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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.

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.

Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Futures

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

Latest Research and Teaching News
Nerve cells can detect small numbers of things better than large numbers of things

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 Ranking: University of Bonn in World’s Top 100 Once Again

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.

New findings on hair loss in men

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.

Angkana Rüland to Receive Illustrious New Horizons Prize

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.

Funding of €6.9 Million for Sepsis Research

Every year some 75,000 people die from bacterial blood poisoning, or sepsis, in Germany alone. Survivors of sepsis often struggle with secondary and concomitant conditions due to the resulting impairment of the immune system, the so called “Immunesuppression”. The International Center for Clinical Research (ICRC) at St. Anne's University Hospital (FNUSA) Brno (Czech Republic) has founded the research consortium “BEATSep”. HORIZON EUROPA is funding it with around 6,9 million euros over the next five years. The project aims to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms causing the immune suppression in sepsis survivors. Prof. Dr. Bernardo S. Franklin, Institute for Innate Immunity of the University Hospital Bonn and member of the ImmunoSensation2 Cluster of Excellence of the University of Bonn, is involved in the project. He receives about 800,000 euros from the EU funding.

Agriculture study delivers unexpected results

Farmers usually plant so-called cover crops after harvesting their main crop in the Fall. This prevents erosion of the soil and nutrient leaching. The roots of these crops also stabilize the structure of the soil. It had been assumed up to now that a mixture of different cover crops would result in particularly intensive rooting. However, a recent study carried out by the University of Bonn, University of Kassel and University of Göttingen found only limited evidence that this is the case. Instead, mixed cover crops grow thinner roots than when just one single type of cover crop is planted. This result was unexpected. It documents how little is currently understood about the interactions between plant roots. The study was published in the magazine “Plant and Soil.”

Study calls for improvements in climate protection

Projects that reduce deforestation often sell carbon credits - for instance, to consumers purchasing airline tickets. However, over 90 percent of these project credits do not actually offset greenhouse gas emissions. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands), the University of Bonn, the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and the European Forest Institute in Barcelona (Spain). It was carried out on an exemplary basis for 26 projects in six countries. The results have now been published in the renowned journal Science.

Researchers decode new antibiotic

More and more bacterial pathogens are developing resistance. There is an increasing risk that common drugs will no longer be effective against infectious diseases. That is why scientists around the world are searching for new effective substances. Researchers from the University of Bonn, the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Utrecht University (Netherlands), Northeastern University in Boston (USA) and the company NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge (USA) now have discovered and deciphered the mode of action of a new antibiotic. Clovibactin is derived from a soil bacterium. This antibiotic is highly effective at attacking the cell wall of bacteria, including many multi-resistant “superbugs.” The results have now been published in the renowned journal “Cell.” 

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

Division for 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.

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