News from the Fields of Excellence
The University of Bonn is considered the most successful University in the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments and we are the only German university to have received funding approval for six Clusters of Excellence in 2018 — eight as of January 2026. The University pursues an innovative research culture with its six Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs): Cross-disciplinary research is conducted on key scientific, technological and societal topics of the future.
Find an overview of the latest developments in the Clusters of Excellence and TRAs.
Overview Clusters of Excellence
Navigate here directly to the news of the six Clusters of Excellence of the University of Bonn
Overview TRAs
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Hausdorff Center for Mathematics
AI Model Improves Injury Prediction in Women's Elite Football
An international team of researchers led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the University of Bonn—with participation from the Barça Innovation Hub (BIHUB), FC Barcelona’s medical department, and the company Made of Genes—has developed a computer-based approach that improves injury prediction in elite women’s football. The study, published in “npj Digital Medicine,” combines artificial intelligence, survival analysis, statistical calibration, and decision theory to transform risk prediction into a useful tool for clinical and sports practice.
Mit Freunden das Rechnen fördern
The Society of Friends and Supporters of the Arithmeum (registered association) was recently launched to strengthen the Bonn-based museum in the long term as a unique meeting place for mathematics, art, and culture. The Arithmeum deserves to become "even more visible regarding its international cultural and scientific significance, and even better known as an interactive venue," explains Dr. Monika Wulf-Mathies, the Society’s newly elected First Chairwoman, adding: "Together, we are strengthening the Arithmeum—for future generations."
The Pohl-Goldschmidt Kunstkammer in the Arithmeum
Opening on June 13, 2026 , the new special exhibition at the Arithmeum will show part of the Pohl-Goldschmidt collection. It will be the first time that the public will be able to see some of the collection’s magnificent and unique scientific instruments from the Late Renaissance.
Angkana Rüland elected member of the Leopoldina
Angkana Rüland, Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Bonn and holder of a prestigious Hausdorff Chair at the cluster of excellence Hausdorff Center for Mathematics, has been elected as a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, on the recommendation of renowned colleagues.
Shin-ichi Ohta Awarded Humboldt Research Prize
Professor Shin-ichi Ohta from the University of Osaka in Japan has scooped a research prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He had been put forward for the €80,000 award by Professor Karl-Theodor Sturm from the Institute for Applied Mathematics and Hausdorff Center for Mathematics, one of the Clusters of Excellence at the University of Bonn. The two researchers will now be stepping up their collaboration at the interface between geometry and probability.
When Membranes Become Complex: New Mathematical Insights
Cell membranes, such as those found in red blood cells, naturally adopt optimal geometric shapes that maintain low bending energy. In his newly established Emmy Noether Group, Dr. Christian Scharrer at the Institute of Applied Mathematics at the University of Bonn is exploring the geometric phenomena that arise as membrane shapes become increasingly complex. The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved €850,000 in funding for the group over a period of up to six years.
Eight times excellent: From January 2026, two further clusters of excellence will be funded Bonn
From January 1, 2026, the number of clusters of excellence funded at the University of Bonn will rise to eight – more than at any other university in Germany. Two new cluster projects will receive funding from the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments for the first time. Starting in 2026, a total of around 40 million euros will flow into Bonn each year to strengthen the research activities of this University of Excellence.
Will mathematical research results be verified by computers in the future?
Will it be possible in future to prepare proofs developed in cutting-edge mathematical research with a reasonable amount of human effort so that they can be verified by computers in real time? Prof. Dr. Christoph Thiele and Prof. Dr. Floris van Doorn from the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HCM), a Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn, want to help make this possible. The two researchers submitted a joint application for a coveted Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Following the award of the grant, the European Union will now provide total funding of 6.4 million euros to the “Harmonic Analysis with Lean Formalization” (HALF) project over the next six years. Lean is a relatively new programming language that is increasingly establishing itself as the standard for mathematical formalization.
Decoding Complex Structures Through Mathematics
The German Research Foundation approved a new Collaborative Research Center (CRCs) at the University of Bonn. 19 principal investigators and their working groups will study the mathematical structures underlying complex phenomena in areas of criticality. The spokesperson of the CRC is Leibniz Prize winner Professor Angkana Rüland of the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics—Cluster of Excellence. The Collaborative Research Center will receive nearly four years of DFG funding of approximately seven million euros.
Heisenberg funding for Asgar Jamneshan
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has accepted the mathematician Dr. Asgar Jamneshan from the University of Bonn into the Heisenberg program. The program offers researchers five years of funding so that they can carry out high-quality research within their projects and continue to enhance their academic reputation. Jamneshan is carrying out research into the foundations of higher-order Fourier analysis. The mathematician, who is an associate member of the “Hausdorff Center for Mathematics” Cluster of Excellence, will receive funding of up to 570,000 Euro.
Mathematician and Biochemist Win Transdisciplinary Research Prize
The Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRAs) Modelling and Life and Health at the University of Bonn have presented their €100,000 research prize, entitled “Modelling for Life and Health,” for the second time. The winners—Argelander Professor Ana Ivonne Vazquez-Armendariz and Schlegel Professor Jan Hasenauer—will be using their prize money to study the functions of “scavenger cells” in the lungs at the interface between mathematics and medicine.
Top-class award for mathematician
The mathematician Dr. Rajula Srivastava from the Cluster of Excellence Hausdorff Center for Mathematics at the University of Bonn has received a Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation for her outstanding research achievements. The award is endowed with 50,000 dollars. The ceremony took place in Los Angeles.
Mathematician investigating stochastic processes
How does water move through a filter with coffee? This question is not so easy to answer, as neighboring areas in the moist coffee powder influence each other. How the hot water moves through the roasted powder is also governed by stochastic processes. Answers are provided by what are known as “percolation models,” which mathematician Dr. Alexis Prévost is investigating. He joined the University of Bonn from the University of Geneva and now leads an Emmy Noether group. It is being provided with up to 1.3 million euros of funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Creating Personalized Cancer Treatments Using “Mini-Tumors” and a Digital Twin
Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), a collaborative project involving the University of Bonn, the company ESQlabs and the University Hospital Bonn is seeking to refine the therapy recommendations given to colon cancer patients. To this end, “ISPOT-K” is merging organoids taken from patients with the power of digital twin technology.
Angkana Rüland receives Leibniz Prize
In recognition of her excellent research work, Prof. Dr. Angkana Rüland receives the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, which is endowed with 2.5 million euros. The German Research Foundation (DFG) announced this today. The researcher from the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HCM) at the University of Bonn is honored with the award for her outstanding work. The mathematician at the Cluster of Excellence HCM is being recognized for her outstanding work in mathematical analysis, particularly on models for microstructures in phase transitions in solids and inverse problems with non-local operators. The highly endowed prize permits a large degree of freedom in research.
Anton Bovier elected fellow of the European Academy of Sciences
Anton Bovier, professor at the Institute for Applied Mathematics at the University of Bonn and member of the Cluster of Excellence Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HCM), has been elected as fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc).
Seven ERC Starting Grants for the University of Bonn
There have never been so many ERC Starting Grants at once at the University of Bonn: no fewer than seven researchers have been successful with their applications in the highly competitive European Research Council (ERC) funding process. With their funding of some €1.5 million each, the researchers from the fields of ethics, mathematics, economics, soil science, computer science and astronomy will be able to realize their projects over the next five years.
Jessica Fintzen Awarded EMS Prize
Jessica Fintzen has won yet another highly prestigious accolade, this time the European Mathematical Society’s EMS Prize. The professor in the University of Bonn’s Mathematical Institute and member of the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HCM) Cluster of Excellence is to be handed the award on Monday, July 15, during the ninth European Congress of Mathematics (ECM) in the Spanish city of Seville.
University of Bonn Secures Two New Research Groups
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has given its approval for a new Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences and a Research Unit at the University of Bonn. In the Finance and Inequality Centre for Advanced Studies, the researchers led by Professor Christian Bayer and Professor Carsten Burhop are looking at the relationship between the growth of the financial sector and inequality from a historical angle. In the field of mathematical physics, meanwhile, Professor Claude Duhr is the speaker for a new Research Unit for particle physics. The DFG will be funding the two projects to the tune of several million euros over the next four years.
University of Bonn Graduate Philipp Strack Is Awarded John Bates Clark Medal
Economist Philipp Strack, who is a University of Bonn graduate and additionally took his doctorate at the Bonn Graduate School of Economics, has received the John Bates Clark Medal—considered the second most prestigious award in the field of economics after the Nobel Prize. The medal is awarded by the American Economic Association (AEA) to economists under age forty living in the United States who have made significant scholarly and research contributions in the field of economics.
Navigation software supports kidney research
Many kidney diseases are manifested by protein in the urine. However, until now it was not possible to determine whether the protein excretion is caused by only a few, but severely damaged, or by many moderately damaged of the millions of small kidney filters, known as glomeruli. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn, in cooperation with mathematicians from the University of Bonn, have developed a new computer method to clarify this question experimentally. The results of their work have now been published as an article in press in the leading kidney research journal "Kidney International".
Don Zagier Awarded Germany’s Biggest Mathematics Prize
The Carl Friedrich von Siemens Stiftung is to present the Heinz Gumin Prize for Mathematics to Don Zagier, who was a director of the Bonn-based Max Planck Institute for Mathematics until 2019 and has strong ties to the University of Bonn. The foundation is thus honoring his pioneering research into number theory and the theory of modular forms. The Gumin Prize is worth €50,000, making it the most generous award for mathematics in Germany.
Major Success for University of Bonn
The University of Bonn has some excellent news to report, with two new cluster initiatives given the green light to apply for funding as part of the Excellence Initiative of the German government and federal states. The German Research Foundation and the German Council of Science and Humanities made the announcement earlier today. The two new cluster initiatives are thus among the 41 chosen from the 143 draft proposals in all from across the country that were evaluated. In 2019, the University of Bonn secured an already impressive six clusters, more than any other university in Germany. All of these clusters are applying to maintain their status, putting the University in with a chance of hosting eight Clusters of Excellence.
University of Bonn Economist Wins ERC Proof of Concept Grant
The economist Professor Christian Bayer from the Institute for Macroeconomics and Econometrics at the University of Bonn has been awarded a Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This program hands researchers €150,000 in funding for up to 18 months to help them commercialize their ideas from previous ERC projects through excellent basic research.
University of Bonn Receives Three ERC Consolidator Grants
Another big success for the University of Bonn in securing grants from the European Research Council (ERC), with three researchers receiving an ERC Consolidator Grant: Professor Jan Hasenauer of the LIMES Institute, Professor Florian I. Schmidt of the Institute for Innate Immunity and Dr. Evgeny Shinder of the Mathematical Institute.
Jessica Fintzen Wins Cole Prize
Jessica Fintzen, a professor at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Bonn and a member of its Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HCM) Cluster of Excellence, is to receive the prestigious Frank Nelson Cole Prize in Algebra for 2024. She will be presented with the award at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Francisco, California in January 2024.
Lisa Sauermann receives the von Kaven Award
Prof. Dr. Lisa Sauermann from the cluster of excellence Hausdorff Center for Mathematics at the University of Bonn has been honored with the von Kaven Award 2023 for her outstanding scientific achievements. The award is presented by the von Kaven Foundation, which is managed by the DFG. Lisa Sauermann was appointed as one of the prestigious Hausdorff Chairs in the cluster of excellence at the University of Bonn only a few months ago. She has been carrying out research and teaching at the Institute for Applied Mathematics at the University of Bonn since August. The von Kaven Award includes prize money of 10,000 euros and will be presented on November 17, 2023, at the Gauß Lecture organized by the German Mathematical Society (DMV).
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.
Lisa Sauermann Returns to the University of Bonn
The Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HCM) at the University of Bonn has again succeeded in attracting a top mathematician back to Germany, as Lisa Sauermann has accepted an offer and recently started as Hausdorff Chair at the Bonn Cluster of Excellence; she comes to this high-profile position from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, US, where she was Assistant Professor. A University of Bonn alumna, Professor Sauermann became known for her outstanding mathematical talent as a young teen.
International Conference: Mathematics Meets Life Sciences
Mathematical modelling and analysis are essential for all fields of the life sciences nowadays, ranging from basic research to clinical application. The collaboration between mathematicians and life scientists has a long tradition in Bonn. This week Bonn researchers exchange views with colleagues from Germany and abroad on the current status and possible future developments at an international conference at the Wissenschaftszentrum Bonn.
ImmunoSensation2
New Findings on Information Processing in the Brain
Neurons receive thousands of signals via tree-like extensions called dendrites. Until now, these dendrites were thought to be relatively smooth cables that conduct electrical signals to the cell body. An international research team led by the University Hospital of Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, and the DZNE has now determined that this picture is incomplete. Using various advanced microscopy techniques, it has identified tiny, previously overlooked constrictions along the dendrites. These newly discovered structures, which the researchers call dendritic shaft constrictions, are only a few hundred nanometers wide – about 500 to 1,000 times thinner than a human hair – and occur in various types of neurons in both mouse and human brains. The study results have now been published in the journal Science Advances.
New Hereditary Retinal Disease Discovered
An international team of researchers led by the University Hospital and University of Bonn, as well as the universities of Edinburgh, Basel and Pennsylvania, has identified a previously unrecognized form of inherited retinal degeneration caused by a specific variant in the EFEMP1 gene. The disease primarily affects the peripheral retina and the rod photoreceptors responsible for vision in dim light and darkness. Importantly, rod function may already be severely impaired while the retina still appears largely normal on clinical examination. The results of the study have now been published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.
A Ray of Hope in the Fight Against Cancer
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Germany. In the search for new therapeutic approaches that target the uncontrolled growth of tumor cells, a class of enzymes known as cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) has come into focus. This is because this family of enzymes plays a fundamental role in gene expression and cell division. An overview of the current state of research on the transcriptional regulation of CDKs and the prospects for cancer treatment was compiled by Prof. Matthias Geyer of the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn in collaboration with Prof. Robert P. Fisher of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and has now been published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.
Malaria Causes Permanent Damage to Phagocytes in the Spleen
Macrophages formed in the bone marrow can only assume the function of embryonal phagocytes, or “scavenger cells,” to a certain degree according to a study by the University of Bonn and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne. The researchers have demonstrated that malaria infection causes permanent damage to resident CD163 macrophages in the spleen, which are responsible for cleaning the blood, recycling iron and communicating with other cells involved in the body’s immune response. Their findings could harbor potential not only for more effective malaria vaccines but also for developing drugs and treatments to combat other infectious diseases. The paper is to be published in the journal “Immunity” but can already be accessed online.
Core2Edge: How tumor cells conquer the brain
Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain tumor that infiltrates deep into the surrounding brain tissue. Even after surgery, tumor cells remain in the brain and the tumor recurs. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have now developed Core2Edge, a model based entirely on human tissue that captures these hard-to-access infiltration zones at the tumor margin. The model enables investigation of the invasive front and direct assessment of new drug candidates in human tissue - without the need for animal testing. The study of the Brain Tumor Translational Research Group has now been published in Nature Protocols.
AI Model Improves Injury Prediction in Women's Elite Football
An international team of researchers led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the University of Bonn—with participation from the Barça Innovation Hub (BIHUB), FC Barcelona’s medical department, and the company Made of Genes—has developed a computer-based approach that improves injury prediction in elite women’s football. The study, published in “npj Digital Medicine,” combines artificial intelligence, survival analysis, statistical calibration, and decision theory to transform risk prediction into a useful tool for clinical and sports practice.
The Gut as a Key Player in Immunotherapy for MS
B-cell depletion therapies, in which B cells of the immune system, which may drive disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS), are temporarily removed, have contributed significantly to improved treatment for patients in recent years. Researchers from the University Hospital of Bonn (UKB), the Universities of Bonn, Basel, Toronto, and Yale, along with their collaborators, have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism through which B-cell depletion therapies contribute to a better disease course in patients with MS. Surprisingly, the treatment appears to exert part of its beneficial effect by mobilizing regulatory immune cells that naturally reside in the gut. This study has now been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Asthma: New Mechanism of Action Curbs Inflammatory Response
A team from the University of Bonn and the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center (FZB) has discovered a previously unknown mechanism of action for a synthetic peptide that mitigates excessive inflammatory responses in allergic asthma. This mechanism specifically inhibits a key inflammatory switch in the immune system and opens up new avenues for treating chronic inflammatory diseases. The findings have now been published in the journal Advanced Science.
Precision Therapy for Autoimmune Disease on the Horizon
Interferon alpha is an inflammatory mediator that can cause Sjögren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease. This is revealed in a recent study carried out by the University Hospital Bonn together with the University of Bonn, the University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University. Their findings, which have been published in the journal “Lancet Rheumatology,” could make it easier in the medium term to develop drugs to fight this chronic condition.
Focus on the Guardians of the Antibody Response
For the immune system to effectively combat pathogens, antibody responses must be precisely controlled. So-called follicular regulatory T cells (Tfr cells) play a key role in this process by limiting excessive immune responses and helping to maintain immune tolerance. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have now developed a robust laboratory method that allows Tfr cells to be generated from precursor cells and studied in a targeted manner. The results were recently published in the journal Cellular & Molecular Immunology.
When the map needs an update
Every time we move through a familiar environment, the hippocampus consults an internal map, a detailed spatial representation that is built up through repeated experience. But what happens when something unexpected occurs on a well-known route? Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn were able to demonstrate in a mouse model that the brain does not redraw its maps from scratch. Instead, it annotates them: preserving the underlying spatial layout while overlaying new information on top of the existing map. Their findings have now been published in the journal PNAS.
Immune cells in the liver help pigeons navigate
How do pigeons find their way home safely over distances of many kilometers? A research team from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, the University of Duisburg-Essen, and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology has now discovered a previously unknown mechanism: specific immune cells in the liver may help the birds detect the Earth’s magnetic field. The findings have now been published in the journal Science.
Debunking Immune-System Myths Over Dinner, at the “Immunesystem Gerüchteküche”
People who want to do something for their health these days often turn to Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms for information. But what’s really behind the posts and trends shared by health influencers? On May 13, the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation3 at the University of Bonn invited the public to join five professors for dinner to explore this question. In a relaxed atmosphere, social media posts on health and the immune system were presented, discussed by the approximately 40 participants, and analyzed together with the experts. The launch of this new format took place at John Barleycorn as part of Bonn’s “May of Science.”
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.
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.
Novel precision strategy in cancer treatment receives EIC Pathfinder grant
A groundbreaking approach that targets the degradation of membrane proteins in cancer cells has received funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder program. The goal: To target previously "undruggable" cancer-related proteins by selectively degrading them and potentially offering a new way to overcome resistance to current cancer therapies.
Eight times excellent: From January 2026, two further clusters of excellence will be funded Bonn
From January 1, 2026, the number of clusters of excellence funded at the University of Bonn will rise to eight – more than at any other university in Germany. Two new cluster projects will receive funding from the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments for the first time. Starting in 2026, a total of around 40 million euros will flow into Bonn each year to strengthen the research activities of this University of Excellence.
