Since its establishment in 1388, the University of Cologne has been a science and scholarship center in Europe. Today, it is one of the leading German research universities. We offer our students an extensive and diverse subject base and encourage them to follow their academic interests. This allows them to develop both intellectually and personally. We are firmly committed to advancing human knowledge through primary research, but with an eye to transfer and application in the real world.
The University of Cologne's six Faculties are the institutional framework for its research activities. The Faculties offer a total of 102-degree programs and support ten cross-Faculty research and teaching centers. Moreover, the UoC has several large, internationally competitive research areas:
- mechanisms of aging-associated diseases
- plant breeding research
- quantum matter and materials
- social and economic behavior
- socio-economic, cultural, and political change in Africa
- Latin America
- Southeast Asia
The University of Cologne closely cooperates with Cologne University Hospital and numerous renowned research institutions of the Max Planck Society and the Helmholtz Association in the Cologne metropolitan area. Knowledge transfer and support for start-ups is particularly crucial to the university. The COPT Center for Organic Electronics supports the transfer of state-of-the-art research to the world of business. The incubator Gateway helps members of the university put their business ideas into practice. The high density of enterprises in the region creates the perfect environment for these efforts to succeed. Early-stage researchers find ideal conditions for their work in the university's 45 graduate schools and programs.
The Faculty of Management, Economics, and Social Sciences combines theoretical groundwork with applied, practice-oriented research to deliver on its mission 'Innovation for Society.' The Faculty currently has six key research profile areas: Design & Behaviour: Behavioural Economics Behavioural Management Science Digital Transformation Demography and Social Inequality Markets and Governments and Value and Risk. These areas are organized as interdisciplinary research units that combine individual excellence and collaborative research. Collaboration with non-university institutes and Faculty members' service on German federal ministries' advisory boards fosters strong links between theory and practice.
One hallmark of the Faculty of Law is the high diversification, allowing for modern and intensive research in nearly all legal fields. It has five focus areas in research connected by various overarching questions: International and European Law, International Private Law, and International Criminal Law Economics, Labour, Health, Social Matters, and Taxes Media, Communication, and Intellectual Property Citizenship and Statehood and the Foundations of Law. All of the Faculty's research addresses aspects of national law and comparative and international questions. The Faculty conducts fundamental and practice-oriented research and fosters exchange with other academic disciplines and with different social actors. This allows it to recognize tendencies of great societal relevance, leading to legal challenges in the future. The Faculty of Law thus fosters and supports the application and further development of law in legal practice and policy-making and society as a whole.
The research focus area on "Tumor biology, infection, and immunity" focuses on the molecular mechanisms of defense against tumors and microorganisms. Moreover, it addresses fundamental questions of cancer biology, such as the role of DNA damage response, cancer immunity, and the microenvironment.
The research focus area on "Homeostatic principles in metabolism and tissue regeneration" aims at unraveling the molecular principles that control metabolic signaling and cellular interactions in tissue maintenance, repair, and aging. It addresses central mechanisms that underlie metabolic disorders and altered cellular communication causal to tissue degeneration.
The research focus area on "Neuromodulation" investigates the function and dysfunction of synapses, neurons, and neuronal networks to develop a comprehensive understanding based on the molecular and systems-level of the underpinnings of neurological and psychiatric disease. Ultimately, the focus lies on developing novel preventive and therapeutic strategies to treat neurological and psychiatric diseases.
The Faculty has particular strengths in translational research. The Cluster of Excellence Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), which is supported by the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine, investigates the causes of aging and age-associated disorders. CECAD links basic research and the application of new findings, pioneering new approaches for clinical research. Further interdisciplinary research institutions at the Faculty of Medicine include the interdisciplinary Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), the Cologne Center for Genomics (CCG), and the Center for Integrated Oncology (CIO). As a core facility, the Clinical Trials Centre Cologne (CTCC) supports the Faculty of Medicine's translational research approach.
The research profile of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities is comprehensive, ranging from African studies, pre-and early history to visual arts. With almost 15,000 students, it is the largest Faculty of the University of Cologne. Early on, students and early-stage researchers become acquainted with state-of-the-art research and interdisciplinary approaches. The a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne, funded by the European Union, facilitates their entry into an academic career.
Researchers at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities have won significant research prizes and extensive funding, demonstrating that the Faculty is among the top institutions in the country's arts and humanities. In 2016, Professor Anne Storch (African studies) was awarded the Leibniz Prize, Germany's most important research prize Sven Bernecker (philosophy) was appointed Humboldt Professor, and a new Collaborative Research Center, 'Prominence in Language' (linguistics), has been established and is being funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Moreover, the North-Rhine Westphalian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts is supporting a long-term project in medieval philosophy on the Arabic philosopher Averroes (Ibn Rushd). Behind these recent successes are established, internationally renowned research institutes such as the Thomas Institute in medieval philosophy, which is unique in and well-known across Europe, the Morphomata Center for Advanced Studies, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Husserl Archive, the Documentation, and Research Centre of the Theatre Collection at Wahn Castle, or the Ethics Forum. With the Cologne Center for eHumanities (CCeH) and the Data Center for the Humanities (DCH), the digital humanities have emerged as a significant component of the Faculty's research profile.
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