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Bielefeld University and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) test Flobi and Nao

The two robots Flobi and Nao worked full time for three weeks in an isolation study in Cologne. Scientists from Bielefeld University’s Research Institute for Cognition and Robotics (CoR-Lab) were studying how these intelligent assistance systems can help astronauts to keep fit – both physically and mentally. However, it was not just the persons who were on trial, but the robots as well. The scientists were testing both their suitability and their capacity. The experiment ended on Saturday. Professor Dr. Franz Kummert, who is running the study together with Professor Dr. Britta Wrede, delivered an initial assessment: ‘I am proud of the members of this project – the way they handled the enormous challenges that such a long-term study imposes on the endurance of our robots was just excellent.’ 

[Weiterlesen]

Funding approved for the Bielefeld and Paris I Universities programme

As the German–French Chamber of Industry and Commerce announced in February, France is once again Germany’s most important trading partner in 2012. It is only appropriate that Bielefeld University and University of Paris I are working together to train students in quantitative economic research. The already established Master’s and doctoral degree programmes are to receive funding from the German–French University for five years starting in the next winter semester. The programme is called ‘PhD Track in Quantitative Economics’, TiQE in short. Funding was approved on 8 April.[Weiterlesen]

Bielefeld physicist Andy Thomas takes nature as his model

Scientists have long been dreaming about building a computer that would work like a brain. This is because a brain is far more energy-saving than a computer, it can learn by itself, and it doesn’t need any programming. Privatdozent [senior lecturer] Dr. Andy Thomas from Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Physics is experimenting with memristors – electronic microcomponents that imitate natural nerves. Thomas and his colleagues proved that they could do this a year ago. They constructed a memristor that is capable of learning. Andy Thomas is now using his memristors as key components in a blueprint for an artificial brain. He will be presenting his results at the beginning of March in the print edition of the prestigious Journal of Physics published by the Institute of Physics in London.[Weiterlesen]

Bielefeld University to coordinate the EU project ‘SocIEtY’

The European Union is investing 2.5 million Euro in the ‘SocIEtY’ research project launched on Friday 1 February. A total of 40 social scientists will be carrying out comparative national studies on how far young people are able to participate in society in a self-determined way and exploit their developmental opportunities. The major project is being coordinated by the Bielefeld Center for Education and Capability Research (BCA) at Bielefeld University. Thirteen partners from 11 European countries are working on the development of innovative social and institutional ways of improving the quality of life of the young people concerned.[Weiterlesen]

Bielefeld University and the Oberstufen-Kolleg cooperating with universities in Chile

Bielefeld University and the Oberstufen-Kolleg [High School College] will be cooperating closely with the Universidad Viña del Mar and the Universidad de Ciencias de la Informática in Chile over the next two years in order to improve the way in which basic academic competencies are taught in the first year of studies. The goal is to increase the study success rate in the first year and to further improve the quality of studies. The cooperation is receiving a grant of approximately 90,000 Euro for an initial two years from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). This grant is part of a programme for partnerships with universities in developing countries. The plan is to arrange reciprocal working visits by experts and tutors, reciprocal visits by research teams, and three joint conferences. It will commence in April with a visit to Chile.[Weiterlesen]

Four years of funding for the ‘Theoretical Sciences’ network

Researchers at Bielefeld University’s Faculties of Mathematics, Physics, and Business Administration of Economics along with the Institute of Mathematical Economics have been selected for the ‘Thematic Networks’ programme of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The Bielefeld network ‘From Extreme Matter to Financial Markets’ has been awarded up to 250,000 Euro per year over the next four years. The DAAD is using this programme to strengthen the formation of international profiles and is supporting 21 projects in this selection phase.[Weiterlesen]

New Center for Regional Research at Bielefeld University

Anglo America and Latin America: cultural, language, social, and political contrasts between industrial nations and so-called developing and emerging countries are encountered more in ‘the Americas’ than in just about any other region in the world. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has now approved a Center for Regional Research on ‘the Americas as Space of Entanglement(s)’ at Bielefeld University. The project is being funded to the tune of more than three million Euros over a period of four years. On 1 February, the leading scientists and their postdoctoral students will start their preparations. The project will provide jobs for fifteen scientists and one administrator. Renowned scientists from Canada, the United States, Latin America, and Europe will contribute to the opening conference from 6 to 8 May.[Weiterlesen]

Bielefeld’s Center for Biotechnology and the Joint Genome Institute, USA, decipher genetic information of microbes in biogas plants

Day after day, legions of microorganisms work to produce energy from waste in biogas plants. Researchers from Bielefeld University’s Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec) are taking a close look to find out which microbes do the best job. They are analysing the entire genetic information of the microbial communities in selected biogas plants up and down Germany. From the beginning of 2013, the Californian Joint Genome Institute will undertake the sequencing required. The biocomputational analysis will be performed at CeBiTec. Not an easy task, since the data will be supplied in billions of fragments stemming in turn from hundreds of organisms. Piecing together this huge jigsaw puzzle will be painstaking work.[Weiterlesen]

Biologists at Bielefeld University publish research findings in specialist journal

All a question of timing: When bushcrickets mate, the male attaches a sticky package, the so-called spermatophore, to the female’s abdomen. Alongside the sperm themselves, this ‘bridal present’ consists of a protein-rich mass that the female eats after mating. It then takes several hours for the sperm to find their way into the female’s reproductive tract. But, who decides when that will happen? A study by the Bielefeld biologists Professor Dr. Klaus Reinhold and Dr. Steven Ramm suggests that it is the male who determines the dynamics of this process even when he has long ‘hopped off’ somewhere else. They have now published their results in the online first version of the journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology.[Weiterlesen]

Interdisciplinary study by Bielefeld and Saarland Universities

Much celebration at the universities in Bielefeld and Saarbrücken. The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved funding for a long-term research project by Professors Dr. Martin Diewald and Dr. Rainer Riemann from Bielefeld University and Dr. Frank Spinath from Saarland University. They are studying the development of social inequalities – for the example of 4,000 pairs of twins living in Germany. The name of the study is ‘Twinlife’. The DFG announced its decision today (7 December), and will be providing more than four million Euros of funding for the first three years.[Weiterlesen]