New vulnerability of asthma immune cells discovered
Why do certain immune cells remain permanently active in allergic asthma – even in an environment that should actually damage them? A team from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn has discovered that these cells only survive because they activate a special antioxidant protection mechanism. When this mechanism is blocked, allergic inflammation in mouse models decreases significantly. The results have now been published in the scientific journal Immunity.
Ominous false alarm in the kidney
Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have discovered how a small, naturally occurring RNA molecule in the kidney activates a mutated immune receptor, triggering a chain reaction. In cooperation with Nanyang Technological University Singapore and the University Hospital Würzburg, among others, the study provides an explanation for how a point mutation in the immune receptor RIG-I transforms the body's defense system into a self-destructive force and causes severe organ-specific autoimmune diseases. The results have now been published in the journal Science Immunology.
New method developed for the precise production of human neural circuits in the laboratory
How do the circuits of the human brain work – and what happens when they are disrupted? To investigate these questions, researchers at the Eye Clinic of the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, together with colleagues from the University of Münster and Harvard Medical School, have developed an innovative platform that allows the function of neural networks to be studied in a targeted manner. The results have now been published in the journal ACS Nano.
Obesity causes lungs to age prematurely
What effects does severe obesity have on the lungs? A research team led by Prof. Dr. Veronika Lukacs-Kornek from the ‘ImmunoSensation2’ Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn and the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Experimental Immunology (IMMEI) at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) investigated this question. The results suggest that obesity causes the lungs to age faster. The findings have been published in the journal ‘Cell Reports’.
How Cell Skeleton Defects Can Teach Immunology
For immune cells, the actin cytoskeleton is more than a structural scaffold. Immune cells can migrate to sites of infection or form precise, short-lived contacts with other cells, by constantly reshaping their actin cytoskeleton. Genetic errors in the molecular machinery controlling actin dynamics lead to impaired immunity, and often to autoimmunity and chronic inflammation. Prof. Kaan Boztug, recently appointed Clinical Director of Pediatric Immunology and Rheumatology at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and member of the ImmunoSensation2 Cluster of Excellence, has specialized in the characterization of inborn errors in immunity. An overview of the current state of research on immune-related actinopathies, prepared in cooperation with Loïc Dupré of the Toulouse Institute for Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases, Toulouse, and Irinka Castanon, senior researcher in the laboratory of Prof. Boztug, has now been published in Nature Reviews Immunology.
Hidden brain waves as triggers for post-seizure wandering
People with temporal lobe epilepsy in particular often wander around aimlessly and unconsciously after a seizure. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) have identified a neurobiological mechanism that could be responsible for this so-called post-ictal wandering and potentially other postictal symptoms. According to their hypothesis, epileptic seizures are not directly responsible for post-ictal symptoms, but rather seizure-associated depolarization waves, also known as spreading depolarization (SD). The results of the studies have now been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
When Neurovascular Science becomes Art
On Sunday, September 14th 2025, the NeuVa Art Lab started its Mandala workshop series at Bonn University’s Impulse - House for Innovation and Creativity. The event brought together scientists, artists, and the public to explore the connections between brain research and artistic expression. Together, complex brain structures are resembled in form of mandala artworks, that will be presented in an exhibition by the end of the project. NeuVa Art is a joined project by Prof. Carmen Ruiz de Almodóvar of the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn and textile artist Paula Urrutia.
Fat cells under false command
Too much fat can be unhealthy: how fat cells, so-called adipocytes, develop, is crucial for the function of the fat tissue. That is why a team led by researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn investigated the influence of primary cilia dysfunction on adipocyte precursor cells in a mouse model. They found that overactivation of the Hedgehog signaling pathway causes abnormal development into connective tissue-like cells instead of white fat cells. Their findings have now been published in The EMBO Journal.
Joining forces against future pandemics
Three days of scientific exchange, workshops, and new impulses: Until July 2, 2025, members of the Bonn-Cumming Host-Directed Pandemic Therapeutics Program are gathered at University Hospital Bonn (UKB) for a symposium to reflect on the current state of their research and discuss further steps. The joint program of the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics at the University of Melbourne and of the University of Bonn aims to combat future pandemics with novel therapeutics.
How obesity also affects the next generation
Children born to obese mothers are at higher risk of developing metabolic disorders, even if they follow a healthy diet themselves. A new study from the University of Bonn offers an explanation for this phenomenon. In obese mice, certain cells in the embryo’s liver are reprogrammed during pregnancy. This leads to long-term changes in the offspring’s metabolism. The researchers believe that these findings could also be relevant for humans. The study has now been published in the journal Nature.
Frank Bradke is a New Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
On June 14, neurobiologist Frank Bradke, a research group leader at DZNE and professor at the University of Bonn, was officially welcomed as a new member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW). He received his membership certificate in Berlin during a ceremonial event in honor of the polymath and founder of the academy, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. This award recognizes Bradke’s outstanding scientific accomplishments in the field of neuronal development and regeneration. With his studies, the Bonn scientist, who focuses on fundamental mechanisms, aims to pave the way for a better treatment of spinal cord injuries. Bradke has already received multiple awards in acknowledgement of his research.
Frank Bradke Elected to North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts
The North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts has welcomed 12 high-caliber researchers and artists into its ranks in 2025, including Professor Frank Bradke from the University of Bonn and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE).
Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
How Christianity Changed Latin
How did the Latin language change as Christianity emerged and spread in late antiquity? This is the question being tackled by Christian Hornung, Professor for the History of Early Christianity and Patristic Studies in the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Bonn, in a new research project. He is aiming to compile a new concise dictionary of early Christian Latin (Handwörterbuch des antiken christlichen Lateins, HACL) that will index the corpus of Latin Christian literature from Tertullian to Isidore of Seville and document the evolution of early Christian Latin vocabulary in all its dimensions, i.e. encompassing the history of ideas, institutions, society, law and religion. The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) will be providing €1.4 million in funding during the long-term project’s first phase to 2030. It is set to run for 12 years in total.
Uni Bonn On Tour: Digging in Ostia near Rome
In the University of Bonn’s “Uni Bonn On Tour” feature, researchers reveal details of their unusual workplaces all around the world and provide insights into their day-to-day life (and research). What exactly they talk about depends on what questions they are asked by the general public. In September, archaeologist Professor Sabine Feist and her team will be traveling to Ostia in Italy, where they will be excavating one of the oldest and largest churches of its kind ever discovered. Next door to it is a bishop’s residence complete with sumptuously furnished aula, or “grand hall.” Members of the public are invited to email their questions to the archaeologists at kommunikation@uni-bonn.de or using the University‘s Instagram account @universitaetbonn.
Report "The Environment Shapes Security" published
As well as presenting ecological challenges, global changes in the environment—such as climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution—are also impacting security, societal stability and international peace. This is the conclusion reached by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) in its new report section entitled “The Environment Shapes Security,” which has now been published as the first chapter of the flagship report “Security – Sustainable and Integrated.” Among the lead authors was Professor Anna-Katharina Hornidge, a professor at the University of Bonn and Director of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
Goosebump Moments in Archaeological Research
How did people live centuries ago? How did they see themselves? How were they perceived by others? Today, archaeology uses modern methods to examine skeletons, personal belongings, burial practices, material culture and social and spatial relationships. The book “Human Identities in the Archaeological Record: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Late Antiquity to the Modern Period” shows how past identities can be reconstructed from this evidence.
What’s in a Name? — The Unknown Faces of History
Most people in history remain nameless, appearing in sources merely as numbers, traits or anonymous figures. A new research project launched by the Cluster of Excellence Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) and the Department of History (IGW) at the University of Bonn is looking into how these nameless individuals can be analyzed and rendered visible in historical records. It has been awarded €370,000 in funding from the Volkswagen Foundation.
Spectacular discovery in the Sinai
The find is spectacular: an unusually old inscription dating back around 5,000 years in the southwest of the Sinai Peninsula shows in a terrifying manner how the Egyptians colonized the Sinai and subjugated the inhabitants. The scene prominently depicted on a clearly visible rock shows the Egyptians’ dominance in the form of a large man with his arms raised and a Sinaite with an arrow in his chest kneeling in front of him. Mustafa Nour El-Din from the Aswan Inspectorate at the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities discovered the unusual inscription in Wadi Khamila. Egyptologist Prof. Dr. Ludwig Morenz from the University of Bonn interpreted the scene: It announces the Egyptians’ colonial claim 5,000 years ago.
New Heisenberg Professor at the University of Bonn
A new Heisenberg Professor has begun her work at the University of Bonn. Professor Laury Sarti, a medieval historian, is investigating the everyday mobility of people in the Middle Ages, considering not only the nobility but also ordinary individuals. Through its Heisenberg Programme, the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) enables researchers to pursue high-level projects and thus burnish their academic reputation even further. Sarti is receiving funding worth around €650,000.
Eight times excellent: From January 2026, two further clusters of excellence will be funded Bonn
From January 1, 2026, the number of clusters of excellence funded at the University of Bonn will rise to eight – more than at any other university in Germany. Two new cluster projects will receive funding from the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments for the first time. Starting in 2026, a total of around 40 million euros will flow into Bonn each year to strengthen the research activities of this University of Excellence.
Social Networks in the Colonial Era
An international research project has been launched involving Dr. Eva Marie Lehner and Julia Schmidt of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn. The project aim is to study how bureaucratic classifications of people influenced social orders in southern Africa during the colonial period. The collaborative project titled “Economies of Trust: Digital Infrastructure on the Urban Poor in the Cape Colony” is receiving €253,000 of funding from the Gerda Henkel Foundation. A further subproject at the BCDSS is devoted to studying the social networks of single women.
Estalishing power through divine portrayal and depictions of violence
Today a desert – as far as the eye can see. However, anyone looking more closely will discover hundreds of images carved into the rock. This ancient Egyptian graffiti attests to the fact that a new claim to sovereignty emerged here on the periphery over 5,000 years ago. One of these kings was known as Scorpion. He demonstrated his power with portrayals of himself as a divine ruler and with brutal depictions of violence. Together with Mohamed Abdelhay Abu Bakr, Egyptologist Prof. Dr. Ludwig Morenz from the University of Bonn has now published in his book the latest findings concerning the visualization of claims to sovereignty in pre-Pharaonic Egypt.
Fashion, Identity and Dependencies
The University of Bonn’s Global Heritage Lab is hosting not one but two exhibitions that explore colonialism in its impact, consequences and resulting enmeshments. The exhibitions are open until October 12 at P26.
Enmeshed and Entwined: Fabrics of Dependency
Since the beginning of human history, we have surrounded ourselves with textiles. In its multimedia exhibition “Enmeshed and Entwined: Textures of Dependency”, the Cluster of Excellence Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) at the University of Bonn shows the social interdependencies and asymmetrical dependency relations inherent in one of our oldest cultural assets. At the centre of the exhibition is a large quilt that provides the ‘narrative’ framework for the multi-dimensional story of the ‘textures of dependency’ in a series of “story patches” from different periods and regions. The exhibition can be seen until 20 December at the University and State Library Bonn (ULB) of the University of Bonn and also via a digital exhibition portal.
Major Success for University of Bonn
The University of Bonn has some excellent news to report, with two new cluster initiatives given the green light to apply for funding as part of the Excellence Initiative of the German government and federal states. The German Research Foundation and the German Council of Science and Humanities made the announcement earlier today. The two new cluster initiatives are thus among the 41 chosen from the 143 draft proposals in all from across the country that were evaluated. In 2019, the University of Bonn secured an already impressive six clusters, more than any other university in Germany. All of these clusters are applying to maintain their status, putting the University in with a chance of hosting eight Clusters of Excellence.
Experience Digs Virtually
How do you explore an excavation site without being there in person? The Classical Archaeology team and the Bonn Center for Digital Humanities at the University of Bonn want to use new digital tools such as 3D technologies and virtual reality in their research and teaching. Their researchers are collaborating with the Universities of Amsterdam and Oslo and the Open University of the Netherlands in an international project entitled “Virtual Worlds in Teaching Archaeology.” The European Union is co-financing the project to the tune of some €400,000 over the next three years.
Professor Bethany J. Walker Wins P. E. MacAllister Field Archaeology Award
The P. E. MacAllister Field Archaeology Award has been presented to Professor Bethany J. Walker, who is Principal Investigator at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS), the University of Bonn’s Cluster of Excellence for the humanities and social sciences. Professor Walker, who is also Director of the Islamic Archaeology Research Unit and Professor for the History of the Near and Middle East at the University, is being honored for her exceptional research in the field of Near and Middle Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean archeology.
Mongolia Honors Two University of Bonn Researchers
Two archaeologists from the University of Bonn have been presented with major awards in recognition of their many years of successful research work in Mongolia. At a ceremony held at the Ministry of Education and Science of Mongolia in the capital Ulaanbaatar, State Secretary M. Batgerel pinned the Order of the Polar Star - the highest honor that the country can award to a foreign citizen - onto Professor Jan Bemmann’s lapel. Susanne Reichert received the Friendship Medal. The two researchers are currently working in Mongolia as part of Research Unit 5438, “Urban Impacts on the Mongolian Plateau - Entanglements of Economy, City, and Environment,” which has recently secured funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG).
From Both Sides Now: the Story of an Egyptian Stele
How people cope with crises has always been a fruitful field of research for the sciences. For instance, how do people from different cultures use objects to find strength and reassurance in times of need? This question lay at the heart of the indisciplinary collaborative project “SiSi,” which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and involved teams of researchers from Egyptology and the Anthropology of the Americas at the University of Bonn. In a case study on a stone tablet from the University of Bonn’s Egyptian Museum that has reliefs on both sides, Egyptologist Prof. Dr. Ludwig D. Morenz has now documented indications of personal piety in a new book.
Cult of the Gods in Pre-Egyptian Society
The desert in southern Egypt is filled with hundreds of petroglyphs and inscriptions dating from the Neolithic to the Arab period. The oldest date from the fifth millennium B.C., and few have been studied. Egyptologists at the University of Bonn and Aswan University now want to systematically record the rock paintings and document them in a database. Among them, a rock painting more than 5,000 years old depicting a boat being pulled by 25 men on a rope stands out in particular.
All they wanted was to study: Women's fates in black-and-white
A new exhibition at the Frauenmuseum Bonn focuses on young Hungarian Jewish women whose lives were fundamentally altered by the introduction of the so-called “Numerus Clausus law” in 1920. Based on family memories, historical documents and photographs, the exhibition brings to life the fates and achievements of women born in the first quarter of the twentieth century. It also shows the influence the law had on the women's movement and Jewish assimilation. The exhibition is a cooperation with the Cluster of Excellence Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) at the University of Bonn. It runs from 20 November to 22 December 2022. To take part in the opening, please register by 18 November to: events@dependency.uni-bonn.de
Ten million euros for archaeologists at the University of Bonn
The four Roman legionary fortresses in Bonn, Neuss, Xanten and Nijmegen still hold unexplored treasures of knowledge about the multifaceted life of the Romans on the Lower Rhine. The goal of a team led by archaeologist Prof. Dr. Jan Bemmann from the University of Bonn is to decipher these and preserve them for future generations of researchers. The project is now receiving major support from the Academies Programme, which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments: As one of five newly funded long-term projects, it will receive around ten million euros for the next 18 years.
Archaeology Harnessing Cutting-Edge Methods
What diseases did people in past cultures have to contend with? What did they eat? How mobile were they? State-of-the-art scientific methods can be used to glean important information from archaeological finds. In the future, research of this kind will be pooled at the new Bonn Center for ArchaeoSciences (BoCAS), which will be receiving around €1 million in funding from the Volkswagen Foundation over the next six years.
Zentrum für Versöhnungsforschung ceremonially opened
Covid-19, climate change, populism, and not least the Ukraine war make the question of how and whether reconciliation is possible highly topical and relevant. The new Bonner Zentrum für Versöhnungsforschung (Center for Reconciliation Research) at the University of Bonn bundles research on this topic in cooperation with partner organizations. The center’s aim is to analyze reconciliation practices in an interdisciplinary and comparative way looking at different cultural, social and regional contexts. The center has now been ceremoniously opened in the University's Festsaal.
Launch of the Zentrum für Versöhnungsforschung
Covid-19, climate change, populism, and not least the Ukraine war make the question of how and whether reconciliation is possible highly topical and relevant. The new Bonner Zentrum für Versöhnungsforschung (Center for Reconciliation Research) at the University of Bonn bundles research on this topic in cooperation with partner organizations. The center’s aim is to analyze reconciliation practices in an interdisciplinary and comparative way looking at different cultural, social and regional contexts. The official opening will take place on June 22 at 6:30 pm in the Festsaal of the University of Bonn. The opening lecture will be given by Prof. Dr. Moshe Zimmermann from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Journalists are invited to attend the event. Registration is requested at vforum@unibonn.de.
Control, coercion, and constraint in religion
What role does religion play in both overcoming existing and creating new forms and types of dependencies? This question will be explored in the second part of the lecture series organized by the Centre for Religion and Society (ZERG) and the Cluster of Excellence Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS). The lecture series will now take place every Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. in the University's main building and will also be livestreamed.
Film series and discussion: Who’s Got the Power?
Who's Got the Power? This is the question addressed in a new film series by the Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) at the University of Bonn and Förderverein Filmkultur, a film funding association in Bonn. The launch of the film series marks the start of a multi-year cooperation between these two institutions. The films will examine various scenarios of human oppression and strong asymmetrical dependency relationships, beginning with the award-winning film "La Pirogue" by Moussa Touré on April 28 at 8 p.m. at the Kino in der Brotfabrik, Bonn (Kreuzstraße 16). The format “screening plus talk” will offer a space for researchers, film makers, and the public to enter into a dialogue.
Fifth issue of research magazine DEPENDENT out now
The current issue of the research magazine DEPENDENT, issued biannually by the Cluster of Excellence Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, is dedicated to the topic of "Values, Norms, and Institutions in the Study of Slavery and other Forms of Asymmetrical Dependency".
Excellent historical publications
Two members of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS), the Excellence Cluster in the field of humanities and social sciences at the University of Bonn, have been recognized for their outstanding academic work. Prof. Dr. Béla Bodó, Principal Investigator at the BCDSS, received the Hungarian Studies Association Book Prize for a monograph on anti-Semitism and political violence in Hungary between 1919 and 1921. Dr Eva Marie Lehner, BCDSS postdoctoral fellow, was awarded the Dissertation Prize of the Working Group on Historical Women and Gender Studies. Her dissertation examines the index of personal data in early modern church registers in southern German parishes.
