Parts of the University of Bremen Will Be Moving to the City Center

In February, the Bremen Senate decided to rent the NordLB building for a city center campus for the university. The building will be rented on a long-term basis and offers around 18,150 square meters of space. Professor Jutta Günther, President of the University of Bremen: “We are delighted about the planned new location for the University of Bremen in the city center. Domshof is a central location for academia, with direct transport links to the existing campus in the Technology Park. We will be moving the Law faculty here. At the same time, we are gaining flexibly usable spaces that will enable us to remain even better connected with the urban community.”

Excellence Strategy: University of Bremen Submits Three Cluster Applications

The competition for excellence funding from the German federal government and the states is entering a new round. The University of Bremen has also submitted an Excellence Strategy application. Three research areas submitted draft proposals to the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the end of May.

Large Turnout at Two-Day OPEN CAMPUS

Lectures, laboratory visits, and open-air concerts: In June, the university‘s OPEN CAMPUS proved to be a huge success with around 20,000 guests. Top stage act was Gentleman and on Friday evening, rapper MAJAN, among others, created a party atmosphere in the campus park.

Brilliant End-of-Semester Concert at Bremen Cathedral

In July, the end-of-semester concert of the orchestra and choir took place at the St. Petri Cathedral. The program included pieces by Richard Strauss, Alexander Borodin, and Martín Palmeri. It was the second concert under the direction of the new university music director, Mariano Chiacchiarini.

University of Bremen Participates in Christopher Street Day with its Own Float for the First Time

This year, for the first time, the University of Bremen supported the CSD demonstration with its own colorful float and music. The university is taking a stand for gender and sexual diversity as well as against homophobia, queerphobia, and transphobia on campus and beyond.

YUFE Alliance Calls for Strengthening of European Values

The YUFE alliance of young European universities, of which the University of Bremen is a member, is concerned about anti-democratic developments in Europe. At a meeting in Cyprus in September, the university presidents called for a return to European values.

Berninghausen Prize for Excellence in Teaching Awarded

In November, four teaching staff members from the University of Bremen received the Berninghausen Prize for Excellence in Teaching. The prizes were awarded in the “Excellence in Teaching” and “Student Prize” categories and are endowed with 2,000 euros each.

Professor Cornelius Torp and Professor Andrew Torget received an award as a team in the Excellence in Teaching category for their English-language “American History since 1865” seminar. Jennifer Reiske received the Berninghausen Prize in the Student Prize category. Another Student Prize was awarded to Professor Lars Viellechner from the Faculty of Law. His students stated that he organizes his courses in a very dynamic manner and with exceptional commitment, even when it comes to the rather inaccessible subject of constitutional law.

Sustainability and Social Responsibility: The University of Bremen Has a New Mission Statement

The University of Bremen has a new mission statement. At the meeting on November 15, 2023, the Academic Senate unanimously approved the second reading of the steering group’s draft. The focus is on sustainability and the university’s associated social responsibility.

Informatica Feminale Awarded Prize for Outstanding Gender Equality Work

The Informatica Feminale – International Summer University for Women in Computer Science was awarded the prize for outstanding gender equality work by the German Council of University Faculties in Computer Science in November. The prize was awarded this year for the first time.

University of Bremen to Train Sports Teachers Once Again

The University of Bremen will establish a sports degree program for the 2024/25 winter semester. This was decided by the Academic Senate at the November meeting. With the new course, elementary and secondary school sports teachers will be trained.

Federal Government Sustainability Conference at the University of Bremen

In December, representatives from academia, society, and politics came together at the University of Bremen for a regional conference on sustainability organized by the German government. Under the title “Shaping the Future – Transformation, Together, Now!” (“Zukunft gestalten – Transformation, gemeinsam, jetzt!”), the federal government had invited participants to the regional conference in Bremen to further develop the German Sustainability Strategy (DNS). The conference focused on the question of how climate targets can be achieved and how society can be better involved in these changes.

Six European Grants in One Year

The series of successes began in March with the ERC Advanced Grant for Professor Michael Beetz from the Institute of Artificial Intelligence. He is working on the foundations of artificial intelligence and received 2.5 million euros for his research. This was followed in September by the Romance scholar Dr. Julia Borst. She received a prestigious ERC Starting Grant for her research on the topic of how Afro-European communities present themselves in the digital space.

In October, three projects were awarded the prestigious European Research Council Synergy Grants. Climate and marine science projects at the University of Bremen and in cooperation with the AWI and a total of eight other partners are being supported. The Synergy Grants were awarded to geochemist Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, petrologist Wolfgang Bach, and climate modeler Gerrit Lohmann. This was followed in November by the final grant for physics professor Michael Sentef. He was awarded the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant.

University of Bremen Successful in Three Rankings

This year, the university was successful in three rankings. In October, it climbed in the THE ranking by 50 places to rank 301-350, placing it in the top 20 percent worldwide. In November, the university once again achieved a top position in the international Shanghai Ranking. In marine sciences, it is ranked first in Germany. The University of Bremen also leads the table of German universities in geosciences. The next piece of good news followed in December: 1183 universities worldwide took part in the “UI GreenMetric World University Ranking” in 2023, which measures the sustainability of universities. The University of Bremen took 10th place.

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We wish you happy holidays and a great start to the new year!
The up2date. Editorial Team.