Great success with the CRC funding for the UA Ruhr universities

"Early tumor dynamics in melanoma therapy (DYNAMO)"
The scientists at the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) "DYNAMO" are investigating how melanoma tumors react and adapt to treatment in the first few weeks of therapy. Even in this early phase, it is often clear whether a therapy will lose its effectiveness in the long term. The reason for this is the resistance of individual cancer cells to the forms of treatment used. This is precisely where the work of the research team in the CRC comes in. "We want to initiate a change: away from reacting and towards earlier intervention," says CRC spokesperson and dermato-oncologist Prof. Dr. Alexander Roesch. “Our new Collaborative Research Center strengthens cancer research in North Rhine-Westphalia and makes a significant contribution to translating scientific findings into clinical practice more quickly.”
Link to the University of Duisburg-Essen press release
 

"Heterogeneous oxidation catalysis in the liquid phase"
The team of the Collaborative Research Center/Transregio 247 is developing new high-performance catalysts made of mixed metal oxides. The aim is to make chemical processes in the liquid phase more efficient and sustainable - in particular selective oxidation reactions, which are used in many areas of the chemical industry to produce starting chemicals for further syntheses. The SFB/TRR 247 is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Kristina Tschulik (Ruhr University Bochum). Co-speaker is Prof. Dr. Stephan Schulz from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE). The researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, the University of Duisburg-Essen and other participating research institutions (Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, MPI CEC, FHI) can continue their work for a further four years. The German Research Foundation has approved a third funding phase for the SFB/TRR. 
Link to the University of Duisburg-Essen press release

"Interplay of cosmic matter"
All hell is breaking loose in the sky: stars form and disappear, charged particles, rays and neutrinos collide and influence each other. The interactions in space have been studied by the Collaborative Research Center 1491 "Interplay of Cosmic Matter" since 2022. The researchers will be able to continue their work for another four years: The German Research Foundation approved the continued funding of the CRC led by spokesperson Prof. Dr. Julia Tjus at Ruhr-Universität Bochum from 1 July 2026. In this CRC, RUB researchers work closely with colleagues from TU Dortmund University.

Link to the TU Dortmund University press release

"Virtual Living Environments"
Virtuality has long since become part of everyday life. Since 2022, the Collaborative Research Centre 1567 "Virtual Lifeworlds" has shown how deeply it affects communication, knowledge transfer, bodily and affective practices, social negotiations, economic structures, language, subjectivization and forms of coexistence. In the second funding phase now approved by the German Research Foundation, the network is focusing on active design. "For us, virtuality is not an efficiency tool, but an open, critically reflective creative space - from designing new realities to AI - that demands responsibility, transparency and participation," says spokesperson Prof. Dr. Stefan Rieger from the Institute of Media Studies at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. 
 

"Metaphors of religion"
Whether "path", "light" or "heart": religions communicate essentially through metaphors, as the transcendent cannot be expressed directly. Guided by this basic idea, the Collaborative Research Center 1475 "Metaphors of Religion" has analyzed numerous languages and religious traditions of the past 4,000 years. The researchers of the network coordinated at Ruhr-Universität Bochum can now continue this work. The German Research Foundation has approved further funding for 3.5 years. In addition to texts, the second funding phase will also focus on images and artifacts as well as established religions and parodies of religions. The spokesperson is Professor Dr. Volkhard Krech from the Ruhr University Bochum.
 

"Historical and Transcultural Narratology"
People have always told stories. Across all eras and cultures, narratives have played an important role in social cohesion. The new Transregio-SFB "Historical and Transcultural Narratology" investigates pre-modern, i.e. ancient, medieval and early modern narratives from different cultural contexts. The Collaborative Research Center aims to develop a new historical-transcultural narrative theory that overcomes the bias of current narratologies and their narrow focus on Western and modern or postmodern traditions. The narrative theory that the CRC aims to develop is intended to capture different historical narrative formats and functions from very different cultural contexts and open up new paths for comparative, interdisciplinary literary and cultural studies on a global level. Ruhr-Universität Bochum is a co-applicant in this project.

At the same time, the researchers in the network of the universities of Freiburg, Bochum and Bonn want to test and further develop the possibilities of digital humanities in order to anchor comparative narrative research more firmly in the digital realm.