Researchers to Debate "Reconciliation"
What does “reconciliation” even mean? Every week from November 3 onward, two researchers will climb into the ring to argue about this topic in an online dialogue forum—and perhaps reconcile again once it is all over. Anyone who is interested can dial in via Zoom to follow the debates, which will be held every Wednesday from 6:15 to 7:45 pm. However, they will not be “duels” in the literal sense, as landing the better argument in a moderated discussion will be what counts. The floor will be opened after 45 minutes, with students, researchers and members of the public all welcome to participate.
New professorships for dependency studies
Opening up a new approach to research on slavery and dependency - that is the aim of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) at the University of Bonn. The Cluster of Excellence has now been strengthened by three outstanding female scholars: The historians Julia Hillner and Claudia Jarzebowski as well as the Americanist Pia Wiegmink will take up professorships at the Cluster starting in fall, completing the team of professorships established there as part of the Excellence Strategy. Christoph Witzenrath, also a historian, already researches and teaches at the BCDSS. At a reception in the university's Rector's Office, Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael Hoch now officially presented the appointment certificates to the four Cluster Professors.
PhenoRob
Robots Listening Out for Instructions in the Greenhouse
The greenhouses of the future are set to see ever-greater human-robot collaboration, and a team led by Professor Maren Bennewitz from the University of Bonn together with partners from Taiwan is using artificial intelligence to study the basic principles needed to make this happen. In their project, entitled “Learning Expert-Guided Crop Intervention through Human-in-the-Loop LLM Robotics” (or “AgriLoop” for short), the groups from the two countries are investigating how greenhouse robots will be able to work more closely with agricultural experts with the aid of natural-language interaction.
Minister of Finance Dr. Optendrenk Visits the University of Bonn
The Minister of Finance of North Rhine-Westphalia, Dr. Marcus Optendrenk, has just visited the University of Bonn. Following talks with Rector Michael Hoch, the Finance Minister visited Poppelsdorf Campus to learn about the latest research methods for sustainable agriculture and bioeconomy, and inspected ongoing construction projects of BLB NRW (the building and real estate management agency of North Rhine-Westphalia). The visit commenced with the Minister visiting Rector Hoch at his offices at the University, where they talked about current issues and developments at the University of Bonn. These included the recent confirmation of the institution’s status as a University of Excellence, remaining indeed the most successful German university in the Excellence contest with eight funded Clusters of Excellence.
Land Degradation Significantly Reduces Crop Yields
Factors such as erosion, dehydration and compaction of the soil are jeopardizing food supplies for broad swathes of the world’s population according to a recent study by the University of Bonn, the University of Minnesota, the University of Basel and Hamburg University of Technology. If human-made soil degradation were to be reversed by 10 percent, the Earth’s arable land could feed an extra 70 million or so people in purely mathematical terms. The findings have now been published in the journal “Nature Food.”
Agri-Environmental Policies Improve Cropland Around the World
Erosion, salinization and shrinking numbers of organisms such as worms and beneficial fungi can have a devastating effect on soil fertility, and so many parts of the world have passed laws to curb these processes. A study by the University of Bonn has now shown that these measures have improved soil quality in many countries. Their impact, however, is heavily dependent on the political and institutional environment in which they are implemented. The researchers’ findings have been published in the journal “Nature Food.”
Robotics expert Stefano Mintchev to swap Zurich for Bonn
Stefano Mintchev, a specialist in robotics, is to join the University of Bonn from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich on September 1, 2026. He is studying robots that can move independently in complex natural environments.
Young People Explore the Agriculture of the Future through Hands-On Research
How can we feed a growing global population? And what role are new technologies playing in making food systems sustainable? The PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn welcomed a class of schoolchildren to Klein-Altendorf Campus to show them some innovative approaches being taken in the world of agriculture. The young people spent a morning gaining an insight into current research projects and learning how robots, drones and digital technologies are transforming the agricultural sector.
Less Fertilizer Through Smart Alliances
Over the course of evolution, plants have developed an elegant strategy to counteract a lack of phosphate in the soil — they form symbiotic relationships with soil fungi. These mycorrhizal fungi efficiently supply their plant partners with phosphate and other essential minerals. Recently, scientists at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB) in Halle, in collaboration with partners at the University of Bonn, discovered a molecular switch that detects the plant's phosphate content and signals whether to initiate or inhibit the symbiosis. This signaling pathway could enable plants to form partnerships with soil fungi even when sufficient phosphate is available. The study, published in the renowned journal Science Advances, offers a potential solution to a long-standing agricultural problem and opens new avenues for reducing fertilizer use.
Less hunger, more environmental problems?
In sub-Saharan Africa, many people are undernourished or malnourished. A new study by the Universities of Bonn and Ghana shows how rising incomes and urbanization are influencing dietary patterns of local populations. According to this, the wealthier segments in African countries are increasingly eating like people in Western industrialized countries. Although this improves their supply of important nutrients, it also has a greater negative impact on the environment. The study also looks at how this environmental damage can be minimized. It has been published in the journal ‘Sustainable Production and Consumption.’
Bonn’s Domestic Service Robots Defend Their Title
The University of Bonn´s NimbRo team convincingly defended its @Home League championship title at the RoboCup German Open, finishing well ahead of the runner-up. From March 10 to 14, the service robots demonstrated their capabilities in everyday environments. They understood complex voice commands, navigated safely through a simulated apartment and an unfamiliar restaurant, delivered orders, and removed laundry from the washing machine.
Advances in Technology Unlocking More Sustainable Agricultural Systems
The agriculture industry may be producing more food than ever before, but it is also damaging the climate, harming the soil and eroding biodiversity. A team of researchers from the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn has now published a paper in the journal “Agricultural Systems” that explains the key role technological innovations will need to play to make agriculture sustainable in the future and why these will have to be accompanied by shrewd policies and new business models.
How a Fungus Leads to Tissue Growths in Maize
When a maize plant is attacked by the fungus Ustilago maydis, tumor-like tissue growths occur at the site of infection. How the pathogen causes this response in its host has long been unknown. But a University of Bonn study has now shown how the fungus takes over the plant’s function for forming lateral roots. The findings have been published in the journal New Phytologist.
Expensive food makes children fat
When food prices skyrocket during an economic crisis, it is primarily urban populations and people with low levels of education who are affected. This can have lifelong negative health consequences – such as stunted growth in children. A research team at the University of Bonn has now demonstrated such long-term effects using the example of the "Asian financial crisis" in the 1990s. At that time, turmoil on the financial markets led to a drastic increase in the price of rice, Indonesia's most important staple food, which left measurable traces in the development of children. The study was published in the journal "Global Food Security."
Eight times excellent: From January 2026, two further clusters of excellence will be funded Bonn
From January 1, 2026, the number of clusters of excellence funded at the University of Bonn will rise to eight – more than at any other university in Germany. Two new cluster projects will receive funding from the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments for the first time. Starting in 2026, a total of around 40 million euros will flow into Bonn each year to strengthen the research activities of this University of Excellence.
Sustainable pest management would have positive effects across the globe
What would happen if farmers around the globe were to switch over to sustainable pest management? An international study headed by the University of Bonn and ETH Zurich focused on precisely this question. The study is based on assessments provided by more than 500 leading experts from around the world who work in various disciplines from ecology through to economics. Most of those surveyed believe that the consequences of such a transformation would be positive in the long term – even from an economic perspective. However, the main effects of this transformation will vary around the world depending on the region. The results were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.
EU Environment Commissioner Meets Researchers from the University of Bonn
The EU’s Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall visited Bonn on December 1 to find out about the research being done in the University of Bonn’s PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence. Discussions focused on three main topics: digital agriculture, sustainable food systems and preserving biodiversity.
Strong attendance at the open house on Klein-Altendorf Campus—despite the erratic weather
“You’re in luck—somebody is just about to leave. There’s still one spot to the left of the sign!” One thing was immediately clear, even before you’d parked your car: heavy rain earlier that Sunday morning hadn’t dampened interest in the open house at Klein-Altendorf Campus.For this year’s event, Klein-Altendorf Campus of the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional, and Engineering Sciences co-presented with the bio-innovationpark Rheinland in honor of its tenth anniversary. As always, there was also a tractor taxi and tours of the experimental fields and orchards.
Tilo Freiherr von Wilmowsky Honorary Award for Prof. Matin Qaim
Prof. Dr. Matin Qaim has received the Tilo Freiherr von Wilmowsky Honorary Award from the “Verbindungsstelle Landwirtschaft-Industrie” (VLI). Since 2012, the association has presented the award annually to individuals who have rendered outstanding services to German agribusiness. The prize has now been awarded at the VLI spring conference in Frankfurt.
Agri-PV enjoys comparatively high acceptance
Photovoltaic systems are increasingly being installed not only on roofs but also on open land. This does not always meet with citizens’ approval. What is known as agrivoltaics (Agri-PV), however, is viewed more favorably, as researchers at the University of Bonn have now been able to show. In this case, the solar cells are installed in spaces used for agriculture – such as on pastures or as a canopy over grapevines. According to a survey of almost 2,000 people, this form enjoys much higher acceptance than normal solar parks. The study has been published in the journal “Land Use Policy.”
PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence Invites You to Attend a Career Fair
The PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence Career Fair is all about connecting the artificial intelligence (AI) and agriculture experts of tomorrow with high-profile non-academic employers. Students, doctoral candidates and graduates of the University of Bonn are invited to expand their network of professional contacts on May 9 from 1 pm to 6 pm.
Domestic Robots from Bonn Win the German Open
The University of Bonn’s NimbRo team masterfully defended its title at the German Open household robot competition, held March 13-16 in Nuremberg. University of Bonn’s robots for assistance with day-to-day tasks were developed by the Autonomous Intelligent Systems working group at the Institute of Computer Science. Capable of grasping and dropping objects and navigating everyday environments, they interact with human beings via voice dialogue system.
Improved Efficiency and Resource Conservation—But Greater Dependence Too?
Digitalization is ushering in far-reaching change in all areas of our lives, not least in the agricultural sector. Researchers from the University of Bonn have now presented a study on how international agricultural corporations and Big Tech firms are using digital platforms to transform the agriculture industry. They make it clear that, although the technologies harbor significant potential, they also risk amplifying existing power structures and creating new dependencies.
Africa: Better roads promote greater dietary diversity
A balanced diet is important for reducing hunger and malnutrition. Researchers thus advocate that small farmers in low- and middle-income countries should try to produce as many different foods as possible for their own consumption. However, a new study is now questioning this recommendation to some extent. It suggests that good access to regional markets is more important than farmers growing a large diversity of crops on their own smallholding. Better-functioning markets increase the variety of foods available locally, which benefits the population as a whole. The results are being published in the journal “Nature Food.”
Animal products improve child nutrition in Africa
The consumption of milk products, eggs and fish has a positive effect on childhood development in Africa. This has been demonstrated in a recent study by the CABI's regional centre for Africa in Nairobi, Kenya and the University of Bonn. The researchers used representative data from five African countries with over 32,000 child observations. If the children had a diet containing animal products, they suffered less from malnutrition and related developmental deficiencies. The study has now been published in the journal PNAS.
Rainforest protection reduces the number of respiratory diseases
Rainforest protection is not only good for biodiversity and the climate – it also noticeably improves the health of humans who live in the corresponding regions. This is the conclusion drawn by a current study by the University of Bonn and the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil. In this, the researchers show that measures to combat slash-and-burn techniques significantly reduce the concentration of particulate matter in the air. The number of hospital stays and deaths due to respiratory diseases thus also decreases. The results have been published now in the journal Nature Communications, Earth & Environment.
Seven ERC Starting Grants for the University of Bonn
There have never been so many ERC Starting Grants at once at the University of Bonn: no fewer than seven researchers have been successful with their applications in the highly competitive European Research Council (ERC) funding process. With their funding of some €1.5 million each, the researchers from the fields of ethics, mathematics, economics, soil science, computer science and astronomy will be able to realize their projects over the next five years.
Bonn Household Robots are World Champions
Team NimbRo from the University of Bonn took first place at the RoboCup@Home World Championships in Eindhoven. From July 17 to 21, the domestic service robots competed against 16 other teams in Eindhoven, Netherlands. NimbRo achieved the highest score in the tests and also impressed the jury in the final. The assistance robots for everyday environments are being developed at the Chair of Autonomous Intelligent Systems at the Institute of Computer Science. They navigate autonomously, can pick up and place objects and interact with people using a speech dialog system.
Farmland weeds help to combat pests
Leaving some weeds between crops can help to combat pests on agricultural land, according to a new study carried out by the University of Bonn. This step has particularly positive effects in combination with other measures: the cultivation of different types of crops and planting strips of wildflowers. The results have now been published in the Journal of Pest Science.
AI shows how field crops develop
Researchers at the University of Bonn have developed software that can simulate the growth of field crops. To do this, they fed thousands of photos from field experiments into a learning algorithm. This enabled the algorithm to learn how to visualize the future development of cultivated plants based on a single initial image. Using the images created during this process, parameters such as leaf area or yield can be estimated accurately. The results have been published in the journal Plant Methods.
AI to Make Crop Production More Sustainable
Drones monitoring fields for weeds and robots targeting and treating crop diseases may sound like science fiction but is actually happening already, at least on some experimental farms. Researchers from the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn are working on driving forward the smart digitalization of agriculture and have now published a list of the research questions that will need to be tackled as a priority in the future. Their paper has appeared in the “European Journal of Agronomy.”
All Countries’ Agri-Environmental Policies at a Glance
There can be no analysis without data. In this spirit, researchers from the University of Bonn and the Swiss Federal Institution of Technology (ETH) Zurich have published a database containing over 6,000 agri-environmental policies, thus enabling their peers as well as policymakers and businesses to seek answers to all manner of different questions. The researchers have used two examples to demonstrate how this can be done: how a country’s economic development is linked to its adoption of agri-environmental policies and how such policies impact soil erosion. Their study has now been published in “Nature Food.”
ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy
Good news, false expectations? How people assess potential returns in the stock market
A study involving the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne demonstrates that not only retail investors but also financial professionals often assess the potential returns on the stock market differently to what standard models of financial economics predict. This is due to differing ideas about how news on companies affects future stock returns. The study, entitled “Mental Models of the Stock Market,” has been published in the prestigious Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Global study shows: Most people cooperate
People around the world are more cooperative than we believe. This is shown by a new study in the renowned scientific journal Science, authored by Prof. Dr. Armin Falk (University of Bonn), together with Prof. Teodora Boneva (University of Bonn), Prof. Peter Andre (Goethe University Frankfurt), and Prof. Dr. Felix Chopra (Frankfurt School of Finance).
Why CEOs are getting older
In a new discussion paper, a team of researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Princeton demonstrates that executives in the US are now reaching top positions later than they did two decades ago. This trend towards higher CEO age at appointment is particularly pronounced outside the largest listed firms. The researchers attribute this development to the fact that firms increasingly demand broad knowledge and diverse skills from their CEOs.
Eight times excellent: From January 2026, two further clusters of excellence will be funded Bonn
From January 1, 2026, the number of clusters of excellence funded at the University of Bonn will rise to eight – more than at any other university in Germany. Two new cluster projects will receive funding from the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments for the first time. Starting in 2026, a total of around 40 million euros will flow into Bonn each year to strengthen the research activities of this University of Excellence.
University of Bonn Celebrates Three ERC Starting Grants
The University of Bonn has yet another good reason to celebrate as three of its researchers have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant worth €1.5 million each. This European Research Council (ERC) grant program is designed to support early-career researchers. The economist Assistant Professor Amelie Schiprowski, the computer scientist Professor Lucie Flek and the evolutionary biologist Dr. Moritz Lürig will use the funding to progress their own research projects over the next five years.
Seven ERC Starting Grants for the University of Bonn
There have never been so many ERC Starting Grants at once at the University of Bonn: no fewer than seven researchers have been successful with their applications in the highly competitive European Research Council (ERC) funding process. With their funding of some €1.5 million each, the researchers from the fields of ethics, mathematics, economics, soil science, computer science and astronomy will be able to realize their projects over the next five years.
Meat Consumption Falls After Veggie Month
What effect does a vegan/vegetarian month have on a canteen? For this experiment, the Studierendenwerk Bonn sought scientific support from researchers at the Universities of Bonn and Kassel. They found that the impact could still be felt up to eight weeks after the campaign month had ended: as a result of the vegan/vegetarian month, the amount of meat consumed in the canteen fell by 7 to 12 percent compared to the level recorded beforehand. In addition, around half of the people surveyed agreed with the idea of one meat-free month a year, while over 80 percent said that canteens should offer more vegetarian options. The findings have been published in a working paper prepared by the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn.
University of Bonn Secures Two New Research Groups
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has given its approval for a new Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences and a Research Unit at the University of Bonn. In the Finance and Inequality Centre for Advanced Studies, the researchers led by Professor Christian Bayer and Professor Carsten Burhop are looking at the relationship between the growth of the financial sector and inequality from a historical angle. In the field of mathematical physics, meanwhile, Professor Claude Duhr is the speaker for a new Research Unit for particle physics. The DFG will be funding the two projects to the tune of several million euros over the next four years.
Fake News Harms the Economy
Fake news significantly impacts economic dynamics, leading to higher unemployment and lower production. Additionally, people tend to overestimate their ability to distinguish between accurate and false information. However, once they are made aware of this (through experience), their willingness to pay to protect themselves from fake news increases. These are some of the findings from two discussion papers produced by the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn.
University of Bonn Graduate Philipp Strack Is Awarded John Bates Clark Medal
Economist Philipp Strack, who is a University of Bonn graduate and additionally took his doctorate at the Bonn Graduate School of Economics, has received the John Bates Clark Medal—considered the second most prestigious award in the field of economics after the Nobel Prize. The medal is awarded by the American Economic Association (AEA) to economists under age forty living in the United States who have made significant scholarly and research contributions in the field of economics.
Major Success for University of Bonn
The University of Bonn has some excellent news to report, with two new cluster initiatives given the green light to apply for funding as part of the Excellence Initiative of the German government and federal states. The German Research Foundation and the German Council of Science and Humanities made the announcement earlier today. The two new cluster initiatives are thus among the 41 chosen from the 143 draft proposals in all from across the country that were evaluated. In 2019, the University of Bonn secured an already impressive six clusters, more than any other university in Germany. All of these clusters are applying to maintain their status, putting the University in with a chance of hosting eight Clusters of Excellence.
Why Are People Climate Change Deniers?
Do climate change deniers bend the facts to avoid having to modify their environmentally harmful behavior? Researchers from the University of Bonn and the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) ran an online experiment involving 4,000 US adults, and found no evidence to support this idea. The authors of the study were themselves surprised by the results. Whether they are good or bad news for the fight against global heating remains to be seen. The study is being published in the journal “Nature Climate Change.”
University of Bonn Economist Wins ERC Proof of Concept Grant
The economist Professor Christian Bayer from the Institute for Macroeconomics and Econometrics at the University of Bonn has been awarded a Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This program hands researchers €150,000 in funding for up to 18 months to help them commercialize their ideas from previous ERC projects through excellent basic research.
