Central Research Units

Central Research Units (CRU) are independent of any particular faculty and fall directly under the responsibility of the University of Bremen’s Academic Senate. Prerequisites for being granted CRU status are that objectives and tasks are of an interdisciplinary or cross-institutional nature, the existence of a common thematic focus, and that the object of research is of central strategic significance to the University of Bremen. Central Research Units are usually established for an initial period of seven years. Prolongations, generally of five-year duration, can only be granted subsequently to successful evaluation. In 2009 and 2010, all the CRUs at the university were re-evaluated and some were discontinued. The last evaluations were carried out in 2021.

Kohle- und Wasserkraftwerk in Bremen-Hastedt

artec Sustainability Research Center

artec Sustainability Research Center is an interdisciplinary center of the University of Bremen that carries out research on issues of sustainability at the area of intersection of social, ecological, and technological perspectives.

With its activities in research and consulting, artecs aims to support sustainable developments in relevant national and international fields of action.

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ITB im Gebäude ECOTEC

ITB Institute Technology and Education

The Institute Technology and Education at the University of Bremen has been conducting research in the area of vocational training and education for more than 30 years. Currently employing a staff of 50 persons, it is among the largest independent research establishments in its field worldwide. The work carried out at ITB involves cooperation between experts in the fields of vocational education, engineering, sociology and cultural studies, psychology, economics, and occupational science. Much of the research is undertaken in international cooperation and research networks.

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UFT Center for Environmental Research and Sustainable Technology

The UFT perceives its mission in the scale-crossing development of environmentally compatible processes and products as well as in assessing and minimizing their environmental risks. Ecologically friendly and environmentally compatible products and processes in a healthy environment describe the vision of the UFT, thus finding chemists, biologists, and engineers under one roof. The centre maintains numerous national and international cooperation projects with research institutions and industry.

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Time to Think grad school life

BIGSSS Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences

The ZWE BIGSSS - Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences is introduced on the Excellence Initiative page.

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ZfLB Centre for Teacher Education and Educational Research

The ZfLB Centre for Teacher Education and Educational Research is the scientific institution at the University of Bremen where research-based teacher education is (further) developed and implemented. Researchers from nine of the twelve faculties of the University of Bremen are involved in this, cooperating in the interdisciplinary structure of subject sciences, subject didactics, and educational sciences as well as being in dialogue with numerous external and international partners with the goal of the theory-based professionalization of (future) teachers. More information in German

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SOCIUM Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy

SOCIUM is the only German research institute in social sciences which deals with theoretical and empirical questions of inequality, social policies, and their social and political interdependencies. The interdisciplinary research focuses on the social, economic, political, cultural, organizational, legal, historical, and sociomedical conditions and effects of social inequality, public social policies, and their interdependencies. The research includes a mix of sociology, political and health sciences, economics, and legal aspects.

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ZeMKI Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research

As a Central Research Unit (ZWE) of the University of Bremen, the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) deals with questions of media and communication change at the interface of cultural and social sciences on the one hand and technical sciences on the other. The special aspect here is the interdisciplinary orientation of the research institute: it brings together researchers from the fields of communication and media studies, religious studies, information management, media education, and history. In addition to their research activities, the members of ZeMKI teach on the various media degree programs at the University of Bremen and are publicly involved in issues related to media and communication change.

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