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.
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.
How can we encourage consumers to pay more attention to animal welfare aspects when they purchase meat? It now appears that this cannot be achieved solely by making the animal husbandry labels more visible. At least this is what the findings of a study carried out by the University of Bonn and TU Munich tend to indicate. In this study, the researchers invited test subjects to go shopping in a virtual supermarket. However, placing banners and labels indicating the type of animal husbandry on the shelves had no effect on their purchasing decisions. The results have now been published in the Journal of Consumer Protection and Food Safety.
Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, has visited the electron accelerator "ELSA" on the Poppelsdorf campus of the University of Bonn. The large-scale device has been reliably delivering the latest findings for research into the building blocks of matter for over three decades. It is part of a 70-year tradition of Nobel Prize-winning accelerator research at the University of Bonn.
Since more than a decade it has been possible for physicists to accurately measure the location of individual atoms to a precision of smaller than one thousandth of a millimeter using a special type of microscope. However, this method has so far only provided the x and y coordinates. Information on the vertical position of the atom – i.e., the distance between the atom and the microscope objective – is lacking. A new method has now been developed that can determine all three spatial coordinates of an atom with one single image. This method – developed by the University of Bonn and University of Bristol – is based on an ingenious physical principle. The study was recently published in the specialist journal Physical Review A.
T follicular helper cells (Tfh) are essential for strong antibody-mediated reactions of our immune system during infections and vaccinations. However, if they get out of control, this can cause diseases such as autoimmunity, allergies or cancer. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn investigated the underlying mechanisms of Tfh cell development in a mouse model and thus decoded their internal networking. They hope that this will lead to new strategies for the development of highly effective vaccines and new therapies to combat various diseases. The results have now been published in the renowned journal "Science Immunology".
When people lack visual imagination, this is known as aphantasia. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) investigated how the lack of mental imagery affects long-term memory. They were able to show that changes in two important brain regions, the hippocampus and the occipital lobe, as well as their interaction, have an influence on the impaired recall of personal memories in aphantasia. The study results, which advance the understanding of autobiographical memory, have now been published online by the journal "eLife".
The state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst, visited the Humanoid Robots Lab at the University of Bonn on Thursday afternoon. Talks centered on current research projects in the field of robotics and the challenges associated with the use of robots in human environments. The state premier was able to enter virtual reality with a robot and watch a three-armed robot harvesting peppers.
Researchers at the University Hospitals of Dresden and Bonn of the DFG Transregio 237 and from the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn have made progress clarifying why patients with myotonic dystrophy 2 have a higher tendency to develop autoimmune diseases. Their goal is to understand the development of the disease, and their research has provided new, potential therapeutic targets. The results of the study have now been published in the renowned journal "Nature Communications".
Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn have created an open-source platform known as A-SOiD that can learn and predict user-defined behaviors, just from video. The results of the study have now been published in the journal "Nature Methods".
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.