What Does Having German Citizenship Mean for Children with an Immigration Background?
Having German citizenship means different things to boys and girls with an immigration background. Christina Felfe, Professor of Economics at the University of Konstanz, will be giving an online public talk (in German) about these differing impacts, to be held at 5 pm on Tuesday, November 21. Held in German, the event is part of the ReStart Talks series organized by the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence, a joint initiative of the Universities of Bonn and Cologne.
Greix-Decline in apartment prices mainly affects existing stock, new construction prices relatively stable
A comparison of apartment price trends by year of construction in Germany's largest cities reveals a notable pattern: While prices for new buildings have experienced a relatively modest decline from their peak, the value of existing properties has fallen by more than twice as much. This finding comes from a comprehensive data analysis conducted by the German Real Estate Index (Greix), a project of ECONtribute and the Kiel Institute.
How Germany made it through winter without Russian gas
The German economy has coped with the end of Russian gas supplies and would have also been able to withstand an import stop from April 2022. This is the result of ananalysis of a team around Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick, member of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute of the Universities of Bonn and Cologne and designated President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, joint with Prof. Dr. Benjamin Moll (London School of Economics) and Dr. Georg Zachmann (Bruegel). The study has been published as "ECONtribute Policy Brief".
Stereotypes influence whether people buy stocks
Whether people invest in stocks depends on what they think about stockholders. This is what a team led by Luca Henkel, a member of the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence: Markets & Public Policy at the University of Bonn, found out. The study has been published as an ECONtribute Discussion Paper.
Sustainability more important for young people than high wages
Young people would accept a lower salary for a job in a sustainable or socially oriented company. This is what a team led by Thomas Dohmen, professor at the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute at the University of Bonn, has discovered.
Covid-19: Vaccination status polarizes population
People who strongly identify with their Covid vaccine status discriminate more strongly against the respective other group. This is shown by a study conducted by the team around Luca Henkel, member of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute at the University of Bonn, with the participation of the Universities of Erfurt and Vienna and the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine Hamburg. The study was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
Excellence Slam at the Arkadenhof
What are the researchers of the Clusters of Excellence at the University of Bonn actually working on? They provide an up-close look on August 22 at 8 p.m. in the Arkadenhof of the University Main Building. At the Excellence Slam, scientists from the clusters will present their research in short talks in a generally understandable and humorous way. At the end, the audience votes - and the most popular slam wins. The free event takes place one day after the finale of the Bonn Silent Film Festival and uses the festival's stage in the courtyard of the Baroque Palace. Please note: The event and the slams will be held in German.
Profits caused wages in the financial sector to rise
Companies share rising profits with their employees, which has led to above-average wage increases in the financial sector in recent years. This was revealed by a team led by Dr. Michael Böhm, a researcher at the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn.
Why students later pursue careers in STEM subjects
An international team including Prof. Dr. Thomas Dohmen, spokesperson of the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne, has received a grant of up to $2.5 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). In the funded study, the researchers will determine the extent to which students' personality traits, executive function skills, and preferences predict their later academic achievement and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The project will run for five years.
Moderate GDP Decline if Russian Energy Imports Stopped
If the German government were to stop Russian energy imports, the German economy would be able to adapt to the new situation. This is shown in a recent study by the research team led by economists Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick and Prof. Dr. Moritz Kuhn, members of the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne. The study has been published as "ECONtribute Policy Brief".
Residential property more profitable in smaller cities
Residential real estate in major cities is considered to be particularly profitable. However, the returns over the past 150 years have been lower on average than for properties in smaller cities. This is shown in a study by the team of economist Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick, member of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy at the University of Bonn. The study is the first of its kind to provide historical comparisons of long-term total returns on residential portfolios, linking house price data and rental yields. It was published in advance as "ECONtribute Discussion Paper".
Past stock prices mislead investors
Investors often decide how to invest based on past stock prices. In fact, however, future and past returns do not depend on each other. If investors are made aware of this error, they change their investment behavior. This is shown in a study by the team of economist Prof. Dr. Christine Laudenbach, member of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy at the University of Bonn. The study was published in advance as an "ECONtribute Discussion Paper".
Smart consumer laws for smart technologies
Smartphones, tablets and wearables that measure step counts or calorie consumption, for example, have become an integral part of many people's everyday lives. All these devices are part of the Internet of Things - a socio-technological reality that is increasingly becoming the focus of legislation. In a new project, researchers from the Universities of Bonn, Osnabrück, Stirling and Warwick (both UK) investigate how consumers can be better protected when using smart devices. The project, which has been described by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as "world leading", is scheduled to run for three years and has a total funding volume of around 650,000 euros.
Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick receives a Leibniz Prize
Prof. Dr. Moritz Schularick receives the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, which is endowed with 2.5 million euros, for his excellent research achievements. The German Research Foundation (DFG) made the announcement today. As Director of the MacroFinane Lab and Principal Investigator for the University of Bonn’s Cluster of Excellence, ECONtribute, his research on financial market stability, inequality and economic history receives great resonance beyond his academic work. The highly endowed prize gives the winners great research freedom.
University of Bonn recruits top-class researchers
Renowned reinforcement for the University of Bonn: With the first "High profile" professorships financed by excellence funds, three top-class scientific personalities join the University of Excellence to open up new fields of research and to provide important impulses in various disciplines. Ethicist Prof. Dr. Christiane Woopen takes up a so-called Hertz Professorship today (October 1), while agricultural economist Prof. Dr. Matin Qaim and Catholic theologian Prof. Dr. Klaus von Stosch fill so-called Schlegel Professorships. The three professors were officially appointed at a reception in the Rector's Office.
Social norms influence willingness to protect the climate
People contribute only very little to climate protection, because they underestimate the willingness of others to contribute. This is the central result of a new study by the behavioural economists Peter Andre, Teodora Boneva, Felix Chopra and Armin Falk, members of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne, published as an “ECONtribute Discussion Paper”.
Excellence Strategy: Federal Minister Anja Karliczek visits University of Bonn
The Federal Minister of Education and Research, Anja Karliczek, has visited the University of Bonn. The focus was on the developments in the Excellence Strategy. The University of Bonn had emerged from the current competition of the federal and state governments as the most successful applicant with six clusters of excellence and the status of a University of Excellence.
ML4Q: Matter and light for quantum computing
ERC Proof of Concept Grant for innovation in low-temperature microscopy
Junior-Professor Daqing Wang from the University of Bonn has received a Proof of Concept Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for his “MinCryo” project. With the grant of €150,000 over one year, the physicist will continue to prepare his research results for practical applications in industry. The technical solution developed by him and his team facilitates a wider and more resource-efficient access to cryogenic – extremely cold - optical imaging that combines microscopes with extremely cold temperatures.
Eight times excellent: From January 2026, two further clusters of excellence will be funded Bonn
From January 1, 2026, the number of clusters of excellence funded at the University of Bonn will rise to eight – more than at any other university in Germany. Two new cluster projects will receive funding from the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments for the first time. Starting in 2026, a total of around 40 million euros will flow into Bonn each year to strengthen the research activities of this University of Excellence.
Light Particles Prefer Company
As far as particles of light are concerned, the collective is more important than the individual. When they get to decide between two states, they will favor the one that many of their fellow particles have already adopted. However, this collectivist tendency does not kick in until enough photons have assembled in the same place. These findings, revealed by University of Bonn physicists in a recent study, could aid the development of ultra-powerful laser sources, among other things. They have now been published in the journal “Physical Review Letters.”
Quantum to Go
Quantum physics—for many, a mystery involving cats, strange particles, and formulas that make your head spin. And yet it has long been shaping our everyday lives: in smartphones, laser pointers, and modern medicine. All this has been made possible by over 100 years of tireless basic research.
Lena Funcke from the University of Bonn Awarded the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize
Clausius Junior Professor Dr. Lena Funcke from the University of Bonn is one of ten researchers to receive the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize from the German Research Foundation (DFG). The prize, each endowed with €200,000, is considered by the DFG to be the most important award in Germany for researchers in the early stages of their careers.
Simon Stellmer receives ERC Proof of Concept Grant
Professor Simon Stellmer, a member of the Cluster of Excellence ML4Q, receives a ‘Proof of Concept Grant’ from the European Research Council (ERC) for his project „GyroRevolutionPlus“. With the funding of €150,000 for up to 18 months, the physicist will continue to prepare his research results from previous ERC projects for commercial application. This is the second time that Professor Stellmer has been successful in this funding program after having received a grant for his previous project ‘GyroRevolution’ in 2023. The precision instruments he and his team are developing can be used to improve natural disaster early warning systems.
Repelling Yet Still Sticking Together
How can a structure hold together if its individual components are actually repelling one another? An international research team has now demonstrated one example of such a highly excited exotic quantum state of matter. Researchers from the University of Bonn played a major role in the study. The findings have now been published in the journal “Nature.”
Perturbations simplify the study of “super photons”
Thousands of particles of light can merge into a type of “super photon” under suitable conditions. Physicists call such a state a photon Bose-Einstein condensate. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now shown that this exotic quantum state obeys a fundamental theorem of physics. This finding now allows one to measure properties of photon Bose-Einstein condensates which are usually difficult to access. The study has been published in the journal “Nature Communications.”
Dr. Julian Schmitt Presented with Industrie-Club Award for Quantum Gas Research
Dr. Julian Schmitt from the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Bonn has been presented with the Industrie-Club Düsseldorf’s Science Award for 2024 in recognition of his outstanding work studying quantum gases of photons. The accolade is worth €20,000.
Major Success for University of Bonn
The University of Bonn has some excellent news to report, with two new cluster initiatives given the green light to apply for funding as part of the Excellence Initiative of the German government and federal states. The German Research Foundation and the German Council of Science and Humanities made the announcement earlier today. The two new cluster initiatives are thus among the 41 chosen from the 143 draft proposals in all from across the country that were evaluated. In 2019, the University of Bonn secured an already impressive six clusters, more than any other university in Germany. All of these clusters are applying to maintain their status, putting the University in with a chance of hosting eight Clusters of Excellence.
Effect in the quantum world: When electrons slowly vanish during cooling
Many substances change their properties when they are cooled below a certain critical temperature. Such a phase transition occurs, for example, when water freezes. However, in certain metals there are phase transitions that do not exist in the macrocosm. They arise because of the special laws of quantum mechanics that apply in the realm of nature’s smallest building blocks. It is thought that the concept of electrons as carriers of quantized electric charge no longer applies near these exotic phase transitions. Researchers at the University of Bonn and ETH Zurich have now found a way to prove this directly. Their findings allow new insights into the exotic world of quantum physics. The publication has now been released in the journal Nature Physics.
Two ERC Proof of Concept Grants for the University of Bonn
Two researchers from the University of Bonn have been awarded a Proof of Concept Grant by the European Research Council (ERC) as part of a program designed to help researchers translate their ideas from previous ERC projects into commercial applications. Biologist Prof. Dr. Bernardo S. Franklin from the University Hospital Bonn and physicist Prof. Dr. Simon Stellmer will thus each receive €150,000 over a period of around one year.
Physical effect also valid in the quantum world
Physicists at the University of Bonn have experimentally proven that an important theorem of statistical physics applies to so-called "Bose-Einstein condensates." Their results now make it possible to measure certain properties of the quantum “superparticles” and deduce system characteristics that would otherwise be difficult to observe. The study has now been published in Physical Review Letters.
University of Bonn Benefiting from Two ERC Synergy Grants
Together with several partners, the University of Bonn can celebrate a twofold success in the Synergy Grants grant program offered by the European Research Council (ERC). The first project, “SuperWave,” is being run in collaboration with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Aarhus University and involves scaling up quantum systems from individual photons and atoms. The second, “Horsepower,” is studying the interrelationships between sedentary and nomadic peoples in partnership with the University of Oxford, CRNS Toulouse and the British Museum. In particular, the ERC funding is intended to advance the research being done at the interface between established disciplines and unlock new knowledge. The projects will be supported to the tune of up to €10 million over the next six years.
Excellence Slam at the Arkadenhof
What are the researchers of the Clusters of Excellence at the University of Bonn actually working on? They provide an up-close look on August 22 at 8 p.m. in the Arkadenhof of the University Main Building. At the Excellence Slam, scientists from the clusters will present their research in short talks in a generally understandable and humorous way. At the end, the audience votes - and the most popular slam wins. The free event takes place one day after the finale of the Bonn Silent Film Festival and uses the festival's stage in the courtyard of the Baroque Palace. Please note: The event and the slams will be held in German.
Four ERC Grants for the University of Bonn
Good news for the University of Bonn: Four scientists receive a coveted grant from the European Research Council (ERC) and thus funding in the millions for the next five years. Prof. Dr. Valentin Blomer from the Institute of Mathematics receives a so-called Advanced Grant, Prof. Dr. Claude Duhr from the Institute of Physics a Consolidator Grant, Dr. Julian Schmitt from the Institute of Applied Physics and Prof. Dr. Georg Oberdieck from the Institute of Mathematics each a Starting Grant.
1.5 million euros for improved quantum sensors
They originate from the world of the smallest particles and have the ability to measure things with the highest precision - quantum sensors are currently veritable stars among experts. For a project aimed at improving such sensors, physicists at the University of Bonn and their international partners are now receiving funding of around 1.5 million euros from the European QuantERA program. In their project, the researchers want to guide laser-cooled atoms through hollow-core photonic crystal fibers in order to incorporate them into quantum sensors and quantum computers. The Technical University of Darmstadt, the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland), the University of Torun (Poland) and the company Alpine Quantum Technologies (Austria) are involved.
Physicists create extremely compressible "gas of light"
Researchers at the University of Bonn have created a gas of light particles that can be extremely compressed. Their results confirm the predictions of central theories of quantum physics. The findings could also point the way to new types of sensors that can measure minute forces. The study is published in the journal Science.
Excellence Strategy: Federal Minister Anja Karliczek visits University of Bonn
The Federal Minister of Education and Research, Anja Karliczek, has visited the University of Bonn. The focus was on the developments in the Excellence Strategy. The University of Bonn had emerged from the current competition of the federal and state governments as the most successful applicant with six clusters of excellence and the status of a University of Excellence.
A new state of light
A single "super photon" made up of many thousands of individual light particles: About ten years ago, researchers at the University of Bonn produced such an extreme aggregate state for the first time and presented a completely new light source. The state is called optical Bose-Einstein condensate and has captivated many physicists ever since, because this exotic world of light particles is home to its very own physical phenomena. Researchers led by Prof. Dr. Martin Weitz, who discovered the super photon, and theoretical physicist Prof. Dr. Johann Kroha have returned from their latest "expedition" into the quantum world with a very special observation. They report of a new, previously unknown phase transition in the optical Bose-Einstein condensate. This is a so-called overdamped phase. The results may in the long term be relevant for encrypted quantum communication. The study has been published in the journal Science. STRICTLY EMBARGOED: Do not publish until 2:00 pm U.S. Eastern Time Thursday, 1 April!
When memory qubits and photons get entangled
Encrypting data in a way that ensures secure communication is an ever-growing challenge because crucial components of today's encryption systems cannot withstand future quantum computers. Researchers around the world are therefore working on technologies for novel encryption methods that are also based on quantum effects. The phenomenon of so-called quantum entanglement plays a particularly important role here. This means that in a quantum network, the stationary qubits of the network are entangled with the communication channel, which usually consists of photons (light particles). For the first time, physicists at the University of Bonn have now been able to demonstrate quantum entanglement between a stationary qubit, i.e. a two-state quantum system, and a photon with direct coupling to an optical fiber. The study has been published in the journal "npj Quantum Information".
Innovations through hair-thin optical fibres
Scientists at the University of Bonn have built hair-thin optical fibre filters in a very simple way. They are not only extremely compact and stable, but also colour-tunable. This means they can be used in quantum technology and as sensors for temperature or for detecting atmospheric gases. The results have been published in the journal “Optics Express”.
Physicists observe competition between magnetic orders
They are as thin as a hair, only a hundred thousand times thinner—so-called two-dimensional materials, consisting of a single layer of atoms, have been booming in research for years. They became known to a wider audience when two Russian-British scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for the discovery of graphene, a building block of graphite. The special feature of such materials is that they possess novel properties that can only be explained with the help of the laws of quantum mechanics and that may be relevant for enhanced technologies. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now used ultracold atoms to gain new insights into previously unknown quantum phenomena. They found out that the magnetic orders between two coupled thin films of atoms compete with each other. The study has been published in the journal Nature.
From the physics lab to industry
How do laser beams get the right shape? A question that occupies not just some fantasy heroes, but also physicists at the University of Bonn. In the course of their research, three of them have found a solution to the problem that is so practical that it has aroused the interest not only of the scientific community, but now also of industry experts: The start-up project "Midel Photonics" by Dr. David Dung, Dr. Christian Wahl and Frederik Wolf is one of twelve start-ups selected this year for the state-wide "HIGH-TECH.NRW" program.
TRA 1 Modelling
Transdisciplinary Research Area "Mathematics, Modeling and Simulation of Complex Systems"
AI Model Improves Injury Prediction in Women's Elite Football
An international team of researchers led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the University of Bonn—with participation from the Barça Innovation Hub (BIHUB), FC Barcelona’s medical department, and the company Made of Genes—has developed a computer-based approach that improves injury prediction in elite women’s football. The study, published in “npj Digital Medicine,” combines artificial intelligence, survival analysis, statistical calibration, and decision theory to transform risk prediction into a useful tool for clinical and sports practice.
Mit Freunden das Rechnen fördern
The Society of Friends and Supporters of the Arithmeum (registered association) was recently launched to strengthen the Bonn-based museum in the long term as a unique meeting place for mathematics, art, and culture. The Arithmeum deserves to become "even more visible regarding its international cultural and scientific significance, and even better known as an interactive venue," explains Dr. Monika Wulf-Mathies, the Society’s newly elected First Chairwoman, adding: "Together, we are strengthening the Arithmeum—for future generations."
Understanding How Genes Interact
How do our genes determine our appearance and our susceptibility to disease? This question is central to biomedical research, and today we can sequence thousands of human genomes to identify these genes. However, genes work in complex networks. In a major transdisciplinary collaboration, an international team of geneticists and bioinformaticians set out to create a so-called genetic interaction (GI) map of a human cell. With significant contributions from the Canadian Donnelly Centre, the University of Minnesota, the Hospital for Sick Children in Canada, the University Hospital Bonn, and the University of Bonn, a first draft has now been published in the journal Cell. This draft currently covers about 2.5 percent of all possible gene pairs.
AI with Locality Awareness
The University of Bonn is hosting a new Emmy Noether Group devoted to AI methods. Junior Professor Marc Rußwurm is developing AI methods for fusing different types of geodata to arrive at a uniform geospatial representation. The German Research Foundation (DFG) will be providing up to 1.4 million euros in funding for the research group over the next six years. The Emmy Noether Program is a framework designed to enable selected postdocs and assistant professors on fixed-term contracts to obtain the qualifications necessary to hold a university professorship.
