uni.news

» Published on 14. Juli 2010

Two health scientists from Bielefeld University appointed to the new advisory council

Panel of experts to assess developments in the health services

Two professors at Bielefeld University's Faculty of Health Sciences are to become members of the new advisory council set up to assess developments in the health care system: Professor Dr. Doris Schaeffer and Professor Dr. Wolfgang Greiner. Their names were announced yesterday (13 July) by the Federal Minister of Health Philipp Rösler. This is the most important body of experts on German health policy. It is interdisciplinary and contains seven members.

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» Published on 9. Juli 2010

Scientists have now sequenced and analyzed the genome of the simplest multicellular organism

The green alga Volvox carteri as a model system for molecular studies on the evolution of multicellular organisms

An international team of scientists from Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United States have sequenced and analyzed he genome of the simplest multicellular organism, the green alga Volvox carteri. In the journal Science, the research team reports how this model organism, a small spherical pond dweller, helps us to understand the evolution from unicellular to multicellular organisms on the molecular level. A team from Germany at Bielefeld University under Professor Dr. Armin Hallmann was decisively involved in this work.

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» Published on 9. Juli 2010

Bielefeld - First German university with a helium ion microscope

Cutting-edge technology with outstanding features

Bielefeld is the first German university to acquire a state-of-the-art Helium Ion Microscope (HIM) built by the Carl Zeiss company. This radically different helium ion technology delivers five to ten times the resolution of ordinary scanning electron microscopes. With chemical imaging, scientists are able to gather information on the substances composing the materials they are studying while simultaneously also depicting the hidden layers of these materials. This makes it possible to depict complex (material) systems in their entirety and with an exceptionally high resolution (up to 0.35 nanometre; 1 nm = one-thousand-millionth of a metre).

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» Published on 6. Juli 2010

Double standards – Less pay for women is not perceived as unjust

Equal rights researchers analyse income levels

Women on the German labour market earn about 20 per cent less than comparably well qualified men. The reasons for this are complex: for example, women and men often work in different fields or possess less job experience. In a new study, scientists at Bielefeld University (Professor Dr. Stefan Liebig, Carsten Sauer), the University of Konstanz (Professor Dr. Thomas Hinz, Katrin Auspurg), and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin (Professor Dr. Jürgen Schupp) have now shown that even though the general public reject differential pay for men and women in principle, things look different when people are asked about their concrete ideas on what is a fair income in the single case. Then we find that a woman is considered to deserve markedly lower pay than an equally well qualified man. What is decisive here is that it is not just men who take this view. Women themselves have lower demands regarding the amount they are paid, and they also assign a markedly lower level of pay to other women compared to equally well-qualified men.

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» Published on 6. Juli 2010

Award to for Bielefeld University library for performance

National library award praises customer orientation and innovative drive

The Deutsche Bibliotheksverband [dbv, German library association] and the ZEIT Foundation Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius are full of praise for the work of Bielefeld University library. The library gained an excellent second place in the national competition for the "Library of the year, 2010". This, the eleventh national German library prize for which all types of library compete together, particularly praised the strong customer orientation and the sustained innovative drive of Bielefeld University library.

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» Published on 5. Juli 2010

32 million Euros for a new "Interactive Intelligent Systems" research building

Bielefeld University wins first place in the Wissenschaftsrat's [WR, Council of Science and Humanities] research buildings competition: outstanding quality and international significance
In this year's recommendation on funding for research buildings in higher education institutes, the Wissenschaftsrat has not only approved Bielefeld University's proposal for a new "Interactive Intelligent Systems" research building but also awarded it first place in the competition. This decision is yet another notable achievement and further confirmation of the outstanding academic quality of this internationally unique Competence and Research Centre for Interactive Intelligent Systems at Bielefeld University. Construction of the 32 million Euro research building will commence in January 2011.

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» Published on 1. Juli 2010

Bielefeld Philosopher Joins the Junge Akademie

Last weekend, Dr. Cornelis Menke from the Institute of Science and Technology Studies (IWT) at Bielefeld University was appointed to the Junge Akademie [young academy] at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of the Sciences and the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in Halle. This means that over the next five years, he will be one of 50 young academics from German-speaking countries engaging in interdisciplinary academic discourse and working together on the interfaces between science and society. Membership is granted to young academics who write outstanding dissertations and then go on to perform further outstanding work. Cornelis Menke already received the Dissertation Prize of the Westfälisch-Lippische Universitätsgesellschaft [University society] in 2008.

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