German Research Foundation (DFG) awards approximately 10 million Euros

Since 2005, Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Mathematics has hosted the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 701 ‘Spectral structures and topological methods in mathematics’ – one of the few CRCs in Germany specializing in mathematics. After a positive evaluation of the first and second funding periods, the German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved a further four-year funding period starting on 1 July. With funds totalling approximately 2.5 million Euros per year, this will finance not only an extensive guest and workshop programme but also 31 academic positions made up of 20 full-time posts, 3 part-time positions for post-docs, and 8 doctoral positions.

In the coming years, a total of more than 60 academics at CRC 701 will be carrying out research on the interfaces between theoretical and applied mathematics in 20 separate projects. The CRC pursues the goal of building or strengthening bridges between various fields of theoretical and applied mathematics. Such interfaces are to be found, for example, between the fields of algebraic geometry and the theory of dynamic systems or also between representation theory and probability theory. Research at the CRC draws on the tremendous potential of mathematical theories in the area of these interfaces and encourages new developments in mathematical research within a very broad context. The central themes are research on spectral structures and the development and application of topological methods in mathematics and related sciences.
 
‘Spectral structures are ubiquitous in mathematics and in many of its applied fields,’ explains the speaker of the CRC, Professor Dr. Friedrich Götze. ‘Topological methods provide a universally applicable tool for not only grasping spectral structures in their entirety but also analysing the dynamics of their underlying deterministic and stochastic systems.’ Many of the major developments in mathematics are closely linked to spectral structures and topological methods and have their origins in various applied fields. Examples are new concepts within mathematical physics, flow dynamics, crystallography, or the material sciences.
 
Collaborative Research Centres (CRCs) are long-term research institutes established at institutes of higher education in which scientists work together within the framework of an interdisciplinary research programme. They are funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). CRCs facilitate scientifically ambitious, complex, and long-term research by concentrating and coordinating the existing resources at a single institute of higher education. Promoting young academics and gender equality are two of the special goals of a CRC. Funding is generally for a total of up to 12 years, with each funding period lasting 4 years.

CRC 701 is part of Bielefeld University’s ‘Theoretical Sciences’ strategic research area characterized by a close cooperation between mathematics, theoretical physics, and mathematical economics.

For further information in the Internet, go to:
www.math.uni-bielefeld.de/sfb701