University of Bonn Researchers Showcase Projects as Supercomputer Marvin Turns Two
Two years after Marvin was switched on, the University of Bonn celebrated its supercomputer with a community event at the Research and Technology Center for Detector Physics. Researchers from various disciplines presented projects realized with the aid of high-performance computers and took the opportunity to chat with their counterparts from different fields.
Bonn’s Domestic Service Robots Defend Their Title
The University of Bonn´s NimbRo team convincingly defended its @Home League championship title at the RoboCup German Open, finishing well ahead of the runner-up. From March 10 to 14, the service robots demonstrated their capabilities in everyday environments. They understood complex voice commands, navigated safely through a simulated apartment and an unfamiliar restaurant, delivered orders, and removed laundry from the washing machine.
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.
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.
Stellar remnants solve the mystery of missing mass in galaxy clusters
Under the leadership of the University of Bonn, a research team led by Prof. Dr. Pavel Kroupa from the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics has discovered that galaxy clusters are about twice as heavy as previously assumed. The additional mass comes mainly from neutron stars and stellar black holes and also explains the observed quantities of heavy elements.
Great honor for Prof. Ulf-G. Meißner
Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. Ulf-G. Meißner from the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics at the University of Bonn received the Award for International Scientific Cooperation. The Chinese Academy of Sciences honors the physicist for his outstanding contributions to scientific cooperation. During a festive ceremony in Beijing, Academy President Jianguo Hou presented the scientist with the coveted medal.
University of Bonn opens its own supermarket
The University of Bonn has opened its own supermarket, in which pineapples, canned tomatoes, and toast are neatly lined up on black shelves. The space measuring 55 square meters (approx. 600 square feet) has pretty much everything you’d need in everyday life. The ‘clientele’, however, is very special: they are subjects participating in scientific studies. Here, researchers from the fields of food and resource economics, psychology, economics, and behavioral science are investigating how health- and sustainability-oriented purchases can be encouraged, for example, through product placement and other incentives. Robots are also demonstrating their capabilities here.
The mystery of intermediate-mass black holes
Galaxies contain black holes weighing between approximately five and 100 solar masses. There are also some with more than 100,000 solar masses. But do medium-mass black holes also develop in galaxies? A study by the Astronomical Institute of Charles University in Czechia, with significant participation from the University of Bonn, shows how medium-mass black holes can frequently form naturally. However, this currently only occurs in the innermost regions of star-forming galaxies similar to our Milky Way. The results have now been published in a “Letter to the Editor” in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics.”
Record ESA Budget Sparks Jubilation among University of Bonn Researchers
The largest contributions in the history of the European Space Agency, €22.3 billion, have been approved at its Council meeting at Ministerial level in Bremen, Germany. Researchers at the University of Bonn are among those elated by this record sum, because it also includes strong funding for ESA’s Earth observation program. This will benefit Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1502 “Regional Climate Change: Disentangling the Role of Land Use and Water Management,” which is based at the University. Researchers from CRC 1502 are involved in ESA’s Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM), which is developing new satellites in order to furnish precise data about our planet’s water resources, among other things.
Quantum sensors: Highly precise measurements in moving brains
What is happening in the brain during an epileptic seizure? How do nerve cells function after a stroke-induced paralysis? What happens in the heads of those suffering from Parkinson’s disease? Investigating these types of questions has been difficult up to now because patients had to keep still. However, Optical Pumped Magnetoencephalography (OPMEG) is making it possible to also scan the brain while the patient is moving. Prof. Dr. Dominik Bach, Hertz Chair for Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience at the University of Bonn, is currently setting up this type of research infrastructure on the campus of the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and will receive funding of almost four million euros over the next three years from the EFRE/JTF program run by the European Union and the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia.
JUPITER selects first AI projects
Only ten teams nationwide will receive exclusive access to the European exascale supercomputer. With the HoMe project, AI research in Bonn is sending a strong signal in the fields of vision, robotics, and generative AI.
Will mathematical research results be verified by computers in the future?
Will it be possible in future to prepare proofs developed in cutting-edge mathematical research with a reasonable amount of human effort so that they can be verified by computers in real time? Prof. Dr. Christoph Thiele and Prof. Dr. Floris van Doorn from the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics (HCM), a Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn, want to help make this possible. The two researchers submitted a joint application for a coveted Synergy Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Following the award of the grant, the European Union will now provide total funding of 6.4 million euros to the “Harmonic Analysis with Lean Formalization” (HALF) project over the next six years. Lean is a relatively new programming language that is increasingly establishing itself as the standard for mathematical formalization.
RiverMamba: New AI architecture improves flood forecasting
Extreme weather events such as heavy rain and flooding pose growing challenges for early warning systems worldwide. Researchers at the University Bonn, the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), and the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence have developed RiverMamba, a new AI model that can predict river discharges and flood risks more accurately than previous methods. The research paper has been accepted for NeurIPS 2025 – a sign of scientific excellence in Bonn-based research. RiverMamba thus makes an important contribution to climate adaptation and risk prevention – topics that are receiving special attention worldwide, particularly around UN World Tsunami Awareness Day on November 5th.
Chemical language models don't need to understand chemistry
Language models are now also being used in the natural sciences. In chemistry, they are employed, for instance, to predict new biologically active compounds. Chemical language models (CLMs) must be extensively trained. However, they do not necessarily acquire knowledge of biochemical relationships during training. Instead, they draw conclusions based on similarities and statistical correlations, as a recent study by the University of Bonn demonstrates. The results have now been published in the journal Patterns.
WerksHub receives Start-up Transfer.NRW funding
The start-up project “WerksHub – Your digital assistant for smarter craft trade” is receiving Start-up Transfer.NRW funding of nearly €300,000 to bring its business idea to market. The team of five computer science students from the University of Bonn is developing modular, AI-supported business management software for skilled trade businesses. At the beginning of 2025, the students had already secured a start-up grant from North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Start-up Transfer.NRW is a funding program of the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection, and Energy (MWIKE) and the European Union.
Avatars with feelings: millions in funding for AI project
The research project “Gen-AIvatar – Universal creation of emotional and diverse avatars through generative AI” is receiving NEXT.IN.NRW funding of around 2 million euros. Scientists at the University of Bonn and TH Köln are working with MindPort GmbH to develop a novel, AI-supported solution for generating emotions for realistic avatars.
Brilliant minds connect disciplines
The University of Bonn has been a University of Excellence since 2019 and is committed to transdisciplinary research collaboration. With eight Clusters of Excellence, the University is now the most successful Universities of Excellence in Germany. As part of its excellence strategy, it has expanded six complementary Transdisciplinary Research Areas in which important social, technological, and scientific topics of the future are addressed from a variety of perspectives. At the heart of this are professorships for brilliant minds at the interface of different disciplines, which anchor this concept across faculties.
University of Bonn Celebrates Three ERC Starting Grants
The University of Bonn has yet another good reason to celebrate as three of its researchers have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant worth €1.5 million each. This European Research Council (ERC) grant program is designed to support early-career researchers. The economist Assistant Professor Amelie Schiprowski, the computer scientist Professor Lucie Flek and the evolutionary biologist Dr. Moritz Lürig will use the funding to progress their own research projects over the next five years.
Fat cells under false command
Too much fat can be unhealthy: how fat cells, so-called adipocytes, develop, is crucial for the function of the fat tissue. That is why a team led by researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn investigated the influence of primary cilia dysfunction on adipocyte precursor cells in a mouse model. They found that overactivation of the Hedgehog signaling pathway causes abnormal development into connective tissue-like cells instead of white fat cells. Their findings have now been published in The EMBO Journal.
Are they star clusters or extreme dwarf galaxies?
Ursa Major III, the faintest object in our galaxy, orbits the Milky Way at a distance of more than 30,000 light years. Until now, it was considered a dwarf galaxy, thought to consist mainly of dark matter due to its large mass. However, an international team of astrophysicists from the University of Bonn and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences in Iran has found evidence suggesting that it is actually a compact star cluster containing a black hole core. The study has been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Fending Off Cyberattacks in Healthcare
Artificial intelligence (AI) is designed to make our health system even more efficient. Yet cyberattacks are capable not only of jeopardizing patient safety but also impairing medical devices and hindering the work of emergency responders. With the “SecureNeuroAI” project, researchers from the University of Bonn, University Hospital Bonn and FIZ Karlsruhe – the Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure are aiming to develop secure, AI-powered methods for detecting medical emergencies in real time using the example of epileptic seizures, although their findings should be applicable to many other areas. The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is providing almost €2.5 million in funding over a three-year period.
Three star clusters – all with the same origin?
Orion Nebula, Pleiades and Hyades: The latest research results indicate that these famous star clusters represent the different phases of life of one and the same star system. A team of astrophysicists at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences in Zanjan, Iran, and the University of Bonn have found evidence that these three star systems are not just located in roughly the same region of space but also developed in the same way. These results were recently published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.”
More than technology: Energy as a social responsibility
What significance does energy have for our society, and how can today's transformation of our energy supply become a driving force for a fair and sustainable future? Three researchers from the University of Bonn discussed these questions at the event “Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies – Resources, Responsibility, Society,” moderated by journalist Eva Wolfangel, on the exhibition ship MS Wissenschaft. With a view of the Rhine, experts and the audience exchanged views on the energy issues of the 21st century beyond technical perspectives and developed exciting ideas.
Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies
What does a fair, sustainable, and future-proof energy supply look like? And what does “energy” mean in the 21st century beyond the technical challenges? These questions are the focus of the discussion event at the University of Bonn “Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies – Resources, Responsibility, Society,” which will take place on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the MS Wissenschaft in Bonn (KD Landebrücke 2, Brassertufer). Admission is free and registration is not required. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Decoding Complex Structures Through Mathematics
The German Research Foundation approved a new Collaborative Research Center (CRCs) at the University of Bonn. 19 principal investigators and their working groups will study the mathematical structures underlying complex phenomena in areas of criticality. The spokesperson of the CRC is Leibniz Prize winner Professor Angkana Rüland of the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics—Cluster of Excellence. The Collaborative Research Center will receive nearly four years of DFG funding of approximately seven million euros.
Most successful University in the competition, having received eight Clusters of Excellence
A huge success for the University of Bonn: today, all six of the University of Bonn's existing Clusters of Excellence were selected for further funding in the nationwide Excellence Competition. In addition, both newly applied Bonn cluster initiatives will receive funding from the federal and state governments. This means that Bonn will be represented by a total of eight clusters in the coming funding period - more than at any other university in Germany.
TRA 2 Matter
Transdisciplinary Research Area "Building Blocks of Matter and Fundamental Interactions"
Chemical Fingerprints Reveal Hidden Histories of Massive Stars
Many massive stars were once part of binary systems, but their exciting past is often lost – at least it was so far. A new study at the University of Bonn and at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics has now found a new method to identify stars that once gained mass from a companion – stars that now appear as single objects but carry the chemical scars of their binary youth. Using a unique “chemical fingerprint” – independent of specific evolutionary models – they were able to reconstruct the binary histories of massive stars. The method has already reclassified the well-studied star γ Columbae as a former mass gainer – challenging long-held assumptions about its origin– and offered new insight into Supernova SN 1987A’s progenitor. The findings have now been published in “Nature Astronomy.”
Hunting for the Axion with a Huge Magnet
The search for an as-yet undiscovered elementary particle has been given fresh momentum as the German Research Foundation (DFG) has now greenlit the construction of a special €6 million magnet system in the Color meets Flavor Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn, University of Siegen and TU Dortmund University. Dubbed “BabyIAXO,” it is being built to hunt for the axion, a hitherto undetected elementary particle that could unlock one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in particle physics.
Homing In on the X-Ray Sky
The German eROSITA consortium (eROSITA-DE), which also includes the University of Bonn and which is being led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), has released its second major public dataset, the “eROSITA Data Release 2” (DR2). Built from the first three all-sky surveys done by the eROSITA telescope aboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission, DR2 provides the most sensitive and comprehensive catalogue of the X-ray sky currently available to the public. Spearheaded by the University of Bonn, the analysis of a massive galaxy cluster has shown that the theoretical models for how the Universe formed largely match the observations made, albeit with some interesting discrepancies in the finer details.
University of Bonn Secures Three Proof of Concept Grants
Three University of Bonn researchers have been awarded a Proof of Concept Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). Neuroscientist Professor Dominik Bach, chemist Assistant Professor Ala Bunescu and radiologist Professor Philipp Vollmuth (from the University Hospital Bonn) are each receiving €150,000 over a period of 18 months. This program helps researchers to take findings from their work and turn them into commercial products or services.
Neues Teleskop auf chilenischem Berg öffnet Fenster zum Universum
Thirty-four years after scientists at the Cornell University first conceived it, the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) now rises above the Atacama Desert, near the summit of Cerro Chajnantor in Chile’s Parque Astronómico Atacama. FYST will help answer some of the most important questions in astronomy, including how the universe works, the nature of dark energy and dark matter, how galaxies form and evolve and what happened in those mysterious first moments after the Big Bang.
Stellar remnants solve the mystery of missing mass in galaxy clusters
Under the leadership of the University of Bonn, a research team led by Prof. Dr. Pavel Kroupa from the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics has discovered that galaxy clusters are about twice as heavy as previously assumed. The additional mass comes mainly from neutron stars and stellar black holes and also explains the observed quantities of heavy elements.
Great honor for Prof. Ulf-G. Meißner
Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. Ulf-G. Meißner from the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics at the University of Bonn received the Award for International Scientific Cooperation. The Chinese Academy of Sciences honors the physicist for his outstanding contributions to scientific cooperation. During a festive ceremony in Beijing, Academy President Jianguo Hou presented the scientist with the coveted medal.
ERC Proof of Concept Grant for innovation in low-temperature microscopy
Junior-Professor Daqing Wang from the University of Bonn has received a Proof of Concept Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for his “MinCryo” project. With the grant of €150,000 over one year, the physicist will continue to prepare his research results for practical applications in industry. The technical solution developed by him and his team facilitates a wider and more resource-efficient access to cryogenic – extremely cold - optical imaging that combines microscopes with extremely cold temperatures.
The mystery of intermediate-mass black holes
Galaxies contain black holes weighing between approximately five and 100 solar masses. There are also some with more than 100,000 solar masses. But do medium-mass black holes also develop in galaxies? A study by the Astronomical Institute of Charles University in Czechia, with significant participation from the University of Bonn, shows how medium-mass black holes can frequently form naturally. However, this currently only occurs in the innermost regions of star-forming galaxies similar to our Milky Way. The results have now been published in a “Letter to the Editor” in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics.”
Record ESA Budget Sparks Jubilation among University of Bonn Researchers
The largest contributions in the history of the European Space Agency, €22.3 billion, have been approved at its Council meeting at Ministerial level in Bremen, Germany. Researchers at the University of Bonn are among those elated by this record sum, because it also includes strong funding for ESA’s Earth observation program. This will benefit Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1502 “Regional Climate Change: Disentangling the Role of Land Use and Water Management,” which is based at the University. Researchers from CRC 1502 are involved in ESA’s Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM), which is developing new satellites in order to furnish precise data about our planet’s water resources, among other things.
TRA Matter Awards Synergy Prize to Molecular Qubit Project
The University of Bonn is supporting the “Molecular Quantum Information” project, the brainchild of a group of experimental researchers, with the €50,000 Synergy Prize. The award was presented recently by the Building Blocks of Matter and Fundamental Interactions Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA Matter) as part of the “Matter Connects” networking event. The winning group is one of five Synergy Bubbles, agile interdisciplinary teams that are pursuing innovative research and teaching ideas straddling subject boundaries.
A starting point for the development of new pain and cancer drugs
The human P2X4 receptor plays an important role in chronic pain, inflammation and some types of cancer. Researchers at the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have now discovered a mechanism that can inhibit this receptor. The results were recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications and open up a pathway for the development of new drugs.
Light Particles Prefer Company
As far as particles of light are concerned, the collective is more important than the individual. When they get to decide between two states, they will favor the one that many of their fellow particles have already adopted. However, this collectivist tendency does not kick in until enough photons have assembled in the same place. These findings, revealed by University of Bonn physicists in a recent study, could aid the development of ultra-powerful laser sources, among other things. They have now been published in the journal “Physical Review Letters.”
University of Bonn philosopher founds innovation academy
Renowned philosopher Prof. Dr. Markus Gabriel from the University of Bonn has founded the deep-IN Academy for Deep Innovation GmbH to bring more ethics into economic innovation. The academy offers training courses, conferences, and ethical business consulting, and is building a social knowledge network. Its goal is to maintain ethical and moral principles in a profit-oriented world and integrate them into companies.
Brilliant minds connect disciplines
The University of Bonn has been a University of Excellence since 2019 and is committed to transdisciplinary research collaboration. With eight Clusters of Excellence, the University is now the most successful Universities of Excellence in Germany. As part of its excellence strategy, it has expanded six complementary Transdisciplinary Research Areas in which important social, technological, and scientific topics of the future are addressed from a variety of perspectives. At the heart of this are professorships for brilliant minds at the interface of different disciplines, which anchor this concept across faculties.
Wobbling precisely through space
As the Earth moves through space, it wobbles slightly. A team of researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of Bonn has now succeeded in measuring these fluctuations in the Earth's axis using a completely new method – until now, possible only through complex radio astronomy. The team used the high-precision ring laser at TUM's geodetic observatory in Wettzell, Bavaria. The results of the 250-day experiment have now been published in the renowned journal Science Advances.
University of Bonn Celebrates Three ERC Starting Grants
The University of Bonn has yet another good reason to celebrate as three of its researchers have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant worth €1.5 million each. This European Research Council (ERC) grant program is designed to support early-career researchers. The economist Assistant Professor Amelie Schiprowski, the computer scientist Professor Lucie Flek and the evolutionary biologist Dr. Moritz Lürig will use the funding to progress their own research projects over the next five years.
Are they star clusters or extreme dwarf galaxies?
Ursa Major III, the faintest object in our galaxy, orbits the Milky Way at a distance of more than 30,000 light years. Until now, it was considered a dwarf galaxy, thought to consist mainly of dark matter due to its large mass. However, an international team of astrophysicists from the University of Bonn and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences in Iran has found evidence suggesting that it is actually a compact star cluster containing a black hole core. The study has been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
A more climate-friendly way to produce nitrogen fertilizer
Humanity has an insatiable appetite for ammonia: this substance is used to make fertilizer, which in turn is used in most modern agriculture. Until now, the Haber-Bosch process has been the method of choice for extracting nitrogen from the seemingly inexhaustible atmosphere and binding it in the form of ammonia. However, this method requires an extremely large amount of methane gas and energy. Prof. Nikolay Kornienko from the University of Bonn has discovered a more climate-friendly alternative for producing ammonia from renewable energy sources. The research team is now presenting its findings in the journal Nature Communications.
