The University of Bremen's Excellence Strategy

The University of Bremen is once again submitting proposals in the current round of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments (2026-2032).

In a joint proposal with the University of Oldenburg for the continuation of the existing Cluster of Excellence "The Ocean Floor" and an initial proposal for the establishment of a new Cluster of Excellence from the "Humans on Mars" initiative, the researchers are tackling research topics that deal with challenges on our planet and beyond. They do this in interdisciplinary teams, which are regionally and internationally connected with strong research partner institutions and engage in close dialogue with society.

Cutting-edge research at the University of Bremen is not an end in itself: We work together across disciplinary, institutional, and national boundaries, to develop answers to major questions of the future that affect and unite us all.

Wissenschaftler bei der Forschung am Meeresboden

Since its establishment in 2019, the Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean Floor - Earth’s Uncharted Interface” has been based at MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen. In the current funding round, the researchers at MARUM are applying for a second phase of funding – this time in collaboration with the ICBM – Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment at the University of Oldenburg. The Cluster investigates exchange processes on the ocean floor as an important and dynamic interface of the Earth system that plays a vital role in the functioning of our planet and its climate. In the upcoming second phase of the Cluster, the strong disciplinary expertise in deep-sea research that has developed in northwestern Germany over decades will be even more closely integrated. The aim is to create a marine region of excellence that will enable new scientific breakthroughs. The research findings will be of great importance for better understanding climate scenarios in a warming world.

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Modell einer Marslandschaft mit Expeditions-Laboren

The second Cluster application with which the University of Bremen is entering the Excellence Competition comes from MAPEX – Center for Materials and Processes. It builds on the preliminary work of the Humans on Mars initiative that was established in 2021. The interdisciplinary team includes researchers from the natural and engineering sciences, mathematics, behavioral sciences, and communications technology. Together, the researchers are adopting the "Martian Mindset" to rethink the production of materials and components from scratch: The scarce resources and extreme conditions on the red planet serve as an experimental setting to develop a new scarcity-driven engineering paradigm that enables innovative resource- and energy-saving processes for material extraction and processing. In the long term, the Cluster results will contribute to sustainable human space exploration and, above all, to a green transition on Earth.

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In addition to these two Cluster of Excellence initiatives in marine, polar, and climate research and in materials sciences and technologies, the University of Bremen also conducts cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in three other areas. Here too, social responsibility, cooperation, and future orientation are central to the joint research work.

The university’s high-profile area “Minds, Media, Machines” brings together researchers who are working together for the benefit of society to advance our understanding of intelligence and cognition in autonomous agents and agent teams in the context of an increasingly mediatized world.

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In the high-profile area “Social Change, Social Policy, and the State,” researchers work in novel forms of collaboration on issues of social inequality, social cohesion, and global solidarity.

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A woman speaks in front of a large screen.

In the high-profile area of health sciences, research has a strong focus on practical application and focuses on the causes of disease, prevention, and care. In this context, issues of equity and new digital support tools are playing an increasingly important role.

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Senatorin Kathrin Moorsdorf, Rektorin Jutta Günther, Präsident Ralph Bruder, Kultusminister Falko Mohrs bei der Unterzeichnung der NorthWest-Alliance

Excellent research relies on an institutional environment that is conducive to performance and offers creative research personalities the freedom to experiment in a strong, cooperative community. At the same time, the promotion of excellence should have an impact on the broad range of our performance dimensions and sustainably strengthen the quality of teaching and support of early-career researchers, equal opportunities, and the transfer of knowledge with industry and society. In this way, we can create the best possible framework conditions for academic excellence that is both outstanding and inclusive.

The University of Bremen shares this understanding of excellence with the neighboring Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. It is for this reason that the two universities have founded the Northwest Alliance. With the University of Groningen as a strong partner, the Northwest Alliance connects researchers from two federal states as well as across national borders.

By taking this step, the two founding universities are demonstrating their capacity for institutional renewal: Together, we want to take our academic performance to the next level and develop the Northwest into an area of science and innovation with international appeal, where cutting-edge research and social responsibility go hand in hand.

In the current excellence funding phase (2019-2025), the University of Bremen is pursuing the goal of establishing new top-level research networks that contribute to strengthening research in Bremen and its international visibility.

With the "U Bremen Excellence Chairs," the University of Bremen has developed a program that enables Bremen researchers to nominate internationally renowned top academics for a long-term research affiliation, equipped with their own working group, at the University of Bremen. Through regular research stays and intensive cooperation with their hosts, these Excellence Chairs enrich research activities in Bremen, offer early-career researchers access to top-class networks, and support international cooperation projects. The Excellence Chairs are situated in different fields, thus having a broad impact on the university.

Building on the success of the current program, the University of Bremen is planning to expand it to include an "Impact Fellow" program, which will support the exchange between university researchers and figures from the media, civil society, politics, and industry.