a broad range of disciplines. These strong disciplines are supplemented by six cross-faculty, interdisciplinary “Transdisciplinary Research Areas” (TRAs) that create spaces for exploration and innovation where key scientific, technological and social challenges are addressed.
Transdisciplinary Research Profile
The research profile of our University of Excellence is based on our six Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs), and is further strengthened by six Clusters of Excellence, countless collaborative projects and outstanding researchers.
Teaching Profile
We aim to create a passion for science in young people and help them develop their individual professional and personal skills as best possible. The overall orientation of study and teaching at the University is based on ten principles.
Researchers and Teachers
The University provides a range of services to help increase the time available for research and teaching. These range from providing advice on submitting applications and handling third-party funded projects, all the way to consulting on teaching methods. Learn about our Welcome Center and funding lines for international exchange, among other things.
Doctoral Students and Postdocs
We want to give talented early-career researchers the opportunity to perform independent research and help them achieve their goals both within and outside academia. The Argelander Program provides orientation, cross-disciplinary training and funding for early-career researchers.
Knowledge and Technology Transfer
enaCom Transfer Center sees itself as an intermediary, translator and catalyst between science and stakeholders outside the scientific community. Its work focuses on making research results obtained at the University of Bonn available for the benefit of society.
Quality Assurance
Academic integrity and high quality teaching are our top priorities. Learn about our quality assurance measures, Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice and your contact persons.
When two, three or four apples are placed in front of us, we are able to recognize the number of apples very quickly. However, we need significantly more time if there are five or more apples and we often also guess the wrong number. In fact, the brain does actually register smaller numbers of things differently than larger ones. This has been demonstrated in a recent study by the University of Tübingen, University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn. The results were published in the magazine “Nature Human Behaviour.”
The UK-based magazine “Times Higher Education” (THE) has compiled its internationally renowned THE World University Ranking, which compares some 1,900 universities, for the past 20 years now. The University of Bonn came in 91st globally and 6th in Germany, putting it in the world’s top 100 universities. One noticeable aspect was that, compared to other institutions, a change to the methodology used in the rankings had virtually no impact on the University’s excellent results.
A receding hairline, a total loss of hair from the crown, and ultimately, the classical horseshoe-shaped pattern of baldness: Previous research into male pattern hair loss, also termed androgenetic alopecia, has implicated multiple common genetic variants. Human geneticists from the University Hospital of Bonn (UKB) and by the Transdisciplinary Research Unit "Life & Health" of the University of Bonn have now performed a systematic investigation of the extent to which rare genetic variants may also contribute to this disorder. For this purpose, they analyzed the genetic sequences of 72,469 male participants from the UK Biobank project. The analyses identified five significantly associated genes, and further corroborated genes implicated in previous research. The results have now been published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Communications.
The mathematician Prof. Dr. Angkana Rüland from the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HCM) Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn is to be presented with the illustrious New Horizons Prize for her outstanding work on applied analysis. The high-caliber $100,000 award is conferred by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. The 35-year-old researcher and University of Bonn alumna was only appointed to one of its prestigious Hausdorff Chairs at the start of the year. In her research, she draws inspiration from problems encountered in the natural sciences.
6
Clusters of Excellence
200+
Degree Programs
545
Professors
Our Research Profile
The research profile of our University of Excellence is defined by six Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs), each of which has a Clusters of Excellence at its core. The TRAs focus our research on key scientific, technological and social issues of the future. Outstanding researchers, strong disciplines and a cooperative research culture have always formed the basis of our research profile.
Transdisciplinary Research Areas
The six Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs) at the University of Bonn create spaces for innovation in research and teaching.
Excellence Strategy
“We invest in people. We foster networks. We create impact.” Our strategy for excellence in research and teaching.
Clusters of Excellence
The University of Bonn has six Clusters of Excellence, more than any other university in Germany.
Promotion of Early-Career Researchers
We offer many support services for doctoral students and postdocs to promote early independent research.
Research Networks
Innovative top-level research in many national and international partnerships and collaborative projects sets us apart.
Outstanding Researchers
The outstanding research performed by our researchers is shown by the many awards that have been received.