Three star clusters – all with the same origin?
Orion Nebula, Pleiades and Hyades: The latest research results indicate that these famous star clusters represent the different phases of life of one and the same star system. A team of astrophysicists at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences in Zanjan, Iran, and the University of Bonn have found evidence that these three star systems are not just located in roughly the same region of space but also developed in the same way. These results were recently published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.”
More than technology: Energy as a social responsibility
What significance does energy have for our society, and how can today's transformation of our energy supply become a driving force for a fair and sustainable future? Three researchers from the University of Bonn discussed these questions at the event “Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies – Resources, Responsibility, Society,” moderated by journalist Eva Wolfangel, on the exhibition ship MS Wissenschaft. With a view of the Rhine, experts and the audience exchanged views on the energy issues of the 21st century beyond technical perspectives and developed exciting ideas.
Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies
What does a fair, sustainable, and future-proof energy supply look like? And what does “energy” mean in the 21st century beyond the technical challenges? These questions are the focus of the discussion event at the University of Bonn “Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies – Resources, Responsibility, Society,” which will take place on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the MS Wissenschaft in Bonn (KD Landebrücke 2, Brassertufer). Admission is free and registration is not required. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Astronomers uncover huge, hot filament of missing normal matter
An international team of astronomers led by Leiden University and with involvement from the University of Bonn has investigated a large filament made of hot gas that connects four galaxy clusters and contains what is known as warm–hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). The strand of hot gas stretches for 23 million light-years, is over 10 million degrees Celsius and could be some of the “missing” ordinary matter that has been predicted by the cosmological standard model but not yet shown to actually exist. The team’s findings have now been published in the journal “Astronomy & Astrophysics.”
TIDE Research Training Group to Receive Additional Funding
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved another 4.5 years of funding for the Research Training Group “Template-Designed Organic Electronics” (GRK 2591 – TIDE), bringing the funding total up to 7.3 million euros. The second phase of funding runs from October 2025 until April 2030. The Research Training Group on organic electronics has received funding from the Universities of Cologne and Bonn since 2021. The group provides comprehensive training to enable doctoral students to meet market demand for highly qualified, multi-disciplinary specialists in the field of organic electronics. Its speakers are Professor Klaus Meerholz in Cologne and Professor Arne Lützen in Bonn.
Most successful University in the competition, having received eight Clusters of Excellence
A huge success for the University of Bonn: today, all six of the University of Bonn's existing Clusters of Excellence were selected for further funding in the nationwide Excellence Competition. In addition, both newly applied Bonn cluster initiatives will receive funding from the federal and state governments. This means that Bonn will be represented by a total of eight clusters in the coming funding period - more than at any other university in Germany.
Innovative New Detector to Hunt for Neutrinos
Technology is being pushed to its very limits. The upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN slated for the next few years will increase data transfer rates beyond what the current neutrino detector for the FASER experiment can cope with, requiring it to be replaced by a new kind of more powerful detector. This is a task that physicist Professor Matthias Schott from the University of Bonn will be tackling with the help of €1 million in Reinhart Koselleck funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG).
New Bioactive Compound for Difficult-to-Treat Allergies
Irritable bowel syndrome, chronic itching, asthma and migraine are in many cases hard-to-treat conditions. They have in common that they are triggered by an excessive immune response—which in severe cases can be life-threatening. A team of researchers led by the University of Bonn has now identified a promising bioactive compound that could effectively reduce symptoms and slash fatality risk. The compound blocks a receptor on certain defense cells, thus preventing a derailed immune response. The study findings have been published in the journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy.
University of Bonn Particle Physicists among Winners of Breakthrough Prize in Physics
The ATLAS, ALICE, CMS and LHCb experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) were recently awarded the Breakthrough Prize for Fundamental Physics. The $3 million dollar prize honors the efforts of physicists who are working closely with colleagues from other countries to uncover new findings from the world of the very tiniest particles. The University of Bonn can boast significant involvement in three out of the four experiments.
Lena Funcke from the University of Bonn Awarded the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize
Clausius Junior Professor Dr. Lena Funcke from the University of Bonn is one of ten researchers to receive the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize from the German Research Foundation (DFG). The prize, each endowed with €200,000, is considered by the DFG to be the most important award in Germany for researchers in the early stages of their careers.
University of Bonn Wins with Escape Room About Energy in Space
A team of students guided by the Argelander Institute for Astronomy at the University of Bonn has won a competition organized by Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD) with a communication-centered idea for a modular escape room called “2051: Energie im Weltraum” (“2051: Energy in Outer Space”). The project team is to receive €10,000 to make its idea a reality between now and the end of the year.
TRA 3 Life and Health
Transdisciplinary Research Area "Life and Health"
New Findings on Information Processing in the Brain
Neurons receive thousands of signals via tree-like extensions called dendrites. Until now, these dendrites were thought to be relatively smooth cables that conduct electrical signals to the cell body. An international research team led by the University Hospital of Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, and the DZNE has now determined that this picture is incomplete. Using various advanced microscopy techniques, it has identified tiny, previously overlooked constrictions along the dendrites. These newly discovered structures, which the researchers call dendritic shaft constrictions, are only a few hundred nanometers wide – about 500 to 1,000 times thinner than a human hair – and occur in various types of neurons in both mouse and human brains. The study results have now been published in the journal Science Advances.
University of Bonn Lands Two ERC Starting Grants
Bonn has again prevailed in competition for funding from the European Research Council (ERC), with researchers of the University of Excellence landing two prestigious ERC Starting Grants. Neuroscientist Professor Lukas Kunz, also associated with University Hospital Bonn (UKB), conducts research on how the human brain constructs the first-person perspective of our experiences. Dr. Riccardo Pennetta is leading a research project on large-scale quantum physics. The two researchers are to each receive approximately 1.5 million euros from the ERC for their projects over a five-years period.
A Ray of Hope in the Fight Against Cancer
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Germany. In the search for new therapeutic approaches that target the uncontrolled growth of tumor cells, a class of enzymes known as cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) has come into focus. This is because this family of enzymes plays a fundamental role in gene expression and cell division. An overview of the current state of research on the transcriptional regulation of CDKs and the prospects for cancer treatment was compiled by Prof. Matthias Geyer of the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn in collaboration with Prof. Robert P. Fisher of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and has now been published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.
Malaria Causes Permanent Damage to Phagocytes in the Spleen
Macrophages formed in the bone marrow can only assume the function of embryonal phagocytes, or “scavenger cells,” to a certain degree according to a study by the University of Bonn and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne. The researchers have demonstrated that malaria infection causes permanent damage to resident CD163 macrophages in the spleen, which are responsible for cleaning the blood, recycling iron and communicating with other cells involved in the body’s immune response. Their findings could harbor potential not only for more effective malaria vaccines but also for developing drugs and treatments to combat other infectious diseases. The paper is to be published in the journal “Immunity” but can already be accessed online.
Core2Edge: How tumor cells conquer the brain
Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain tumor that infiltrates deep into the surrounding brain tissue. Even after surgery, tumor cells remain in the brain and the tumor recurs. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have now developed Core2Edge, a model based entirely on human tissue that captures these hard-to-access infiltration zones at the tumor margin. The model enables investigation of the invasive front and direct assessment of new drug candidates in human tissue - without the need for animal testing. The study of the Brain Tumor Translational Research Group has now been published in Nature Protocols.
AI Model Improves Injury Prediction in Women's Elite Football
An international team of researchers led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and the University of Bonn—with participation from the Barça Innovation Hub (BIHUB), FC Barcelona’s medical department, and the company Made of Genes—has developed a computer-based approach that improves injury prediction in elite women’s football. The study, published in “npj Digital Medicine,” combines artificial intelligence, survival analysis, statistical calibration, and decision theory to transform risk prediction into a useful tool for clinical and sports practice.
Resistance Training Activates the Muscle Repair Machinery
Researchers from the Universities of Hildesheim, Bonn, and Freiburg have now uncovered how human skeletal muscle responds to resistance exercise at the molecular level. Their findings provide new insights that could help optimize training programs for athletes, improve rehabilitation strategies, and counteract age-related muscle loss. Resistance training is essential for maintaining healthy skeletal muscle throughout life. The World Health Organization now recommends moderate muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week, even for older adults, to help prevent the loss of muscle strength. The new study is published in the latest issue of Nature Communications.
Asthma: New Mechanism of Action Curbs Inflammatory Response
A team from the University of Bonn and the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center (FZB) has discovered a previously unknown mechanism of action for a synthetic peptide that mitigates excessive inflammatory responses in allergic asthma. This mechanism specifically inhibits a key inflammatory switch in the immune system and opens up new avenues for treating chronic inflammatory diseases. The findings have now been published in the journal Advanced Science.
Precision Therapy for Autoimmune Disease on the Horizon
Interferon alpha is an inflammatory mediator that can cause Sjögren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease. This is revealed in a recent study carried out by the University Hospital Bonn together with the University of Bonn, the University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University. Their findings, which have been published in the journal “Lancet Rheumatology,” could make it easier in the medium term to develop drugs to fight this chronic condition.
Colorectal Cancer Prevention: AI Does Not Automatically Lead to Better Outcomes
People with Lynch syndrome, the most common hereditary predisposition to colorectal cancer, are at a significantly increased risk of developing colorectal cancer. Many affected individuals therefore undergo a colonoscopy every one to two years, starting in young adulthood. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, in collaboration with the University of Leipzig and Amsterdam UMC, investigated whether artificial intelligence (AI) can improve the detection of precancerous lesions in these high-risk patients. The result: In specialized centers, the additional AI support did not provide any significant benefit. The findings have now been published in the journal The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology.
Hunting for New Angles
New research questions often arise where different methods, mindsets and subject-specific cultures meet, and it is these kinds of encounter that Professor Elvira Mass and Professor Tatjana Tchumatchenko want to make happen in a targeted way in future. The two researchers have been picked as Henriette Herz Scouts by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
University of Bonn Secures Three Proof of Concept Grants
Three University of Bonn researchers have been awarded a Proof of Concept Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). Neuroscientist Professor Dominik Bach, chemist Assistant Professor Ala Bunescu and radiologist Professor Philipp Vollmuth (from the University Hospital Bonn) are each receiving €150,000 over a period of 18 months. This program helps researchers to take findings from their work and turn them into commercial products or services.
Focus on the Guardians of the Antibody Response
For the immune system to effectively combat pathogens, antibody responses must be precisely controlled. So-called follicular regulatory T cells (Tfr cells) play a key role in this process by limiting excessive immune responses and helping to maintain immune tolerance. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn have now developed a robust laboratory method that allows Tfr cells to be generated from precursor cells and studied in a targeted manner. The results were recently published in the journal Cellular & Molecular Immunology.
When the map needs an update
Every time we move through a familiar environment, the hippocampus consults an internal map, a detailed spatial representation that is built up through repeated experience. But what happens when something unexpected occurs on a well-known route? Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn were able to demonstrate in a mouse model that the brain does not redraw its maps from scratch. Instead, it annotates them: preserving the underlying spatial layout while overlaying new information on top of the existing map. Their findings have now been published in the journal PNAS.
Goosebump Moments in Archaeological Research
How did people live centuries ago? How did they see themselves? How were they perceived by others? Today, archaeology uses modern methods to examine skeletons, personal belongings, burial practices, material culture and social and spatial relationships. The book “Human Identities in the Archaeological Record: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Late Antiquity to the Modern Period” shows how past identities can be reconstructed from this evidence.
Immune cells in the liver help pigeons navigate
How do pigeons find their way home safely over distances of many kilometers? A research team from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, the University of Duisburg-Essen, and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology has now discovered a previously unknown mechanism: specific immune cells in the liver may help the birds detect the Earth’s magnetic field. The findings have now been published in the journal Science.
Smart Monitoring for People with Epilepsy
The PearNet project is developing special wearables—body-worn electronic devices—that give epilepsy patients advance warning of seizures and monitor and record them when they happen. The brainchild of researchers from the University Hospital Bonn and University of Bonn, it has now secured some €2.7 million in funding over three years via the GO-Bio next program run by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). The money will go toward making further preparations for spinning off the project so that its set of wearables can be launched on the biotechnology market.
Depression dampens anticipation, not enjoyment
The loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities, which is experienced in everyday life and can be very distressing, is a core symptom of major depression. However, it has remained unclear exactly how anhedonia, also known as a pleasure deficit, manifests itself. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, and the University Hospital Tübingen have found that people with depression do not perceive food as less rewarding when they actually consume it. The differences compared to people without depression emerge during anticipation: how much they want something before they receive it. This reduced desire is also linked to the clinical severity of anhedonia. The study’s findings have now been published in the journal “Cell Reports Medicine.”
Driver of inflammation after mild head injury
Mild brain injuries, such as those often sustained in accidents, sports or violence can lead to persistent memory problems and an increased risk of dementia. However, there are currently no therapies available to treat these consequences. A research team led by the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn has now discovered that the protein ASC – a component of cellular emergency buttons – causes long-lasting inflammation in the brains of mice for up to 21 days after injury. By elucidating the inflammatory mechanisms underlying traumatic brain injury, the research team hopes to identify starting points for future therapeutic strategies. The work published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation lays the foundation for future clinical studies.
Understanding How Genes Interact
How do our genes determine our appearance and our susceptibility to disease? This question is central to biomedical research, and today we can sequence thousands of human genomes to identify these genes. However, genes work in complex networks. In a major transdisciplinary collaboration, an international team of geneticists and bioinformaticians set out to create a so-called genetic interaction (GI) map of a human cell. With significant contributions from the Canadian Donnelly Centre, the University of Minnesota, the Hospital for Sick Children in Canada, the University Hospital Bonn, and the University of Bonn, a first draft has now been published in the journal Cell. This draft currently covers about 2.5 percent of all possible gene pairs.
Impaired Cell Recycling Leads to Muscle Weakness
Myofibrillar myopathy type 6 (MFM6) is a rare genetic muscle disorder that leads to severe muscle weakness and a drastically shortened life expectancy due to a disruption in muscle protein regulation. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn developed a mouse model for the disease and were thus able to show that a disruption in cellular recycling—known technically as autophagy—is the primary trigger for the disease. Their findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
What did people eat and drink in the Bronze Age South Caucasus?
What culinary practices prevailed in the South Caucasus during the Bronze Age? The cuisine was remarkably diverse. This is what an international research team from the Universities of Bonn and Bari, along with other scientific institutions such as the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences report. The new evidence highlights a multi-ingredient cuisine alongside the central role of dairy products, fruit, and grape-based beverages in Kura-Araxes communities. The findings have now been published in the journal PNAS.
Fat cells play key role in avoidance learning
If humans or animals eat something that causes them to feel unwell, they subsequently avoid this food source. Until now, it has been unclear precisely how this avoidance learning takes place. A new study shows that communication between the brain cells and fat cells could play a crucial role here. The participants from the Universities of Bonn and Tohoku (Japan) and University Hospital Bonn have revealed the previously unknown mechanism in the fruit fly Drosophila. It may also exist in a similar form in mammals and even in humans. The results have now been published in the journal Neuron.
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 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.
Novel precision strategy in cancer treatment receives EIC Pathfinder grant
A groundbreaking approach that targets the degradation of membrane proteins in cancer cells has received funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder program. The goal: To target previously "undruggable" cancer-related proteins by selectively degrading them and potentially offering a new way to overcome resistance to current cancer therapies.
Two days of oatmeal reduce cholesterol level
A short-term oat-based diet appears to be surprisingly effective at reducing the cholesterol level. This is indicated by a trial by the University of Bonn, which has now been published in the journal Nature Communications. The participants suffered from a metabolic syndrome – a combination of high body weight, high blood pressure, and elevated blood glucose and blood lipid levels. They consumed a calorie-reduced diet, consisting almost exclusively of oatmeal, for two days. Their cholesterol levels then improved significantly compared to a control group. Even after six weeks, this effect remained stable. The diet apparently influenced the composition of microorganisms in the gut. The metabolic products, produced by the microbiome, appear to contribute significantly to the positive effects of oats.
A mystery of episodic memory solved
The human brain must be able to link memory content to the circumstances in which it occurs. Researchers in Bonn have now discovered how the human brain uses two different groups of neurons to store content and context separately. These nerve cell groups work together in a coordinated manner to form memories, rather than mixing signals in the activity of individual cells. The study results have now been published in the renowned journal Nature.
Two Start-Up Projects Secure Millions in Funding
Two projects by researchers from the University of Bonn and University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have each been awarded up to €1 million in funding from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space’s “GO-Bio initial” program. The funds will be used to translate research findings from the life sciences into marketable products and services, e.g. through securing patent protection and spinning off start-ups.
TRA 4 Individuals & Society
Transdisciplinary Research Area "Individuals, Institutions and Societies"
Good news, false expectations? How people assess potential returns in the stock market
A study involving the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne demonstrates that not only retail investors but also financial professionals often assess the potential returns on the stock market differently to what standard models of financial economics predict. This is due to differing ideas about how news on companies affects future stock returns. The study, entitled “Mental Models of the Stock Market,” has been published in the prestigious Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Report "The Environment Shapes Security" published
As well as presenting ecological challenges, global changes in the environment—such as climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution—are also impacting security, societal stability and international peace. This is the conclusion reached by the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) in its new report section entitled “The Environment Shapes Security,” which has now been published as the first chapter of the flagship report “Security – Sustainable and Integrated.” Among the lead authors was Professor Anna-Katharina Hornidge, a professor at the University of Bonn and Director of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
Two in One Go
What is the best way to shape the future of waterfront cities in the Global South in the face of challenges like climate change? How are conflicts overcome in various different cultures? These key questions are now to be explored by two new Research Training Groups (RTGs) at the University of Bonn. Alongside the University Hospital Bonn as a partner, the proposal was also submitted together with a university of applied sciences for the first time in the shape of Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (H-BRS). The German Research Foundation (DFG) is providing the two institutions with millions of euros in funding to train doctoral students. Across Germany, the DFG will be supporting 10 new RTGs in all from fall 2026 onward.
Why CEOs are getting older
In a new discussion paper, a team of researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Princeton demonstrates that executives in the US are now reaching top positions later than they did two decades ago. This trend towards higher CEO age at appointment is particularly pronounced outside the largest listed firms. The researchers attribute this development to the fact that firms increasingly demand broad knowledge and diverse skills from their CEOs.
Pinpointing Europe’s Digital Dependencies
From computer chips and cloud computing to artificial intelligence, Germany and the rest of Europe want to become less dependent on digital technologies from abroad by driving forward their own innovations. The Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) at the University of Bonn has now prepared a policy brief, in cooperation with the Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications, Vodafone’s European think tank. The paper tackles the continent’s “digital trade deficit” and shows how hidden trade dependencies on the US and China are raising questions about the effectiveness of current European strategies.
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.
