Professor Barbara Hammer and three European colleagues receive ERC Synergy Grant 

Secure the supply of drinking water in the face of urban growth: Dr Barbara Hammer, professor of computer science from Bielefeld University, and three other European scientists will be exploring new technologies for this purpose. The European Research Council (ERC) is supporting the four scientists in their project Water-Futures with its Synergy Grant—one of the European Union’s most prestigious research grants. For the next six years, the four researchers will receive a total of 10 million euros, 2.4 million euros of which will go to Bielefeld University. 

 

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Inaugural conference for research group at Center for Interdisciplinary Research

Equal rights for people of all genders: this was, for a long time, considered an unrealized but undisputed goal. This understanding, however, has recently begun to show cracks, with a commitment to equality being maligned as “gender ideology”. How did it come to pass that women’s and gender rights have become controversial topics in different countries around the world? Starting in October, the new research group “Global Contestations of Women’s and Gender Rights” at Bielefeld University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research (Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung, Zif) will be exploring these questions. The research group will launch its work with an international kick-off conference held at the ZiF – both on campus and online – from October 7th-9th, 2020.[Weiterlesen]

Next step in the strategic partnership with Canada

Due to the pandemic, digital teaching at German universities has developed rapidly in recent months. Bielefeld University can now make particular use of this upswing for its partnership with higher education institutions in the Canadian region of Alberta, thereby pushing ahead withinternational virtual academic cooperation. The ‘We CAN Virtu-OWL’ project between Eastern Westphalian universities and partner universities in the Alberta region (Canada), which has been approved by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and is led by Bielefeld University, is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with 210,000 euros.
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ERC Starting Grants for Professor Dr Martina Hofmanová and Dr Toni Goßmann

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded ERC Starting Grants to two researchers from Bielefeld University. They will each receive 1.5 million euros for top-level research in their disciplines. In her project, Professor Dr Martina Hofmanová from the Faculty of Mathematics is investigating fluid flows and studying how they are influenced by randomness. Dr Toni Goßmann from the Faculty of Biology is working on epigenetic programming—that is, he is investigating flexible changes in the genomes that control, for example, which genes are activated in body cells. As recipients of this research funding, Hofmanová and Goßmann now belong to Europe's best young scientists. [Weiterlesen]

An international team of physicists from Bielefeld University, Uppsala University, the University of Strasbourg, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, ETH Zurich, and the Free University Berlin have developed a precise method to measure the ultrafast change of a magnetic state in materials. They do this by observing the emission of terahertz radiation that necessarily accompanies such a magnetization change. Their study, titled ‘Ultrafast terahertz magnetometry’, is being published today (25.08.2020) in Nature Communications.[Weiterlesen]

Bielefeld economists develop computer model for coronavirus measures

How do the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus crisis impact the economy? What measures are suitable to minimise the number of people infected and killed by SARS-CoV-2? And how are these two dynamics related? Academics at Bielefeld University have investigated this and now published their findings in a study. Using a computer model with high predictive power, they simulated how the virus spreads and the effects of different containment measures—both on gross domestic product and unemployment figures as well as on the number of people infected and those who die of Covid-19.

 

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Bielefeld University’s rectorate has made its decision on applications

Applications to Bielefeld University’s Medical Research Start-up Fund (AMF [Anschubfonds Medizinische Forschung]) had to be submitted by April. The university’s rectorate has now reviewed the recommendations of the selection committee and made its decision. In the first funding round, the AMF will support six collaborative projects. The new projects involve technical applications for rehabilitation, the microbiome in the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis, eye-tracking in the diagnosis of strokes, artificial intelligence in the aftercare of hear-ing prostheses, sleep promotion as a preventive measure as well as the improved care of patients with chronic pain. The AMF is designed to contribute to the further development of the new faculty’s medical research profile. The fund promotes collaboration between Bielefeld University scientists and physicians at OWL University Hospital (UK OWL) as well as physicians with their own practice in OWL.

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The JAII will conduct research into human-centred technology suitable for everyday use

Voice assistants, smart homes, or industrial 4.0 systems: artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly automating processes in a wide variety of living and working environments. However, AI systems often prove to be not particularly competent because they lack either background or contextual knowledge, are unable to assess the scope and implications of assumptions and decisions, and cannot explain their actions. In the Joint Artificial Intelligence Institute (JAII), the two universities at Bielefeld and Paderborn are combining their research competencies in this field of research. The universities jointly founded the institute on July 14, 2020. In the JAII, future research will address the fundamentals of AI systems designed to focus on people. The aim is for AI systems to support people as competent partners and enable them to solve everyday problems better and more reliably than before.

 

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An economic study is examining what prevents companies from producing in eco-friendly ways. Governments must take these barriers into account if they want to promote alternative processes.

Industrial companies are fighting to survive as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. One suggestion is to support the German economy by linking environmental and climate targets with economic stimulus packages. What chance does climate policy have of influencing technological change towards green technology? This is one of the questions posed by a study at Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Business Administration and Economics. It is using a model to imitate the economy of a typical state in the European Union.

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The kind of accommodation given to refugees may impact on their health. But it is not just housing conditions that are important, says public health scientist Oliver Razum, it is also freedom of movement and being able to make one's own decisions. Excessive controls, in contrast, could turn the time spent in the host country into a torment and a health risk.  Oliver Razum repeatedly returns to one pivotal sentence: ‘Refugees must have the chance to shape their lives themselves.’ Any assistance that is ultimately a disempowerment is not really help at all: it paralyses and frustrates. The scientist also calls for refugees to be granted the same access to healthcare as the majority population. 

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