Research

Since 2007, the UA Ruhr has been conducting inter-university top-level research at an internationally outstanding level. The excellent achievements are expressed in research priorities with a high level of third-party funding as well as Collaborative Research Centers and Research Training Groups. These cooperation structures, which have been tried and tested over many years, and the active cooperation between researchers distinguish the UA Ruhr as an attractive research location.

Since its foundation, the UA Ruhr has developed into a dynamic and efficient network with international appeal, in particular through its diverse joint research initiatives. By bundling the complementary strengths of our partner universities, we are able to open up innovative research fields in a new and comprehensive way. Together, we form critical masses in terms of both personnel and infrastructure, which are necessary for forward-looking solutions to the major research topics of our time.

Forschung

The paradigm for outstanding cooperation within the UA Ruhr is the Research Alliance Ruhr, unique in its form, in which the UA Ruhr bundles its top international research. In four research centers, the UA Ruhr addresses the major issues of the future: health, sustainability, digitalisation and energy. The research areas are being further developed, particularly through the creation of new professorships and the appointment of excellent top scientists, and are being expanded into internationally visible research focuses. The College for Social Sciences and Humanities offers the thematic openness necessary for the humanities and social sciences. It promotes international exchange by inviting guest researchers to the Ruhr Area to carry out joint research projects with local colleagues.

The Collaborative Research Centers (SFB) and Transregios (TRR) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) are another essential component of cutting-edge research at the UA Ruhr. Within the UA Ruhr, a total of 20 SFBs are currently being run in spokespersonship, eight of which are cross-university.

The lighthouse project of solvent research "Ruhr Explores Solvation" (RESOLV), both UA Ruhr profile focus and DFG Cluster of Excellence, brings together numerous regional and international partners from science and industry with the aim of researching chemical reactions, industrial processes and biological processes in the liquid phase at the highest level. The profile focus "Materials Chain", with over 150 participating chairs, forms the breeding ground for the Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems.
 
In addition, cross-university research is conducted in the 3 fields of competence "Metropolitan Research", "Energy System Transformation" and "Empirical Economic Research". These include diverse, long-term cooperation projects and offer a lot of potential for intensive cooperation within the UA Ruhr.

The Mercator Research Center Ruhr (MERCUR) supports our unique collaboration by providing over €55 million in funding for cooperative research projects to date. A central instrument for promoting cross-university cooperation are the UA Ruhr professorships funded by MERCUR with up to one million euros. These professorships serve to build a cross-university profile and have so far been awarded to professors with a strong research record: