uni.news

» Published on 14. April 2011

The historian Martina Kessel is the new Vice President for International Affairs and Corporate Communication

After her election by Bielefeld University Council, the Senate confirmed today that the historian Professor Dr. Martina Kessel is the new Vice President for International Affairs and Corporate Communication. She is taking over from the educational scientist Professor Dr. Sabine Andresen who left the University this summer semester.

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» Published on 7. März 2011

Bielefeld University's Cluster of Excellence through to the second stage of the Excellence Initiative

DFG and German Science Council call for a detailed proposal for the Cluster of Excellence "Communicating comparisons"

In the second phase of the Excellence Initiative by the German federal and state governments to promote science and research at German universities, Bielefeld University has won through to the second review stage with a Cluster of Excellence organized predominantly by sociologists and historians. This Wednesday (2 March 2011) the Joint Commission of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Science Council gave Bielefeld University until 1 September 2011 to submit a detailed proposal for "Communicating comparisons. From the onset of modernity to world society". A final decision will be reached in June 2012.

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» Published on 9. Februar 2011

Bielefeld University acquires and indexes Niklas Luhmann's unpublished works

Promising basis for a Luhmann Archive

Many consider the sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1927–1998) to be one of the most important social theorists of the 20th century. In 1968, he became the first ever professor at Bielefeld University where he taught until his retirement in 1993. Even just in terms of size, Luhmann's exceptionally challenging scientific work is enormous, encompassing a good 50 of his own books and hundreds of articles in which he comprehensively developed his theory of social systems. One secret behind Luhmann's productivity is certainly his legendary "card box".

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» Published on 1. Februar 2011

Making the "dream material" graphene fit for industry

Advanced nanophysical research at Bielefeld University

Graphene is a material made up of one-atom thick sheets of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal honeycomb lattices. It is not just the thinnest but also the strongest material that human beings have ever manufactured. In 2010, the physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov (University of Manchester) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their basic research on graphene. However, Bielefeld University also has two physicists, Prof. Dr. Armin Gölzhäuser and Dr. Andrey Turchanin, who are carrying out intensive research on this promising nanomaterial with its special electronic properties. They are being funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). Although there are still no products containing graphene, the material makes it possible to develop fast transistors (above 100 gigahertz) that would be much faster than the silicon transistors used in today's computer chips. Hence, graphene has enormous economic potential. In future, millions of graphene-based products could be used in computers, solar cells, or displays.

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» Published on 12. Januar 2011

New Impulses for Surface Research

American Humboldt Award Winner Ralph G. Nuzzo Will Spend a Several-months Research Period at Bielefeld University and at KIT

At the beginning of the 1980s, the chemist Professor Ralph G. Nuzzo paved the way for use of the first thiol-based self-assembling monolayers (SAMs). Nanotechnology is not im-aginable today without that innovation. Professor Nuzzo is now honored with the Research Award of the Alexander von Hum-boldt Foundation. The award includes guest visits to the Bielefeld Institute for Biophysics and Nanoscience (BINAS) at Bielefeld University and the Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG) at KIT.

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» Published on 1. Dezember 2010

Campus Bielefeld: Partners launch their joint marketing concept

Cooperation between four powerful partners / Regional and national positioning / Leading project for regional competitiveness

Excellent conditions for research, teaching, and studying – that is the goal of the new "Campus Bielefeld". Over the next few years, it is set to become one of the most modern scientific locations anywhere in Germany. Between now and 2025, an innovative city district will be built up around Bielefeld University and Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences – a district in which people from all over the world will come to live and work. Over the coming 15 years, more than a billion Euros will be invested in four major building projects: the new building for Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and the new building for Interactive Intelligent Systems (FBIIS) are being built on the North Campus (Campus Nord); the extension to Bielefeld University is going up on the existing South Campus (Campus Süd); and, starting in 2013, the entire main university building (UHG) will be undergoing a complete modernization.

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» Published on 24. November 2010

Bielefeld at the centre of an international focus on industrial biotechnology

Series of European conferences launched on 21 November at Bielefeld University

From 21 to 24 November, internationally renowned experts along with young academics from more than 20 nations will be meeting in Bielefeld to present current findings and trends in using bacteria and yeasts to produce materials from renewable resources. The conference "Microorganisms for Industrial Biotechnology" is the first in a new series of European Science Foundation (ESF) conferences to be held at Bielefeld University.

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» Published on 8. November 2010

CITEC Cluster of Excellence at Bielefeld University Exhibits Cognitive Interaction Technology for the Medical Profession at the MEDICA Trade Fair

The Cluster of Excellence "Cognitive Interaction Technology" (CITEC) at Bielefeld University will be exhibiting a new application of cognitive interaction technology for the medical profession at the MEDICA 2010 Trade Fair. You can find this at the joint stand of the State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia in Hall 3 (Booth 3/C90) from the 17th to the 20th of November. The system platform, the first of its kind in the world, presents visitors with a demonstration of how a virtual reality (VR) can be used for diagnosis, treatment, and neuropsychological rehabilitation in the fields of neurology and psychiatry.

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» Published on 5. November 2010

Bielefelder Wissenschaftspreis: Prizewinner's Colloquium with Hans Joas on 19 November

Topic: Creativity – Self-Transcendence - Violence

The "2010 Bielefelder Wissenschaftspreis" [Bielefeld academic prize], awarded by the Sparkasse Bielefeld Foundation in remembrance of the sociologist Niklas Luhmann, goes to Professor Dr. Hans Joas, the sociologist and social philosopher at Erfurt University. The award ceremony, to be held on the evening of 19 November at Bielefeld City Art Gallery, will be accompanied by a "Prizewinner's Colloquium" to start at 11 a.m. on the same day in the Senate Meeting Room at Bielefeld University. Chaired by the Bielefelder theologist and sociologist Professor Dr. Dr. Heinrich W. Schäfer, the title will be "Creativity – Self-Transcendence – Violence".

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» Published on 2. November 2010

Feeling at Home in a Cosmopolitan University

A prize for Bielefeld University in the Humboldt Foundation's "Welcome Centres" best-practice competition

Bielefeld University is one of the seven winners in the third round of the "Welcome Centres" best-practice competition for cosmopolitan universities. The competition was started by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Deutsche Telekom Foundation, and the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft [Donors' Association]. Prizes are going to research centres for excellent care of foreign academics and for their ideas on the further development of "Welcome Centres." After 2006 and 2008, this is the final round of the competition. The Welcome Service for international academics at Bielefeld University now belongs to a network of 13 prize-winning Welcome Centres in Germany selected in the three rounds of the competition. Bielefeld University's ideas for the social and cultural integration of international academic guests and especially their partners or families particularly impressed the jury. The award  includes prize money of 10,000 EUR for implementing the proposed measures.

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