Research Profile: Top-Level Research

The University of Bonn has stood for top-level research for over 200 years. The founding professors already saw Bonn as a research university aimed at answering scientific, social and technological questions. Researchers, teachers and early-career researchers all benefit from this today, taking advantage of established German and global networks and strong scientific and social partnerships—with measurable effect.

Transdisciplinary Research

The six Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs) at the University of Bonn create spaces for innovation in research and teaching.

More about our TRAs

Eine Wissenschaftlerin und ein Wissenschaftler arbeiten hinter einer Glasfassade und mischen Chemikalien mit Großgeräten.

Fakultätsschilder beim Absolventenfest © Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn

Seven Faculties

The University of Bonn has divided its teaching and research activities into seven faculties, which are themselves subdivided into institutes, departments and even clinics. The faculties constitute the heart and center of the University.

Explore our Faculties

Excellence in Research and Teaching

“We invest in people. We foster networks. We create impact.” We follow this strategy to create the ideal environment for creative scientific work by outstanding researchers that extends beyond our eight Clusters of Excellence and to promote talented researchers at all career levels.

Excellence Strategy

The Best Minds

The outstanding research performed by our researchers is shown by the many awards that have been received.

Excellent Researchers

Cooperative Research Culture

Innovative top-level research in many national and international partnerships and collaborative projects sets us apart.

Collaborative Projects

Diverse Appointments

The diversity of our externally funded professorships is a sign of our close cooperation with economy and society.

Externally Funded Professorships

What sets our research profile apart?

01.

Excellence

The University of Bonn is one of 15 German Universities of Excellence and the only university with eight Clusters of Excellence. Recent decades have seen us produce more Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners than any other German university.

02.

Networked

Embedded in the UN city of Bonn and a region of cutting-edge research, the University of Bonn is one of the leading research-oriented universities in Germany.

03.

Transdisciplinary

Our seven faculties cover a broad range of disciplines. This strong range of disciplines is supplemented by six cross-faculty, interdisciplinary “Transdisciplinary Research Areas” (TRAs) that create areas for exploration and innovation to facilitate academic exchange.

04.

Comprehensive Support

Our goal is to create the ideal conditions for internationally networked research to attract and develop the best researchers. Our Argelander Program for Early-Career Researchers offers comprehensive support to promote early independent research.

Transdisciplinary Research Areas

Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs) focus our research on key scientific, technological and social issues of the future and create areas for exploration and innovation.

Mathematics, Modelling and Simulation of Complex Systems

How do complex systems actually work? Interaction of mathematical modelling, classical observational methods, data simulation and creative spirit.

TRA Modelling

Building Blocks of Matter and Fundamental Interactions

How do the building blocks of matter interact? How do complex structures emerge at the different length scales of nature? Find out more about our research.

TRA Matter

Life and Health

Understanding the complexity of life - developing new strategies for health.
Read more about TRA Life and Health.

TRA Life and Health

Individuals, Institutions and Societies

Complex relationships between the individual, institutions and societies – developing new views of micro- and macrophenomena.

TRA Individuals & Societies

Past Worlds and Modern Questions. Cultures Across Time and Space

We foster and network research on the preconditions and conditions of the emergence of modern societies as well as on negotiation processes of heritage.

TRA Present Pasts

Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Futures

The TRA Sustainable Futures researches institutional, science- and technology-based innovations in the field of sustainability.

TRA Sustainable Futures

Latest Research and Teaching News

Researchers Transform Old Blood Cells into Young Brain Cells

Researchers from the University Hospital of Bonn and the University of Bonn have succeeded in dramatically rejuvenating human cells in a test tube. To do so, they directly reprogrammed red blood cell precursors into stem cells from which neurons can be derived. During this process, the molecular clocks that indicate a cell’s age were reset. For example, blood cells from an 80-year-old were transformed into stem cells with a molecular age of less than 20 years. Since this rejuvenation process occurred very slowly, it is well-suited for a more detailed investigation of the underlying mechanisms. The results have been published in the journal Aging Cell.

