Research

This KPA consists of a Center of Excellence, CECAD, funded through the DFG in the second funding line for the second period. The Cologne Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-associated Diseases (CECAD) provides an extremely dynamic environment for research into the aging process and related diseases. The aim of CECAD is to understand the general mechanisms underlying the aging process. The vision of the cluster is to enable new therapies for aging-associated diseases such as cancer, diabetes and neurodegenerative disorders to be developed. CECAD takes an interdisciplinary and international approach -- its outstanding research teams working in six main project areas, enable the group to maintain a leading position in international research on the aging process.

Research at Cologne University within the broadly defined Competence Area II benefits from a diverse spectrum of cooperation and cross-faculty initiatives within the university. Examples are collaboration with Ethnology, Macroeconomics, Law, Marketing, Media Research, Neurosciences, Psychology and Sociology, as well as extra-mural cooperation with regional research partners such as the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies and the Jülich Research Centre. In addition, research work in this Competence Area is embedded within a worldwide network of close cooperation with renowned academics, e.g. the Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas and Columbia Business School (Columbia University).

"Quantum Matter and Materials" (QM2) is a fascinating field of research driven both by the intellectual challenge and the promise for applications. Within QM2, researchers of mathematics, experimental and theoretical physics, anorganic and physical chemistry and crystallography collaborate to unravel the properties of quantum matter. The mathematical structures underlying topological matter, the prospect to functionalize "Dirac matter" like graphene, new states of matter arising from spin-orbit interactions, quantum matter far from thermal equilibrium, the use of nanostructured materials for wide ranges of applications, and the development of organic electronics, are some of the research topics important for QM2.

KPA IV enhances the international and national visibility of interdisciplinary studies on cultural, social and economic transformations in the Global South in an era of rapid globalization, acts as an incubator for coordinated projects and creates an academic environment conducive for the academic development of junior researchers. It contributes to the emergent field of comparative and interdisciplinary research on entanglements embodied in material and non-material flows within the Global South and between the South and the North. It focusses with its interdisciplinary approach on exchanges and flows between continents, between regions and between metropolitan areas and hinterland.

Aging and demographic change do not only raise medical and scientific issues but pose fundamental challenges in the fields of ethics, law, economics, humanities and social science. Their analysis and the quest for solutions require a joint effort of all disciplines involved to ensure truly satisfactory outcomes. In Competence Area I, projects and activities on aging and demographic change of researchers from a variety of different fields and departments are tied together. Thus, CA I ideally supplements the research activities of the University of Cologne’s Key Profile Area I "Aging-associated Diseases" and is well positioned to evolve into an internationally visible center for research on aging that engages in a variety of interdisciplinary research activities. Founded at the University of Cologne in November 2013, the Cologne Center for Ethics, Rights, Economics, and Social Sciences of Health (CERES) provides the institutional framework for this cooperation. CERES is supported by five faculties of the University of Cologne and is dedicated to research, teaching, the promotion of young researchers as well as to fostering public discussion and promoting public awareness for pressing health-related issues.

Research at Cologne University within the broadly defined Competence Area II benefits from a diverse spectrum of cooperation and cross-faculty initiatives within the university. Examples are collaboration with Ethnology, Macroeconomics, Law, Marketing, Media Research, Neurosciences, Psychology and Sociology, as well as extra-mural cooperation with regional research partners such as the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies and the Jülich Research Centre. In addition, research work in this Competence Area is embedded within a worldwide network of close cooperation with renowned academics, e.g. the Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas and Columbia Business School (Columbia University).

The research within the competence area „Quantitative modeling of complex systems“ covers a wide range of areas and builds a natural bridge between many research topics. It embraces through its techniques the faculty of mathematics and natural sciences, the medical school, and the faculty of economics of the University of Cologne. The ideas of the competence area are central in many coordinated grant programs within the University of Cologne. They include among others SFBs 956 (Star formation), 608 (Complex metal transitions), 680 (Molecular basis of evolutionary innovations), SFB/TR12 (mesoscopic systems), and SFB/Transregio 32 (Pattern in soil-vegetation-atmosphere systems).

The Competence Area IV “Cultures and Societies in Transition” (CA IV) supports innovative research in the domain of social and cultural transformations across different disciplines and faculties of the University of Cologne. Its goal is to foster research activities across the UoC and to carry research results beyond university settings. The CA IV is closely connected to the Global South Studies Center (GSSC) and helps to establish the GSSC among university researchers whose expertise and interests fall within the area of the CA IV. Themes of joint activities comprise subjects such as mobility and migration, adaptation, resilience and collapse, the transformation of societies, cultures and livelihoods, identity, demographic change and citizenship, ecological and social dynamics, global environmental change as well as methodological concerns of comparison more generally. Together with the GSSC the Competence Area provides a broad platform for research activities concerning the Global South. CA IV helps to connect individual researchers with the relevant university institutions and scientific centers, and with museums, public spaces and the media beyond the university. The goal is to improve public outreach, to increase international visibility and to foster internal and international collaboration.

Competence Area V “Social Inequalities and Intercultural Education” (SINTER) encompasses research addressing inequality, migration and intercultural issues. Due to the interrelatedness of social and educational inequalities, interdisciplinary approaches involving education and the social sciences are increasingly becoming more significant. At SINTER research studies, also including those comparative and international in scope, are devoted to several “spaces” of intercultural education, including formal and informal education, higher education, and adult education, with the aim of uncovering the mechanisms through which differences “become” inequalities within the context of educational institutions.