Soft Power and Charismatic Leadership
The origin, development, and significance of soft power and charismatic leadership in German-American relations are the subject of the latest publication by Bonn-based political scientist Hendrik W. Ohnesorge. This is his postdoctoral thesis, in which Ohnesorge examines over five centuries of transatlantic relations up to these present days.
Soft Power and Charismatic Leadership
The origin, development, and significance of soft power and charismatic leadership in German-American relations are the subject of the latest publication by Bonn-based political scientist Hendrik W. Ohnesorge. This is his postdoctoral thesis, in which Ohnesorge examines over five centuries of transatlantic relations up to these present days.
The Dynamics of Bronze Age Societies
A new study combining archaeological and genetic research offers fresh insights into social organisation and population dynamics in the Late Bronze Age (approximately 1500 to 1000 BCE). Conducted by an international team of researchers—including scholars from the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA) in Mainz and the University of Bonn, both in Germany—the study focuses on burial practices in Mongolia. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
University of Bonn philosopher founds innovation academy
Renowned philosopher Prof. Dr. Markus Gabriel from the University of Bonn has founded the deep-IN Academy for Deep Innovation GmbH to bring more ethics into economic innovation. The academy offers training courses, conferences, and ethical business consulting, and is building a social knowledge network. Its goal is to maintain ethical and moral principles in a profit-oriented world and integrate them into companies.
Brilliant minds connect disciplines
The University of Bonn has been a University of Excellence since 2019 and is committed to transdisciplinary research collaboration. With eight Clusters of Excellence, the University is now the most successful Universities of Excellence in Germany. As part of its excellence strategy, it has expanded six complementary Transdisciplinary Research Areas in which important social, technological, and scientific topics of the future are addressed from a variety of perspectives. At the heart of this are professorships for brilliant minds at the interface of different disciplines, which anchor this concept across faculties.
University of Bonn Celebrates Three ERC Starting Grants
The University of Bonn has yet another good reason to celebrate as three of its researchers have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant worth €1.5 million each. This European Research Council (ERC) grant program is designed to support early-career researchers. The economist Assistant Professor Amelie Schiprowski, the computer scientist Professor Lucie Flek and the evolutionary biologist Dr. Moritz Lürig will use the funding to progress their own research projects over the next five years.
Fending Off Cyberattacks in Healthcare
Artificial intelligence (AI) is designed to make our health system even more efficient. Yet cyberattacks are capable not only of jeopardizing patient safety but also impairing medical devices and hindering the work of emergency responders. With the “SecureNeuroAI” project, researchers from the University of Bonn, University Hospital Bonn and FIZ Karlsruhe – the Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure are aiming to develop secure, AI-powered methods for detecting medical emergencies in real time using the example of epileptic seizures, although their findings should be applicable to many other areas. The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is providing almost €2.5 million in funding over a three-year period.
More than technology: Energy as a social responsibility
What significance does energy have for our society, and how can today's transformation of our energy supply become a driving force for a fair and sustainable future? Three researchers from the University of Bonn discussed these questions at the event “Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies – Resources, Responsibility, Society,” moderated by journalist Eva Wolfangel, on the exhibition ship MS Wissenschaft. With a view of the Rhine, experts and the audience exchanged views on the energy issues of the 21st century beyond technical perspectives and developed exciting ideas.
Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies
What does a fair, sustainable, and future-proof energy supply look like? And what does “energy” mean in the 21st century beyond the technical challenges? These questions are the focus of the discussion event at the University of Bonn “Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies – Resources, Responsibility, Society,” which will take place on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the MS Wissenschaft in Bonn (KD Landebrücke 2, Brassertufer). Admission is free and registration is not required. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Most successful University in the competition, having received eight Clusters of Excellence
A huge success for the University of Bonn: today, all six of the University of Bonn's existing Clusters of Excellence were selected for further funding in the nationwide Excellence Competition. In addition, both newly applied Bonn cluster initiatives will receive funding from the federal and state governments. This means that Bonn will be represented by a total of eight clusters in the coming funding period - more than at any other university in Germany.
Social and sustainable: Universities establish Impact Start-Up Cluster
More and more companies are leading the way: They are thinking about social and sustainable action and evaluating not only economic gains but also the benefits for society and the environment. The Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, the University of Bonn, and Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences are now jointly founding an Impact Start-Up Cluster that strengthens precisely such public-interest spin-offs and companies. The project “SoNaR – Social Start-ups, Sustainable Impact: Impact Cluster Bonn-Rhein-Sieg Region” is being funded with almost €1 million by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). On May 22, 2025, starting at 3:30 p.m., the alliance invites you to a public kick-off event, “Future Founders – Networking for a Better Future,” at the Digitalhub Bonn. Registration is requested.
Christiane Woopen receives the Order of Merit of the Federal State of NRW
Prof. Dr. Christiane Woopen, Director of the Center for Life Ethics, was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia by Minister President Hendrik Wüst on April 2 for her full-time and voluntary work in the field of ethics.
Opening Up: Volkswagen Foundation Funds Two Projects at the University of Bonn
Not one but two projects at the University of Bonn—on queer Islamic theology and culinary sensory analysis—have each been awarded funding of around €300,000 as part of the Volkswagen Foundation’s Open Up program. The aim of the Open Up funding initiative is to explore entirely new fields of science.
The Game is On: Gaming Lab Awarded DATIpilot Innovation Grant
A project led by Professor Adrian Hermann, a cultural and religious studies scholar at the University of Bonn and Director of the Bonn Lab for Analog Games and Imaginative Play, is investigating how tabletop roleplaying games (such as Dungeons & Dragons) can be used as innovative formats in education. To this end, he is also creating a new game of this kind together with Kathrin Fischer from EduTale, a partner company. The new game stimulates critical and creative thinking and is designed to be used in the classroom. The project has now been awarded a DATIpilot “Innovation Sprint” grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) worth €80,000 up to May 2026.
Sociologist Rosario Figari Layús Wins Voltaire Prize
The Argentinian-born sociologist Professor Rosario Figari Layús from the Center for Reconciliation Research at the University of Bonn has been awarded this year’s Voltaire Prize for Tolerance, International Understanding and Respect for Differences.
The Planet in Jeopardy: IPBES Report Indicates How Species Decline Might be Slowed
Species are continuing to disappear at a staggering rate. What initiatives are needed to reverse this drastic trend? No fewer than 156 leading researchers from 42 countries have contributed to the Nexus Assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). This report, which was signed off by IPBES member states in the Namibian capital Windhoek, reveals a number of possibilities for halting the decline in biodiversity and linking it to other objectives. Its contributors included Assistant Professor Lisa Freudenberger from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn, who is a member of its Individuals & Societies and Sustainable Futures Transdisciplinary Research Areas.
“Becoming engaged from a place of openness and curiosity is key”
In a time of multiple crises, the enormous loss of biodiversity is one of our greatest challenges, the consequences of which are already affecting countless people around the world. It is evident by now: Something has to change - but what and how? Dr. Stefan Partelow, head of the “Transformation and Governance” research area at the Center for Life Ethics at the University of Bonn, is working on precisely this question. As one of many scientists, he contributed to the Transformative Change Assessment of the World Biodiversity Council IPBES, which has now been published: It aims to understand and identify factors in human society that can be used to bring about transformative change for the conservation, restoration and wise use of biodiversity while considering social and economic objectives in the context of sustainable development.
Anna-Katharina Hornidge Elected Co-Chair of the WBGU
The members of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) have elected Professor Anna-Katharina Hornidge as its co-chair. The Professor for Global Sustainable Development at the University of Bonn and Director of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) will now lead the council on an equal footing with her fellow co-chair Professor Jörg E. Drewes from the Technical University of Munich, who has likewise been newly elected.
Rebuilding the Ahrtal: Potential Solutions for a Socially Just and Resilient Future
How can the reconstruction of the Ahrtal valley be made socially just and resilient? This is the question being studied by the “Social, Economic and Administrative Challenges of Climate Resilience” project (“Soziale, Ökonomische und Administrative Herausforderungen von Klima-Resilienz,” or SOZIAHR). It involves an interdisciplinary team of economists, legal scholars, geographers, sociologists and political scientists and is being funded by the Individuals & Societies Transdisciplinary Research Area at the University of Bonn.
“Allegations of maladaptation harm the poor”
The UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku (Azerbaijan) from November 11 to 22, 2024 will also address the sensitive issue of financing adaptation strategies. Prof. Dr. Lisa Schipper from the Department of Geographical Development Research at the University of Bonn and Dr. Aditi Mukherji from CGIAR, warn in the journal Science against misusing the alleged lack of measurability of climate change adaptation strategies to cut funding. Both scientists were involved in the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Will customers accept a little in their cafeteria meals?
We eat too much meat in Germany and this not only has a negative impact on health but is also damaging for the environment and climate. Cafeteria owners are increasingly open to the idea of serving smaller portions of meat – especially for cost reasons. But how do you encourage their customers to choose smaller portions of meat? Researchers at the University of Bonn have been investigating this question at a cafeteria in a rehabilitation clinic. The desired effect was the biggest when the team at the cafeteria simply served smaller portions of meat and only topped them up when this was requested by customers. This approach was also largely accepted by patrons. The results have now been published in the journal “Environment and Behavior.”
Seven ERC Starting Grants for the University of Bonn
There have never been so many ERC Starting Grants at once at the University of Bonn: no fewer than seven researchers have been successful with their applications in the highly competitive European Research Council (ERC) funding process. With their funding of some €1.5 million each, the researchers from the fields of ethics, mathematics, economics, soil science, computer science and astronomy will be able to realize their projects over the next five years.
Immersing Ourselves in New Worlds: Where Theology Meets Cognitive Research
What happens when we look at a late antique image? In what order does our gaze wander over the individual elements? Where does it linger? What bodily reactions do such images or early Christian narratives trigger in us? Attempts to answer questions like this are going well beyond merely interpreting early Christian works. A research project embarked on by the University of Bonn together with the University of St Andrews is now bringing Ancient Studies and Cognitive Science together. One key theme is immersion, a concept usually associated more with the world of gaming.
University of Bonn Secures Two New Research Groups
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has given its approval for a new Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences and a Research Unit at the University of Bonn. In the Finance and Inequality Centre for Advanced Studies, the researchers led by Professor Christian Bayer and Professor Carsten Burhop are looking at the relationship between the growth of the financial sector and inequality from a historical angle. In the field of mathematical physics, meanwhile, Professor Claude Duhr is the speaker for a new Research Unit for particle physics. The DFG will be funding the two projects to the tune of several million euros over the next four years.
TRA 5 Present Pasts
Transdisciplinary Research Area " Past Worlds and Modern Questions - Cultures Across Time and Space"
How Christianity Changed Latin
How did the Latin language change as Christianity emerged and spread in late antiquity? This is the question being tackled by Christian Hornung, Professor for the History of Early Christianity and Patristic Studies in the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Bonn, in a new research project. He is aiming to compile a new concise dictionary of early Christian Latin (Handwörterbuch des antiken christlichen Lateins, HACL) that will index the corpus of Latin Christian literature from Tertullian to Isidore of Seville and document the evolution of early Christian Latin vocabulary in all its dimensions, i.e. encompassing the history of ideas, institutions, society, law and religion. The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) will be providing €1.4 million in funding during the long-term project’s first phase to 2030. It is set to run for 12 years in total.
Uni Bonn On Tour: Digging in Ostia near Rome
In the University of Bonn’s “Uni Bonn On Tour” feature, researchers reveal details of their unusual workplaces all around the world and provide insights into their day-to-day life (and research). What exactly they talk about depends on what questions they are asked by the general public. In September, archaeologist Professor Sabine Feist and her team will be traveling to Ostia in Italy, where they will be excavating one of the oldest and largest churches of its kind ever discovered. Next door to it is a bishop’s residence complete with sumptuously furnished aula, or “grand hall.” Members of the public are invited to email their questions to the archaeologists at kommunikation@uni-bonn.de or using the University‘s Instagram account @universitaetbonn.
Goosebump Moments in Archaeological Research
How did people live centuries ago? How did they see themselves? How were they perceived by others? Today, archaeology uses modern methods to examine skeletons, personal belongings, burial practices, material culture and social and spatial relationships. The book “Human Identities in the Archaeological Record: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Late Antiquity to the Modern Period” shows how past identities can be reconstructed from this evidence.
Two in One Go
What is the best way to shape the future of waterfront cities in the Global South in the face of challenges like climate change? How are conflicts overcome in various different cultures? These key questions are now to be explored by two new Research Training Groups (RTGs) at the University of Bonn. Alongside the University Hospital Bonn as a partner, the proposal was also submitted together with a university of applied sciences for the first time in the shape of Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (H-BRS). The German Research Foundation (DFG) is providing the two institutions with millions of euros in funding to train doctoral students. Across Germany, the DFG will be supporting 10 new RTGs in all from fall 2026 onward.
What did people eat and drink in the Bronze Age South Caucasus?
What culinary practices prevailed in the South Caucasus during the Bronze Age? The cuisine was remarkably diverse. This is what an international research team from the Universities of Bonn and Bari, along with other scientific institutions such as the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences report. The new evidence highlights a multi-ingredient cuisine alongside the central role of dairy products, fruit, and grape-based beverages in Kura-Araxes communities. The findings have now been published in the journal PNAS.
What’s in a Name? — The Unknown Faces of History
Most people in history remain nameless, appearing in sources merely as numbers, traits or anonymous figures. A new research project launched by the Cluster of Excellence Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) and the Department of History (IGW) at the University of Bonn is looking into how these nameless individuals can be analyzed and rendered visible in historical records. It has been awarded €370,000 in funding from the Volkswagen Foundation.
Expensive food makes children fat
When food prices skyrocket during an economic crisis, it is primarily urban populations and people with low levels of education who are affected. This can have lifelong negative health consequences – such as stunted growth in children. A research team at the University of Bonn has now demonstrated such long-term effects using the example of the "Asian financial crisis" in the 1990s. At that time, turmoil on the financial markets led to a drastic increase in the price of rice, Indonesia's most important staple food, which left measurable traces in the development of children. The study was published in the journal "Global Food Security."
EU Project: Bonn Robot Unjumbles Ancient Jigsaw
In what had long been merely the stuff of dreams for archaeologists, a “smart robot” has now put shattered ancient murals from Pompeii back together, piece by tiny piece. A team of researchers led by Professor Maren Bennewitz from the University of Bonn taught the robot how to solve its jigsaw puzzle as part of “Reconstructing the Past: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Meet Cultural Heritage” (RePAIR), an EU collaborative project that has recently concluded.
Social Networks in the Colonial Era
An international research project has been launched involving Dr. Eva Marie Lehner and Julia Schmidt of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn. The project aim is to study how bureaucratic classifications of people influenced social orders in southern Africa during the colonial period. The collaborative project titled “Economies of Trust: Digital Infrastructure on the Urban Poor in the Cape Colony” is receiving €253,000 of funding from the Gerda Henkel Foundation. A further subproject at the BCDSS is devoted to studying the social networks of single women.
The Dynamics of Bronze Age Societies
A new study combining archaeological and genetic research offers fresh insights into social organisation and population dynamics in the Late Bronze Age (approximately 1500 to 1000 BCE). Conducted by an international team of researchers—including scholars from the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA) in Mainz and the University of Bonn, both in Germany—the study focuses on burial practices in Mongolia. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Brilliant minds connect disciplines
The University of Bonn has been a University of Excellence since 2019 and is committed to transdisciplinary research collaboration. With eight Clusters of Excellence, the University is now the most successful Universities of Excellence in Germany. As part of its excellence strategy, it has expanded six complementary Transdisciplinary Research Areas in which important social, technological, and scientific topics of the future are addressed from a variety of perspectives. At the heart of this are professorships for brilliant minds at the interface of different disciplines, which anchor this concept across faculties.
Special exhibition in bunker to open for the Deutscher Historikertag
A special exhibition is being put on to mark the 55th Deutscher Historikertag, Germany’s general conference for historians, which is taking place in Bonn. As well as offering some out-of-the-ordinary insights into the history of history studies at the University of Bonn, it also boasts a truly unique venue, namely the bunker next door to the Department of History at Konviktstraße 11. From September 17 to October 31, 2025, it will host the exhibition entitled “Von Intriganten, Pedanten und Biergenies – Schlaglichter auf die Bonner Geschichtswissenschaft im Wandel der Zeit” (“Of Schemers, Pedants and Beer-Fueled Geniuses—Shining Spotlights on History in Bonn over Time”). The space, which is generally not open to the public, can only be visited as part of a guided tour. Anyone who is interested can email unimuseum@uni-bonn.de to book a tour.
Estalishing power through divine portrayal and depictions of violence
Today a desert – as far as the eye can see. However, anyone looking more closely will discover hundreds of images carved into the rock. This ancient Egyptian graffiti attests to the fact that a new claim to sovereignty emerged here on the periphery over 5,000 years ago. One of these kings was known as Scorpion. He demonstrated his power with portrayals of himself as a divine ruler and with brutal depictions of violence. Together with Mohamed Abdelhay Abu Bakr, Egyptologist Prof. Dr. Ludwig Morenz from the University of Bonn has now published in his book the latest findings concerning the visualization of claims to sovereignty in pre-Pharaonic Egypt.
How fertile have humans been over the past 200 years?
Even many centuries ago, hormones controlled reproduction and breastfeeding. After all this time, however, it is very difficult to determine the hormone mix posthumously in ancient human bones. Junior professor Dr. Alice Toso from the Bonn Center for ArchaeoSciences at the University of Bonn now wants to attempt the almost impossible: Together with an interdisciplinary team of young researchers, she plans to develop reliable methods for determining sexual hormones levels in past populations contributing to the transdisciplinary research areas “Life & Health” and “Present Pasts”. “Pioneering Research - Exploring the Unknown” is the right name for the funding line in which the VW Foundation is supporting the project with over 1.4 million euros over the next four years.
More than technology: Energy as a social responsibility
What significance does energy have for our society, and how can today's transformation of our energy supply become a driving force for a fair and sustainable future? Three researchers from the University of Bonn discussed these questions at the event “Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies – Resources, Responsibility, Society,” moderated by journalist Eva Wolfangel, on the exhibition ship MS Wissenschaft. With a view of the Rhine, experts and the audience exchanged views on the energy issues of the 21st century beyond technical perspectives and developed exciting ideas.
Was the Neolithic Settlement at Çatalhöyük a Matriarchate?
What was life like some 8,000–9,000 years ago for the people on the East Mound at Çatalhöyük, an important Neolithic settlement in central Anatolia? And what role did women hold in their society? An international team led by Turkish, Danish, Swedish and US researchers has investigated the genetic material of a total of 131 individuals who are buried there. What is striking is the preference afforded to female lineages. Their findings have now been published in the journal “Science.” Dr. Eva Rosenstock from the Bonn Center for ArchaeoSciences at the University is involved in the paper.
