Profile
Transcending Boundaries
At Bielefeld University, research means transcending boundaries - between disciplines, between people and between science and society. This principle of Transcending Boundaries is the driving force behind basic research at an international level.
Four profile-defining, thematic strategic research areas centre on the big questions of our time and offer points of contact for business and society. High-calibre interdisciplinary research is carried out here, particularly within the framework of targeted third-party funded projects. As a reform university, Bielefeld is committed to constant renewal: the current profile-building process identifies twelve focus areas.
Strategic Research Areas
The Changing World illuminates complex processes of individual and societal dynamics as well as social interactions and institutions. The Material World examines structures and processes at the interfaces of physics, chemistry, biology and bioinformatics. In the Mathematical World, fundamental mathematical concepts and theories and their application to solve long-standing open problems in economics and the natural sciences are developed. The Socio-Technical World researches capabilities and mechanisms that enable agents such as humans, robots and AI to act, communicate and learn in complex environments.
Research projects
Funding from external funding institutions and large collaborative projects are an important signal of a university's research strength. Bielefeld University also benefits from its fundamental culture of interdisciplinarity and cooperation when it comes to acquiring third-party funding and funding awards. Coordinated DFG programmes include Collaborative Research Centres, Priority Programmes, Research Groups and Research Training Groups. In addition, there are other outstanding research projects funded by the European Commission, for example, or by the federal and state governments and foundations.
Central Academic Institutes
Many complex phenomena of our time can no longer be adequately understood with the resources of a single subject. The Central Academic Institutes (ZWE) at Bielefeld University therefore pursue their research topics on an interdisciplinary basis. They combine expertise from several faculties and take up innovative research impulses. Each of the centres works in a network of national and international partner institutions. Its members exchange research findings with stakeholders in science, politics, civil society and business. Each ZWE promotes young researchers in various formats.
Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF)
The Center for Interdisciplinary Research is the Institute for Advanced Study at Bielefeld University. As an independent, thematically unbound institution, it promotes interdisciplinary and innovative research and is open to scholars from all countries and disciplines. Free from everyday academic duties, researchers have the chance to realise an interdisciplinary project at ZiF, together with international colleagues.
Portal for research information
The CRIS portal - the portal for research information at our university - provides an overview of the diverse research landscape at Bielefeld University or allows you to search specifically for researchers, projects, publications, etc. The networked presentation of our researchers' research activities and results provides a comprehensive impression of Bielefeld's research world. The data presented here is based on Bielefeld University's Research Information System (CRIS).
