The projects that have now been submitted come from the fields of materials science and engineering, the social sciences, and computer science. The Bremen researchers have spent months preparing their applications.
"We are entering the contest with forward-looking research topics from our high-profile areas," University President Professor Jutta Günther explains. "We can look forward to many new research ideas. I can see with how much commitment our researchers have prepared the outlines and would like to express my sincere thanks to the three cluster initiatives and would also like to voice my gratitude to the scientific managers and the research teams."
The essence of the outlines is a description of the research idea and approach, as well as a coherent concept for the support of young researchers, equality and diversity, research infrastructure, science communication and transfer, and research-oriented teaching.
Over the next few months, the University of Bremen will have to exercise patience. International reviewers will examine and assess the outlines and for this purpose, they will also hold short interviews with the proposal teams. The comparative assessment of the review results will form the basis for the expert panel's decision in February 2024 regarding which final proposals are to be submitted.
Full proposals must then be submitted in August 2024. The "Ocean Floor" cluster, which has already been successful since the beginning of the excellence funding in 2007 and is located at MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen, will also submit its application for renewal in August 2024.
The final decision as to which of the approximately 70 clusters throughout Germany will be supported will be made in May 2025.
The Excellence Strategy:
In June 2016, the federal government and the states decided to continue the previous Excellence Initiative in the form of the so-called Excellence Strategy with the aim of strengthening German universities in international competition. The Excellence Strategy comprises two funding lines: the Excellence Clusters and the Excellence Universities. Excellence Clusters are large, internationally visible research networks that focus on a topic of long-term relevance, are interdisciplinary in nature, and fit the profile of the respective university. If successful, they are supported for an initial period of seven years and receive three to ten million euro per year. If they subsequently meet the requirements of an evaluation, they can also be funded on a longer-term basis. With MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, the University of Bremen already has an Excellence Cluster, which is submitting an application for renewal in this round.
In order to compete for the title of University of Excellence, universities must have at least two clusters in the future. This funding line serves to strengthen universities as institutions and to further their top international positions in research. Excellence Universities will now be supported on a permanent basis. In 2012, the University of Bremen was successful with its "Ambitious and Agile" strategy and was supported as a University of Excellence until 2019.
Further Information:
www.uni-bremen.de/en/
https://www.bmbf.de/bmbf/en/academia/excellence-strategy/excellence-strategy_node.html
Contact:
University of Bremen
Strategic Projects and Excellence (SPE)
Dr. Achim Wiesner
Phone: +49 421 218-60015
Email: achim.wiesnerprotect me ?!vw.uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