Experiencing Past Worlds with (Virtual) Glimpses of the Archaeologist’s Craft
The Institute for Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Bonn, together with the Society of Archaeological Institutes in Cologne and Bonn (VarI) and the Verein von Altertumsfreunden im Rheinlande e.V., will be providing an insight into past worlds on July 5 in the LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn at Colmantstr. 14–16. Open from 11 am to 5 pm, the Day of Archaeology will see researchers showcase their work and lead visitors on virtual tours of sites of great historico-cultural significance.
Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies
What does a fair, sustainable, and future-proof energy supply look like? And what does “energy” mean in the 21st century beyond the technical challenges? These questions are the focus of the discussion event at the University of Bonn “Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies – Resources, Responsibility, Society,” which will take place on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the MS Wissenschaft in Bonn (KD Landebrücke 2, Brassertufer). Admission is free and registration is not required. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Most successful University in the competition, having received eight Clusters of Excellence
A huge success for the University of Bonn: today, all six of the University of Bonn's existing Clusters of Excellence were selected for further funding in the nationwide Excellence Competition. In addition, both newly applied Bonn cluster initiatives will receive funding from the federal and state governments. This means that Bonn will be represented by a total of eight clusters in the coming funding period - more than at any other university in Germany.
Fashion, Identity and Dependencies
The University of Bonn’s Global Heritage Lab is hosting not one but two exhibitions that explore colonialism in its impact, consequences and resulting enmeshments. The exhibitions are open until October 12 at P26.
Childhood 1500 years ago uncovered
What did babies eat 1500 years ago? International researchers led by the University of Bonn and the Nova University of Lisbon reconstructed the diet of children in Roman and medieval Portugal using state-of-the-art isotope methods to answer this question. The results have been published in the journal “Scientific Reports”.
Ages and Wonders in P26 : University of Bonn holds ceremony to open new House of Knowledge and Research
The University of Bonn has formally opened P26, its House of Knowledge and Research, in the heart of the city center. Short for “Poststraße 26,” it is a place where research, teaching and the general public can now come together. In the future, the rented building—a former department store—will house two University museums, the Global Heritage Lab and the University’s Infopunkt information desk. P26 will open its doors to the public on Wednesday, October 23, 2024.
Hunting for Clues
Until March 2025, the opening exhibition in the Knowledge Lab Uni Bonn (KLUB), housed in the P26 building, will provide insights into the stories behind some of the objects in the University of Bonn’s museums and collections. Researchers have set out to discover the origin and acquisition history of various objects, known as their “provenance.” To this end, they are posing various questions: who collected or purchased the objects, when and how? How and why did they end up at the University of Bonn? In addition, the exhibition explores the question of how museums can handle objects from sensitive contexts in an appropriate way.
Gustavo Politis Wins Humboldt Research Prize
The Argentinian archaeologist Professor Gustavo Politis is to receive a research prize from the Humboldt Foundation. Among other things, the researcher is studying the early settlement of the Americas. Professor Carla Jaimes Betancourt from the Department of Anthropology of the Americas at the University of Bonn had put his name forward for the €60,000 award. The pair are now stepping up their collaboration.
Immersing Ourselves in New Worlds: Where Theology Meets Cognitive Research
What happens when we look at a late antique image? In what order does our gaze wander over the individual elements? Where does it linger? What bodily reactions do such images or early Christian narratives trigger in us? Attempts to answer questions like this are going well beyond merely interpreting early Christian works. A research project embarked on by the University of Bonn together with the University of St Andrews is now bringing Ancient Studies and Cognitive Science together. One key theme is immersion, a concept usually associated more with the world of gaming.
Was Human Height in the Neolithic Period Influenced by Cultural Factors?
Body size differences between females and males in northern Europe during the early Neolithic period (6,000 to 8,000 years ago) may reflect cultural factors in play. The findings of an international research project led by the University of Pennsylvania (USA) suggest that differences in stature during that period cannot be explained solely by genetics and diet. Eva Rosenstock of the University of Bonn is involved in the study, the results of which have now been published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
Experience Digs Virtually
How do you explore an excavation site without being there in person? The Classical Archaeology team and the Bonn Center for Digital Humanities at the University of Bonn want to use new digital tools such as 3D technologies and virtual reality in their research and teaching. Their researchers are collaborating with the Universities of Amsterdam and Oslo and the Open University of the Netherlands in an international project entitled “Virtual Worlds in Teaching Archaeology.” The European Union is co-financing the project to the tune of some €400,000 over the next three years.
Colonial entanglements of museums
How can we make the formation of knowledge in museums and cultural heritage more sustainable and equitable? As the new Argelander Professor at the University of Bonn, Jun-Prof. Dr. Julia Binter is not only carrying out research into cultural, political and economic entanglements past and present but also seeking to reshape them in collaborative film and exhibition projects. In the transdisciplinary research area “Present Pasts,” the social and cultural anthropologist is currently co-leading the collaborative research, curation and restitution project “Confronting Colonial Pasts, Envisioning Creative Futures” for collections from Namibia together with research partners from Germany and Namibia.
Mongolia Honors Two University of Bonn Researchers
Two archaeologists from the University of Bonn have been presented with major awards in recognition of their many years of successful research work in Mongolia. At a ceremony held at the Ministry of Education and Science of Mongolia in the capital Ulaanbaatar, State Secretary M. Batgerel pinned the Order of the Polar Star - the highest honor that the country can award to a foreign citizen - onto Professor Jan Bemmann’s lapel. Susanne Reichert received the Friendship Medal. The two researchers are currently working in Mongolia as part of Research Unit 5438, “Urban Impacts on the Mongolian Plateau - Entanglements of Economy, City, and Environment,” which has recently secured funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG).
New Research Unit at the University of Bonn
The German Research Foundation (DFG) is setting up a new Research Unit at the University of Bonn entitled “Urban Impacts on the Mongolian Plateau – Entanglements of Economy, City, and Environment.” The decision was made earlier today by the DFG’s Joint Committee.
TRA 6: Sustainable Futures
Transdisciplinary Research Area "Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Futures"
Diets need more sustainability
There has been a rapid increase in cardiovascular and metabolic conditions in sub-Saharan Africa. What is the link between sustainable diets that are nutritious, environmentally friendly, economically affordable, and socioculturally acceptable, and cardiometabolic conditions? An international research team led by Prof. Dr. Ina Danquah, Hertz Chair for Innovation for Planetary Health in the Transdisciplinary Research Area “Sustainable Futures” and Director at Center for Development Research (ZEF) at University of Bonn, investigated this question among Ghanaian adults who live in various locations.
Robots Listening Out for Instructions in the Greenhouse
The greenhouses of the future are set to see ever-greater human-robot collaboration, and a team led by Professor Maren Bennewitz from the University of Bonn together with partners from Taiwan is using artificial intelligence to study the basic principles needed to make this happen. In their project, entitled “Learning Expert-Guided Crop Intervention through Human-in-the-Loop LLM Robotics” (or “AgriLoop” for short), the groups from the two countries are investigating how greenhouse robots will be able to work more closely with agricultural experts with the aid of natural-language interaction.
Land Degradation Significantly Reduces Crop Yields
Factors such as erosion, dehydration and compaction of the soil are jeopardizing food supplies for broad swathes of the world’s population according to a recent study by the University of Bonn, the University of Minnesota, the University of Basel and Hamburg University of Technology. If human-made soil degradation were to be reversed by 10 percent, the Earth’s arable land could feed an extra 70 million or so people in purely mathematical terms. The findings have now been published in the journal “Nature Food.”
Asthma: New Mechanism of Action Curbs Inflammatory Response
A team from the University of Bonn and the Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center (FZB) has discovered a previously unknown mechanism of action for a synthetic peptide that mitigates excessive inflammatory responses in allergic asthma. This mechanism specifically inhibits a key inflammatory switch in the immune system and opens up new avenues for treating chronic inflammatory diseases. The findings have now been published in the journal Advanced Science.
Agri-Environmental Policies Improve Cropland Around the World
Erosion, salinization and shrinking numbers of organisms such as worms and beneficial fungi can have a devastating effect on soil fertility, and so many parts of the world have passed laws to curb these processes. A study by the University of Bonn has now shown that these measures have improved soil quality in many countries. Their impact, however, is heavily dependent on the political and institutional environment in which they are implemented. The researchers’ findings have been published in the journal “Nature Food.”
Gentle nudges for increased animal welfare
Gentle purchase incentives can lead customers to choose groceries with higher animal husbandry standards more often. A recent study at the University of Bonn at least suggests this. The researchers used two different animal welfare label posters as “nudges.” Each poster itself changed the consumer behavior of participants shopping in a virtual supermarket. The share of products with higher animal welfare standards in the shopping cart was highest when both posters were combined. Further studies have yet to clarify the extent to which the results can be transferred to real shopping situations. The study has been published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics.
Two in One Go
What is the best way to shape the future of waterfront cities in the Global South in the face of challenges like climate change? How are conflicts overcome in various different cultures? These key questions are now to be explored by two new Research Training Groups (RTGs) at the University of Bonn. Alongside the University Hospital Bonn as a partner, the proposal was also submitted together with a university of applied sciences for the first time in the shape of Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (H-BRS). The German Research Foundation (DFG) is providing the two institutions with millions of euros in funding to train doctoral students. Across Germany, the DFG will be supporting 10 new RTGs in all from fall 2026 onward.
From the Rhine to the Tropics
Using a low-cost sensor and the Global Navigation Satellite System Interferometric Reflectometry (GNSS-IR), river water levels can be monitored around the clock. The water level data are automatically transmitted via cellular networks to an analysis center. Researchers at the University of Bonn developed the method several years ago and tested it on the Lower Rhine. With support from the European Space Agency (ESA), the monitoring system is now also being used in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.
Less hunger, more environmental problems?
In sub-Saharan Africa, many people are undernourished or malnourished. A new study by the Universities of Bonn and Ghana shows how rising incomes and urbanization are influencing dietary patterns of local populations. According to this, the wealthier segments in African countries are increasingly eating like people in Western industrialized countries. Although this improves their supply of important nutrients, it also has a greater negative impact on the environment. The study also looks at how this environmental damage can be minimized. It has been published in the journal ‘Sustainable Production and Consumption.’
AI with Locality Awareness
The University of Bonn is hosting a new Emmy Noether Group devoted to AI methods. Junior Professor Marc Rußwurm is developing AI methods for fusing different types of geodata to arrive at a uniform geospatial representation. The German Research Foundation (DFG) will be providing up to 1.4 million euros in funding for the research group over the next six years. The Emmy Noether Program is a framework designed to enable selected postdocs and assistant professors on fixed-term contracts to obtain the qualifications necessary to hold a university professorship.
University of Bonn Researchers Showcase Projects as Supercomputer Marvin Turns Two
Two years after Marvin was switched on, the University of Bonn celebrated its supercomputer with a community event at the Research and Technology Center for Detector Physics. Researchers from various disciplines presented projects realized with the aid of high-performance computers and took the opportunity to chat with their counterparts from different fields.
Bonn’s Domestic Service Robots Defend Their Title
The University of Bonn´s NimbRo team convincingly defended its @Home League championship title at the RoboCup German Open, finishing well ahead of the runner-up. From March 10 to 14, the service robots demonstrated their capabilities in everyday environments. They understood complex voice commands, navigated safely through a simulated apartment and an unfamiliar restaurant, delivered orders, and removed laundry from the washing machine.
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.
Rainforest conservation is bad for the economy!?
Violence, organized crime, and health problems: these issues do not immediately spring to mind when one thinks of the Brazilian rainforest. Clearing trees there not only releases stored carbon dioxide and decimates biodiversity. There are many different effects associated with rainforest destruction: Gustavo Magalhães de Oliveira and Yannic Damm from the Institute for Food and Resource Economics at the University of Bonn have investigated violence and respiratory diseases as consequences of deforestation. In the new episode of the Hypothesis podcast, the scientists discuss the thesis “Rainforest protection is bad for the economy” with host Denis Nasser.
Two days of oatmeal reduce cholesterol level
A short-term oat-based diet appears to be surprisingly effective at reducing the cholesterol level. This is indicated by a trial by the University of Bonn, which has now been published in the journal Nature Communications. The participants suffered from a metabolic syndrome – a combination of high body weight, high blood pressure, and elevated blood glucose and blood lipid levels. They consumed a calorie-reduced diet, consisting almost exclusively of oatmeal, for two days. Their cholesterol levels then improved significantly compared to a control group. Even after six weeks, this effect remained stable. The diet apparently influenced the composition of microorganisms in the gut. The metabolic products, produced by the microbiome, appear to contribute significantly to the positive effects of oats.
University of Bonn opens its own supermarket
The University of Bonn has opened its own supermarket, in which pineapples, canned tomatoes, and toast are neatly lined up on black shelves. The space measuring 55 square meters (approx. 600 square feet) has pretty much everything you’d need in everyday life. The ‘clientele’, however, is very special: they are subjects participating in scientific studies. Here, researchers from the fields of food and resource economics, psychology, economics, and behavioral science are investigating how health- and sustainability-oriented purchases can be encouraged, for example, through product placement and other incentives. Robots are also demonstrating their capabilities here.
Cheese without cows?
An increasing number of people are turning to vegan products. However, when it comes to cheese, this transition is proving difficult. One alternative is precision fermentation, in which microorganisms produce milk proteins to enable the production of genuine dairy products, such as cheese, without the need for cows. But would consumers actually buy such cheese? Researchers from the Department of Agricultural and Food Market Research at the University of Bonn investigated this question. Their study has now been published in the journal ‘Food Quality and Preference’.
How a Fungus Leads to Tissue Growths in Maize
When a maize plant is attacked by the fungus Ustilago maydis, tumor-like tissue growths occur at the site of infection. How the pathogen causes this response in its host has long been unknown. But a University of Bonn study has now shown how the fungus takes over the plant’s function for forming lateral roots. The findings have been published in the journal New Phytologist.
Record ESA Budget Sparks Jubilation among University of Bonn Researchers
The largest contributions in the history of the European Space Agency, €22.3 billion, have been approved at its Council meeting at Ministerial level in Bremen, Germany. Researchers at the University of Bonn are among those elated by this record sum, because it also includes strong funding for ESA’s Earth observation program. This will benefit Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1502 “Regional Climate Change: Disentangling the Role of Land Use and Water Management,” which is based at the University. Researchers from CRC 1502 are involved in ESA’s Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM), which is developing new satellites in order to furnish precise data about our planet’s water resources, among other things.
Sustainable pest management would have positive effects across the globe
What would happen if farmers around the globe were to switch over to sustainable pest management? An international study headed by the University of Bonn and ETH Zurich focused on precisely this question. The study is based on assessments provided by more than 500 leading experts from around the world who work in various disciplines from ecology through to economics. Most of those surveyed believe that the consequences of such a transformation would be positive in the long term – even from an economic perspective. However, the main effects of this transformation will vary around the world depending on the region. The results were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.
Microplastics filter inspired by fish
Wastewater from washing machines is considered a major source of microplastics – tiny plastic particles that are suspected of harming human and animal health. Researchers at the University of Bonn now have developed a filter to curb this problem. Their filter was inspired by the gill arch system in fish. In initial tests, the now patent-pending filter was able to remove over 99 percent of plastic fibers from washing machine wastewater. The results now have been published in the journal npj Emerging Contaminants.
A starting point for the development of new pain and cancer drugs
The human P2X4 receptor plays an important role in chronic pain, inflammation and some types of cancer. Researchers at the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have now discovered a mechanism that can inhibit this receptor. The results were recently published in the scientific journal Nature Communications and open up a pathway for the development of new drugs.
JUPITER selects first AI projects
Only ten teams nationwide will receive exclusive access to the European exascale supercomputer. With the HoMe project, AI research in Bonn is sending a strong signal in the fields of vision, robotics, and generative AI.
Brilliant minds connect disciplines
The University of Bonn has been a University of Excellence since 2019 and is committed to transdisciplinary research collaboration. With eight Clusters of Excellence, the University is now the most successful Universities of Excellence in Germany. As part of its excellence strategy, it has expanded six complementary Transdisciplinary Research Areas in which important social, technological, and scientific topics of the future are addressed from a variety of perspectives. At the heart of this are professorships for brilliant minds at the interface of different disciplines, which anchor this concept across faculties.
Food delivery apps: Nudges can reduce CO2 emissions
Can small changes in the design of food delivery apps encourage people to choose more climate-friendly meals? Researchers at the Institute for Food and Resource Economics (ILR) at the University of Bonn investigated this question. Their findings have now been published in the journal “Appetite.”
EU Organic Label: Better When It Says “Organic”
To positively influence purchase decisions, sustainability labels must convey a clear signal rather than remain abstract. Using the EU’s “Green Leaf” organic logo as an example, researchers from the universities of Bonn, Newcastle (UK) and Corvinus (Hungary) demonstrate that simple design tweaks reduce consumers’ uncertainty, bolster their trust in the products, and thus increase their willingness to buy. The two‑study-paper appears in the journal "Agribusiness" and is already available online.
Fending Off Cyberattacks in Healthcare
Artificial intelligence (AI) is designed to make our health system even more efficient. Yet cyberattacks are capable not only of jeopardizing patient safety but also impairing medical devices and hindering the work of emergency responders. With the “SecureNeuroAI” project, researchers from the University of Bonn, University Hospital Bonn and FIZ Karlsruhe – the Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure are aiming to develop secure, AI-powered methods for detecting medical emergencies in real time using the example of epileptic seizures, although their findings should be applicable to many other areas. The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is providing almost €2.5 million in funding over a three-year period.
Small Flows with a Big Impact
As far as the early-career researcher is concerned, water is also the elixir of life in a scientific sense: Dr. Clarissa Glaser, a hydrologist at the University of Bonn, has been investigating H₂O in a truly unique way. In a project funded by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, she has set out to model how the water in rivers and streams all over the world is exchanged with that in the surrounding landscape, e.g. in littoral zones, stream sediment or floodplains.
More than technology: Energy as a social responsibility
What significance does energy have for our society, and how can today's transformation of our energy supply become a driving force for a fair and sustainable future? Three researchers from the University of Bonn discussed these questions at the event “Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies – Resources, Responsibility, Society,” moderated by journalist Eva Wolfangel, on the exhibition ship MS Wissenschaft. With a view of the Rhine, experts and the audience exchanged views on the energy issues of the 21st century beyond technical perspectives and developed exciting ideas.
Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies
What does a fair, sustainable, and future-proof energy supply look like? And what does “energy” mean in the 21st century beyond the technical challenges? These questions are the focus of the discussion event at the University of Bonn “Dialogue on Deck: Thinking about Future Energies – Resources, Responsibility, Society,” which will take place on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the MS Wissenschaft in Bonn (KD Landebrücke 2, Brassertufer). Admission is free and registration is not required. Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Kontakt
Andreas Archut
Communications Director / Spokesperson
© Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn
Nils Sönksen
Deputy Communications Director / Spokesperson
© Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn