In a focused spectrum of interdisciplinary fields in the humanities and social sciences and in the natural sciences and technology, Bielefeld University is one of the strongest research universities in Germany. In the first phase of the Excellence Initiative in 2007 we won funding for the Cognitive Interaction Technology Cluster (CITEC) and the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS).
Our research strength is also reflected in our placings in the DFG funding rankings based on the total 92 universities assessed: based on DFG data Bielefeld University occupies top places for the humanities and social sciences (fifth in the comparison of third-party funding per professorship), the life sciences (fourth place in the comparison of third-party funding per professorship), and engineering with its focus on computer science (third place in the comparison of third-party funding per professorship). In the natural sciences Bielefeld University occupies place 22 (in the comparison of third-party funding per professorship). For mathematics the DFG data do not allow calculation of size-adjusted ranking; in absolute terms the faculty occupies sixth place.
In the 2010-2011 Higher Education Ranking of the prestigious British magazine Times Higher Education, Bielefeld University is the best of all the higher education institutes in North Rhine-Westphalia. Bielefeld is the eighth best university in Germany, holds the 67th place in Europe.
We conduct research and promote young researchers at the highest international level in five strategic research areas through top-quality collaborative research projects and central academic institutes, as well as effective support for individual third-party funded research projects.
Theories and Methodologies in the Humanities and Social Sciences
The University's founding generation already pursued a vision of close collaboration between historians and sociologists, and a focus on theoretical and methodological questions has brought the disciplines ever closer together. The Bielefeld school of social history, research on historical semantics, and systems theory have become hallmarks. The establishment of the joint Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology (BGHS) in 2007 represented an important step towards long-term consolidation of this interdisciplinary cooperation. With the initiative for a Cluster of Excellence "Communicating Comparisons: From the Onset of Modernity to World Society" historians and sociologists in Bielefeld have adopted a common research programme and widened interdisciplinary cooperation to include law and philosophy.
Human Development, Conflict and Violence
Education science and psychology along with history, literature, law, health sciences, philosophy, theology, as well as the internationally renowned Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG - Institut für Interdisziplinäre Konflikt- und Gewaltforschung) all participate in this strategic research area. It concerns the complex processes of human development, encompassing child development and all the social interactions and institutions that shape human existence in different societies and contexts. Sophisticated interdisciplinary and international research uncovers the causes and consequences of individual harm and destruction in private and public institutions associated with collective ethnic/cultural, religious, political, and institutional violence.
Interactive Intelligent Systems
This strategic research area focuses on gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms that allow humans, animals, and artificial systems to act autonomously in complex environments and to communicate with each other. Research, in which computer science, biology, psychology, sports science, linguistics, and physics are all involved, currently concentrates on four key issues: motion intelligence, attention, situated communication, and memory and learning. This is primarily pure research, but with an eye to application and the intention to bring about the development of prototypes. There is close cooperation with national and international industrial partners (e.g. Miele, Bertelsmann, Honda), as well as with important partners in the health sector. The heart of this strategic research area is the Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) Cluster of Excellence approved in 2007.
In this broad field the University has carved itself a nationally and internationally prominent niche with a focused profile at the intersection of physics, chemistry, biology, and bioinformatics. Current research focuses range from nanolayers and single-molecule processes through to bacterial, plant, and animal cells. They are driven by interdisciplinary collaboration, in part located at the Centre for Biotechnology (CeBiTec). Even if this strategic research area is largely about toplevel pure research, it has often led to high-level industrial collaboration, e.g. with E.ON, Miele, Schüco International, and Siemens.
Close cooperation between mathematics, theoretical physics, and business administration and economics (especially the Institute of Mathematical Economics, IMW - Institut für mathematische Wirtschaftsforschung) has a long tradition in Bielefeld that has produced a series of major collaborative projects. Additionally - and this is probably unique in Germany - pure and applied mathematicians work closely together in a DFG Collaborative Research Centre. Important current research interests in the theoretical sciences are spectral structures and topological methods, stochastics and modelling of real systems, economic behaviour and interaction models, and the theory of quantum fields and strongly interacting matter.
Cutting across the five strategic research areas, our well-known gender research institutionalised at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Women's and Gender Studies (IFF - Interdisziplinäres Institut für Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung) (in German) and the internationally renowned Science Studies based at the Institute for Science and Technology Studies (IWT - Institut für Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung) represent further interdisciplinary research focuses.
The strategy of interdisciplinary networking within and between the strategic research areas has created dynamic, integrative research structures. No area at Bielefeld - not even the smallest departments (e.g. Philosophy, Sports Science) - is per se detached from these trendsetting developments.
With the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF - Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung) Bielefeld University has possessed since its foundation an Institute for Advanced Study that numbers among the most internationally renowned and successful institutions of its type. Founded in 1968 as the University's interdisciplinary nucleus, the ZiF still pursues its original mission of promoting innovative and interdisciplinary research projects. Unlike other similar institutes in Germany, the ZiF supports only collaborative research projects.
The ZiF is highly attractive internationally, attracting 300 researchers from abroad to conferences and workshops every year. International researchers are strongly represented in the various ZiF funding formats, making up 65 percent of participants. The ZiF can build on an impressive track record: ZiF projects provided crucial inspiration for developing interdisciplinary research strands that have often prepared the ground for larger collaborative research projects at Bielefeld University. Four later Nobel laureates participated in research groups at the ZiF and completed part of their theoretical work here (Myerson, Selten, Harsanyi, Ostrom).
http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/zif/
To generate synergies and increase efficiency significant parts of the research infrastructure at Bielefeld University are organised and networked on a university-wide basis. This is greatly assisted by the compact nature of the main university building.
