Press release no. 2/2007 from 2007-01-12

"A huge success for Kiel University"

Applications for a cluster and a graduate school in the next round of the Initiative for Excellence

Two out of three applications submitted by the Christian-Albrechts University at Kiel (CAU) have progressed to the second round of the German Research Foundation (DFG) Initiative for Excellence. Following the success of the cluster of excellence, "Ocean of the future", in the first round, the CAU was today (12 January) asked to resubmit the cluster application for "Inflammation at Interfaces" and to submit the graduate school "Human Development in Landscapes" for the first time as a full application.

Professor Thomas Bauer, the Rector of CAU, is delighted: "This is a huge success for Kiel University. It confirms that we are on the right path. We were already highly successful with our application in the first round. In the meantime, the University and the Land government have undertaken a lot to improve on the environment for the planned cluster and to thereby increase our chances of success. We place great hopes in the life sciences. We have already initiated several projects using the funding approved by the Land government and we are particularly delighted about the approval for the graduate school, as it is our aim to educate young scientists such that they do not leave for abroad. Now we will continue working on the concepts." The DFG will publish the final decision on the projects to be supported in this round on the 19th October of this year.

The research network "Inflammation at Interfaces" is based on the research focus "Applied life sciences" and was developed in collaboration with the Research Center Borstel Leibniz Centre for Medicine and Biosciences and Lübeck University. More than 100 scientists have combined to form this research network that has attracted over 80 million euros over the past five years. Researchers participating in the Initiative for Excellence investigate inflammations at interfaces in organisms, in order to further our understanding of the fundamental principles underlying inflammatory diseases in humans.

The application for the graduate school "Human Development in Landscapes" is defined above all by a core theme. Interactions between humans and their environment will be subject to multidisciplinary research, investigating archaeological, climate, through to socio-psychological aspects, supported by the most modern analytical techniques, ranging from methods in molecular genetics through material science to geochemistry. In this context, the environment is defined as a dynamic space that changes and develops socially, culturally and ecologically with humans.

Partners in this project are the Leibniz Institute for Pedagogy and Science and the Landesmuseum Schloß Gottorf.

Graduate schools will permit the creation of leading scientific, internationally competitive and excellent locations for the promotion of junior scientists in Germany. Among other things, these schools are facilities that are geared towards the structured education and supervision of doctoral students. Students are to be given the possibility of conducting research into current topics in groups together with scientists. In contrast to the classical procedure to obtain a Doktor (PhD) degree, these students will be educated in a multidisciplinary, international and practical fashion, i.e. in cooperation with associated companies and institutes. Ideally, scientists in the humanities and the physical sciences will learn from each other and complement each other, thus attaining a Doktor (PhD) that is as much scientific as it is embedded in everyday life. Graduate schools are of particular importance in preventing talented young scientists from leaving for abroad and in providing as broad an education as is possible for doctoral students. Their proximity to professional practice in the private sector will also prepare them for this type of career and no longer just for a career in academia. The graduate school concept describes a network spanning more than just the university, whereby one of its focal points lies in the philosophical faculty. A total of 134 applications have been submitted to the DFG for graduate schools.

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Press and Communication Services, Head: Susanne Schuck, Text: Sandra Ogriseck, Julia Zahlten
Address: D-24098 Kiel, phone: +49 (0431) 880-2104, fax: +49 (0431) 880-1355
e-mail: presse@uv.uni-kiel.de