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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.

Postdoc
© Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn

Transdisciplinary Research

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

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.

HCM
© Volker Lannert/HCM

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 six Clusters of Excellence and to promote talented researchers at all career levels.

The Best Minds

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

Cooperative Research Culture

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

Diverse Appointments

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

What sets our research profile apart?

01.

Excellence

The University of Bonn is one of eleven German Universities of Excellence and the only university with six 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.

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.

Life and Health

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

Individuals, Institutions and Societies

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

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.

Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Futures

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

Latest Research and Teaching News
Researchers develop a ChatGPT for Portuguese
Large language models, such as ChatGPT, perform significantly less well in Portuguese than in English despite both languages being spoken worldwide. This gap has now been closed with "GigaVerbo". The team led by Dr. Nicholas Kluge Corrêa from the Center for Science and Thought at the University of Bonn is now presenting the project in the journal "Patterns". The researchers were among the first to utilize the new "Marvin" supercomputer at the University of Bonn. Nicholas Kluge Corrêa and his colleague Aniket Sen are both members of the Transdisciplinary Research Area "Sustainable Futures" at the University of Bonn.
University of Bonn to Receive Start-up Center.NRW for Life Sciences and AI
The University of Bonn is expanding its start-up consulting services in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and the life sciences. With the new “U-Bo-LIFE-AI” Start-up Center.NRW, it will be enhancing entrepreneurial expertise and access to networks of investors and established companies in a systematic way. The University will be receiving roughly €1 million over the next three years from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and NRW’s Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy to set up “U-Bo-LIFE-AI” and develop it further.
How realistic does a supermarket need to be?
Researchers at the University of Bonn have conducted a review study to examine the methods used to research consumer behaviour in supermarkets.
Immune cells remember their location
A new AI-based method reconstructs spatial information about where immune cells were originally located in an organ, even after these cells have been removed from the tissue and analyzed individually. To accomplish this, Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn use the transcriptome, i.e., the entirety of all messenger RNA transcripts produced by genes within a cell at a given time. The work has now been published in the journal Advanced Science and introduces the new MERLIN algorithm.
Mitochondria influence lipid storage in cells
The powerhouse of the cells – known as mitochondria – appear to be able to influence the number of lipid droplets in the cell. A mechanism that is actually intended for a completely different purpose plays a central role in this. This is shown by a recent study by the University of Bonn and University Hospital Bonn and the University of Freiburg. The results have now been published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
New approaches to environmental peace in Colombia
Investigating and combining new and existing technologies with Indigenous knowledge systems – that is the aim of ‘iakumama 2050.’ The new research project by the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn (ZEF) pursues the goal of developing scenarios for how humans and nature can live together in regions affected by armed conflicts and raw material extraction. The Volkswagen Foundation is funding the project, which begins in July 2026 and will then be funded for one and a half years.
What makes sea urchin and salmon sperm swim
A study by the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences and the University of Bonn has shown that pH value is crucial for sperm motility in sea urchins and salmon. An increase in pH activates the enzyme adenylyl cyclase (sAC), which produces the messenger substance cAMP, thereby regulating sperm motility. This mechanism may be widespread among many marine invertebrates and fish. The researchers' findings have now been published in the renowned journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
New findings on infection with the Epstein-Barr virus
The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) can cause certain types of cancer or autoimmune diseases, but how the body controls this common viral infection is largely unknown. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have now identified genetic and non-genetic factors that help the body fight EBV. To do this, they evaluated genome sequencing data, which is actually intended for characterizing the human genome, in a new way. Using the new technique, they were able to estimate the amount of EBV in the blood and find correlations in large health data sets – for example, an increased viral load in people with HIV infections, but also in smokers. There were also indications of new genes that play key roles in EBV immunity. Their findings have now been published in the renowned journal Nature.

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 six 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.

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.

Clusters of Excellence

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

NeurotechEU

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

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