According to the relevant rankings and competitions the university library is one of the best and most innovative in Germany both in terms of user satisfaction and on account of its pioneering role in the fields of digital scientific communication, electronic publishing, open access, eLearning, eScience, scientific data services, and search engine technologies.
At Bielefeld University researchers in many disciplines, such as molecular sciences, behaviour studies, robotics, psychology, linguistics, sociology and history have collected and work with large samples of qualitative and quantitative data of largely diverging format. In an cooperative effort the CeBiTec, CITEC, the Centre for Statistics, and the Data Service Centre for Business and Organisational Data, the university library and the computing centre are utilising their specific expertise in different fields and currently creating a new type of data infrastructure.
Networked technology platforms have been established in fields ranging from natural sciences and technology through to linguistics and psychology: Examples include the Bioinformatics Resource Facility (CeBiTec); a Hightech Microscopy Platform for Nanoimaging and Nanoengineering, and the CITEC Central Lab. All technology platforms provide a framework for our strategic research areas to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of their research. They have already proved to be powerful actors in the development of novel research themes.
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Collaborative Research Centres (SFB) are long-term higher education research institutions in which researchers can work together in programmes going beyond their own subject boundaries. Their tasks also include promoting young academics. They are financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG), with funding generally being granted for up to 12 years with each funding period lasting 3 to 4 years. |
| Participating Faculties | ||
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CRC 584: The Political as Communicative Space in History - since 01.07.2001 |
Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology |
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CRC 613: Physics of single molecul processes and molecular recognition in organic systems - since 01.01.2002 (in German) |
Faculty of Physics, Faculty of Chemistry and Faculty of Biology |
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CRC 701: Spectral Structures and Topological Methods in Mathematics - since 01.07.2005 |
Faculty of Mathematics |
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CRC 673: Alignment in Communication - since 01.07.2006 |
Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Studies and Faculty of Technology |
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CRC 882: Von Heterogenitäten zu Ungleichheiten (since 01.07.2011) |
Faculty of Sociology, Faculty of Educational Science, Faculty of Health Science, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, University Library Bielefeld, German Institute of Economic Research Berlin, Institute of Psychology, University Erlangen-Nürnberg |
| Participation in Collaborative Research Centres (SFB): | ||
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CRC 686 - Model-Based Control of Homogenized Low-Temperature Combustion - since 2006 | Faculty of Chemistry, RWTH Aachen |
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former Collaborative Research Centres (SFB) (in German) |
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CRCs in Germany, Overview of the German Research Foundation (DFG) |
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These research groups contain mostly academics from one higher education institute who have joined forces to study one specific research topic over several years. Their goal is particularly to introduce new and previously unestablished research directions. Many of these research groups are funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). |
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FOR 945 Nano Magnets - since July 2008 (in German) |
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Deutsche französische Forschergruppe: Anharmonizität und nichtadiabatische Kopplungen - since July 2008 (German-French Research Unit: in German) |
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Research Units in Germany - Overview of the German Research Foundation (DFG) |
| Participation in transregional research groups | |
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FOR 804 Retrograde signaling in plants Principal role: Humboldt-Universität, Berlin Participation: Fakulty of Biology, Prof. Dr. K.-J. Dietz |
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FOR 1232 Reduction of Phenotypic Plasticity in Behavior by Early Experience: Functional Consequences of an Adaptive Mechanism? Principal role: Bielefeld University Participation: Faculty of Biology, Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Bischof, Prof. Dr. Caroline Müller, Prof. Dr. Klaus Reinhold, Prof. Dr. Fritz Trillmich further participating universities: University of Münster, University of Potsdam |
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Research Training Groups are temporary higher education institutions for promoting young academic graduates. They provide postgraduate students with the opportunity to carry out their doctorates within the framework of a coordinated research programme implemented by several professors from as broad a range of disciplines as possible. They also provide a systematically organized study programme that equips postgraduate students with a broader understanding of the specific academic field. Research Training Groups are generally also funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). |
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World Society - Making and Representing the Global (from 01.10.2007 to 31.03.2012) |
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884/3: Group Focused Enmity: Causes, phenomenology, consequences (from 01.01.2004 to 31.12.2012) |
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Graduiertenkollegs in Germany - Overview of the German Research Foundation (DFG) |
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881/3: Quantum Fields and Strongly Interacting Matter (from 01.10.2003 to 30.09.2012) |
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1132/1: Stochastics and Real World Models (from 01.01.2006 to 30.06.2010) |
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1134/2: EBIM - Economic Behavior and Interaction Models (from 01.04.2005 to 31.03.2014) |
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Graduiertenkollegs in Germany - Overview of the German Research Foundation (DFG) |
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Graduate Schools make a long-term contribution to structuring research and teaching. In postgraduate degree programmes with intensive academic supervision, postgraduates are given the chance to gain qualifications closely related to a focus of research. Most lectures and seminars are held in English in order to enhance the international orientation of Graduate Schools. |
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International Graduate School in Bioinformatics and Genome Research - since 2001 |
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Bielefeld Graduate School for Economics and Management - BIGSEM - since 2001 |
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International Graduate School of Chemistry and Biochemistry Bielefeld |
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CoR-Lab Graduate School for Cognition and Robotics - since 2007 |
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Graduate School in History and Sociology - BGHS (Excellence Initiative 2007) |
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Graduate School Cognitive Interaction Technology - since 2008 |
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CLIB-Graduate Cluster Industrial Biotechnology - since 2009 run jointly by three CLIB2021 member universities, namely, Bielefeld University, Dortmund Technical University, and Düsseldorf University |
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International NRW Research School Education and Capabilities - since 2009 run jointly by academics in the social sciences and humanities at Bielefeld University and Dortmund Technical University |
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Graduate School Bioinformatics of Signal Networks |
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Bielefeld Graduate School in Linguistics and Literary Studies - since 2010 |
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