NeurotechEU: European Master’s in Neurotechnology Gets Green Light

The relevant assessment panel of the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatieorganisatie, NVAO) has presented a positive report on the planned European Master in Neurotechnology (EMN), which was developed jointly by the University of Bonn and six of its partners in the NeurotechEU European Universities alliance. The two-year degree program is taught in English, combines elements of medicine, technology and the neurosciences and is set to launch in the 2027/28 academic year.

New AI Agents in Medicine: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Improve Brain Tumor Diagnostics and Treatment

How can artificial intelligence help diagnose and treat patients with brain tumors? This is the question that researchers are tackling in a Europe-wide collaborative project involving the University of Bonn and the Neuroradiology Clinic at the University Hospital Bonn. The European Innovation Council (EIC) is funding the “EUcanAI” project to the tune of some €3.9 million over the next four years.

“Top predator” from the Jurassic measures just half a meter

The “top predator” from the Jurassic is relatively small in size: Megacauda sungei measures just half a meter from its nose to the tip of its tail. 165 million years ago, the furry ancestor to today’s mammals hunted its prey in water. The cusps of its teeth were also curved backwards to enable it to catch its slippery prey. However, the true evolutionary revolution is its soft palate, which separates the oral cavity from the pharynx while also enabling swallowing and breathing. This is an important requirement for suckling as a survival advantage. The findings by researchers from the Universities of Shenyang, Chicago, and Bonn are now being published in the journal ‘Nature’.

How Much Are the World’s Oceans Warming?

The world’s oceans behave like a thermometer: As the water warms, it expands and sea levels rise. Geodesy researchers at the University of Bonn are able to measure this and determine how much the oceans are warming. For individual ocean basins, their method has revealed significant deviations from model calculations—in some cases in the double-digit percentage range.

“Melted by Grief”: How the Ancients Wrote about Feelings

What does it mean for a character to “melt” out of love or grief? Professor Thomas Kuhn-Treichel will be using a Heisenberg Grant at the University of Bonn to explore the ways in which ancient literature describes emotions. An initiative of the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Heisenberg Programme enables researchers to complete high-quality projects and thus further increase their academic reputation. Thomas Kuhn-Treichel will be funded to the tune of some €830,000 from October 2026 onward.

Smartphones as Retinal Cameras: New Opportunities for Global Eye Care

Smartphones could play an important role in the early detection of eye diseases, including in settings where specialized ophthalmic infrastructure is limited. An international team of experts led by the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn has comprehensively reviewed the current global landscape of smartphone-based fundus imaging. The researchers highlight the technical and clinical possibilities that already exist today, identify the limitations of these methods, and outline the conditions that must be met so that smartphone-based retinal imaging can be more widely integrated into screening, triage, and telemedicine pathways.

Microplastics Cause Fatty Liver Disease in Mice

Microplastics appear capable of significantly impairing the function of phagocytes in the liver, at least in mice. In turn, this disrupts the metabolism of this vital organ and increases the build-up of fat inside it. These are the key findings from a joint German-Austrian study led by the University of Bonn, details of which have now been published in the journal “Nature Metabolism.”

We think without borders

With our magazine, we give you an insight into the research and teaching being done at our University. We focus on our transdisciplinary research and the work that we are undertaking in our eight Clusters of Excellence. By virtue of their reputation and sheer number, they are without parallel in the entire German university sector.

Find out more about us in the reports on the University, on our research and on some of our favorite places in Bonn—an extremely likeable city that is home to numerous international organizations.

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Contact

Research and Innovation Services

+49 228 / 73-60915
GZDez7@verwaltung.uni-bonn.de

The research division manages the entire research process - from initial information on funding, handling third-party funded projects and the exploitation of results.

Also see

Transdisciplinary Research Areas

The six Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs) at the University of Bonn create spaces for innovation in research and teaching.

More on TRAs

Clusters of Excellence

The University of Bonn has eight Clusters of Excellence, more than any other university in Germany.

Our Clusters

NeurotechEU

NeurotechEU is an alliance that has set itself the mission of building an innovative, trans-European network of excellence for brain research and technologies.

Learn more