by Prof Dr Simone Fulda, President of Kiel University

Talking to each other and telling stories is a primal need of humanity, because it awakens feelings in us – both positive as well as negative. Right-wing populism exploits this for its purposes. A symposium at Kiel University explored how narratives in politics also operate through feelings.

Sustainability is one of the major topics of the 21st century. More than ever before, politics, industry and society are now struggling with the issue of how to responsibly deal with limited resources. Professor of Philosophy and ethicist Konrad Ott explains why sustainability policy is first and foremost an ethical question and what role the pandemic could play.

Pasture grazing for dairy cows can form an important part of sustainable milk production. In terms of productivity and cost effectiveness, it is a genuine alternative to other forms of farming.

Jointly shape a more sustainable future – but how? One way can be a Master's degree, for example the English-language Environmental Management degree programme at the Kiel School of Sustainability.

School pupils go equipped with scoop nets and magnifying glasses on a tour of discovery through grass and flowers. This campaign is Kiel Science Factory's contribution to the nature conservation project "Blütenbunt-Insektenreich" (colourful flowers-rich in insects).

Professor Eckhard Quandt, who has been the Vice-President of Research, Transfer, Scientific Infrastructure and Digitalisation at Kiel University since October 2020, has big plans for his term in office. He takes a look at the current processes in an interview with unizeit.

Advice and support for cooperation projects with companies as well as financial and administrative processing under one roof: Uni GmbH at Kiel University (the CAU's own limited liability company) is to become a service provider at the interface between research and industry.

How innovative is Germany? Every year, a six-member commission of experts with involvement from Kiel looks for answers to this question and presents a report to the Federal Chancellor that is full of recommendations, of which more than just a few go on to be implemented.

Whether solar cells, sensors or storage elements: materials with completely new properties could push forward future areas from renewable energies to life sciences and quantum computers. Physicist Nahid Talebi wants to develop the special microscopes needed for this.

Church archives are some of the most reliable historical sources. Nevertheless, it is still hard work unearthing the history of monasteries. Kiel University's Institute of History is now involved in just such a mammoth task for the second time as part of a broad-based cooperation project.

In meticulous detail, the dendrochronologist Lisa Shindo records the annual growth rings of historic wooden beams and furniture to determine their age and origin, as well as the ecological and climatic conditions of the past in the region.

In election campaigns, parties not only rely on political content, but also on images. The aim of these is to steer the public image of the candidates in a specific direction, through the associated emotions. Researchers from Kiel University have taken a closer look.

What makes a successful team? There are, without doubt, many factors involved. The ability to change clearly plays a decisive role, at least in project-based work. This is the finding of a study led by Professor Claudia Buengeler from the Institute of Business at Kiel University.

Evolution of the spine

Prehistoric societies

Music in a historical environment

Teaching and learning nursing care

Metabolic state and disease

In his doctoral thesis, agricultural scientist Wilken Boie is researching the prevalence of certain species of fungus in arable soils and the potential for improving the soil microbiome in the interest of plant health.

Enormous freshwater reserves which have so far hardly been researched lie beneath the ocean floors. An interdisciplinary project under the umbrella of Kiel Marine Science brings together the expertise to explore them.

Never seen before in Kiel – and a rarity across the German university landscape as a whole: with its new interdisciplinary Master School of Marine Sciences (iMSMS), Kiel University has created its first degree programme to incorporate all eight faculties.

Major success for inflammation research in Kiel: a treatment approach developed at the CAU against chronic bowel inflammation is also effective and well tolerated in humans in the first clinical trial.

Finding the most fast-working and effective drugs possible to help combat COVID-19: this is the primary aim of the study published by Dr Ruwen Böhm and other researchers in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

To date, many project seminars in the Master's degree programme in Musicology have already attracted eager listeners. Now, the small Institute of Music at Kiel University has made a big splash, with a concert that has turned into a film due to the coronavirus. The result is much more than just music captured on film.

Another volume is added to the Brahms complete edition: Kiel-based musicologist Dr Johannes Behr in collaboration with Professor Ulrich Tadday of the University of Bremen have published the Song of Triumph (Triumphlied) op. 55. A minor sensation was the starting point of the joint project.