uni.news

» Published on 5. August 2011

Alexander von Humboldt scientists at Bielefeld University's Faculty of Physics

Currently, two researchers with the highest international reputations in the field of magneto- and spinelectronics are working together with Professor Dr. Günter Reiss and Professor Dr. Andreas Hütten in Bielefeld University's Faculty of Physics. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's sponsorship programmes are enabling the research stay of Professor Dr. Arunava Gupta and Professor Dr. Yalcin Elerman. The scientists are conducting research on promising materials with special magnetic and conductor properties.

» Published on 3. August 2011

Therapy for former child soldiers in Uganda

Publication of a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association

Child soldiers in Uganda have gone through terrible experiences through being kidnapped and forced to fight and kill other people. As a result, many of them are suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): they are continuously living through situations in their minds without being able to process them. They cannot access the information that an event is long past and no longer a threat to them. After being freed, some of these former child soldiers took part in a therapy study run by Bielefeld University's Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Department. This study is being published on Wednesday 3 August in one of the leading medical journals, the Journal of the American Medical Association.

» Published on 31. Mai 2011

From heterogeneities to social inequalities

German Research Foundation (DFG) grants 8.7 million Euros funding over the next four years for a new Collaborative Research Centre at Bielefeld University

Whether fat or thin, male or female, young or old – people are different. Alongside their physical features, they also differ in terms of nationality and ethnicity; in their cultural preferences, lifestyles, attitudes, orientations, and philosophies; in their competencies, qualifications, and traits; and finally in their professions. However, how do such heterogeneities lead to social inequalities? What are the underlying social mechanisms? These are the questions being pursued by the new Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) “From heterogeneities to social inequalities” at Bielefeld University that was approved by the German Research Foundation (DFG) on 25 May.

» Published on 23. Mai 2011

Particular nanoparticles

Science publication on how nanoparticles behave when they assemble

Birds of a feather flock together, is what they say about human beings. Up to now, the same seemed to apply to nanoparticles. However, a research group headed by the Bielefeld chemist Professor Dr. Achim  Müller together with colleagues in the United States has been able to confirm that such particles can be rather particular: even just the small change of dissolving them in water leads the originally equal-sized and identically shaped particles to no longer merge together when they meet, but to form two separate blackberry-like  structures. The scientists published the results of this research in the  prestigious journal Science, Vol. 331, at the end of March 2011.

» 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.

» 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.

» 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".

» 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.

» 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.

» 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.