Topics range from material transitions to the rewetting of moors and immune regulation in the liver / €92 million for the first funding period

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is establishing seven new Collaborative Research Centres (CRC) to further support top-level research at German universities. This was decided by the responsible Grants Committee in Bonn. The new CRCs will receive a total of approximately €92 million in funding for an initial period of three years and nine months as of April 2025. This includes a programme allowance of 22 percent for indirect project costs. Three of the new Centres are CRC/Transregios (TRR), each of which is made up of multiple applicant universities.

In addition to the establishment of the seven new groups, the Grants Committee also approved the extension of another 23 existing CRCs for an additional funding period, including six CRC/Transregios. Collaborative Research Centres allow researchers to tackle innovative, challenging and long-term research projects as a group, thereby supporting the further development of priority areas and structures at the applicant universities. A total of 263 Centres will be in receipt of DFG funding as of April 2025.

The new Collaborative Research Centres in detail
(in alphabetical order by their host university, including the names of spokespersons and the other applicant universities):

The CRC Methods of interaction for the modular reuse of existing structures aims to explore whether concrete components from buildings ready for demolition can be reused rather than destroying them in a controlled manner. Can concrete be systematically dismantled into modules and reassembled in a modular fashion to create new structures? If so, individual modules could be replaced and combined with new components in the future, creating the basis for a circular method of modular construction. In this way, the CRC aims to focus on reuse rather than recycling, thereby contributing to greater sustainability in the construction of buildings. (University of Bochum, spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Peter Mark)

Intelligent production technologies for lightweight plastic structures with load-dedicated 3D grading of the reinforcement architecture – this is the research focus of the CRC/Transregio of the same name. It will investigate the production of transitions between fibre-plastic composites. These transitions currently pose a major challenge in the serial production of lightweight structures. In this connection, the CRC/Transregio will be deploying a technique known as 3D grading, a method that enables the creation of flowing material gradients which improve the properties of the material when it is subjected to stress. In the future, this could be used for the resource-efficient and therefore climate-friendly manufacture of road, rail and air vehicles, as well as agricultural machinery. (TU Chemnitz, Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Lothar Kroll; also applying: RWTH Aachen, TU Dresden)

The main components of integrated circuits on chips are individual transistors, which over time have decreased in size and increased in power. This scalability has led to lower costs – the main reason why integrated circuits are used in almost all products in our society. In recent years, however, the actual size of a transistor has no longer decreased significantly: chip technology seems to have reached its performance limit. The CRC/Transregio Next Generation Electronics with Active Devices in Three Dimensions (Active-3D) aims to make use of the volume above the chip surface by means of novel, active components. The aim is to develop real 3D systems that can further increase the performance and processing speed of the chips. (TU Dresden, Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Mikolajick; also applying: RWTH Aachen)

The long-term goal of the CRC Disease Mechanisms and Functional Restoration of Sensory and Motor Systems is to better understand and subsequently eliminate functional hearing and vision disorders. Since the sensory and motor systems of our nervous system are closely interlinked, research in the CRC will focus on both at the same time. The researchers will seek to decipher disease mechanisms underlying genetic, age-related and immunological disorders of the inner ear and retina. To do this, they will use experimental and theoretical neuroscience in line with clinical research. Their goal here is to establish a cycle that connects patient care with basic research, in turn enabling the findings to be applied in clinical practice. (University of Göttingen, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Tobias Moser)

Wetscapes – i.e. landscapes with a high proportion of waterlogged moors – provide key ecosystem services such as carbon storage, cooling or water purification. Over the centuries, however, large areas of moorland have been drained for agricultural use, resulting in the continuous release of large quantities of greenhouse gases and a reduction in biodiversity. Comprehensive rewetting programmes are now being implemented across Europe with the aim of reversing these effects. Such programmes do not restore the original moors, however, but instead create new ecosystems. The CRC/Transregio WETSCAPES2.0: sinks, links and legacies of novel ecosystems in rewetted fen landscapes is dedicated to the comprehensive analysis of the processes that occur during the rewetting of fen landscapes. The aim is to investigate the marked ecological and hydrological changes that occur and in the long term develop contributions to the management of rewetting projects and to the subsequent use of the areas. (University of Greifswald, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Jürgen Kreyling; also applying: University of Rostock)

The liver is the largest and most important metabolic organ in the human body and is constantly exposed not only to the body's own signals and antigens but also to those from the outside. In order to fulfil its vital functions, the liver has developed effective mechanisms to control inflammation and induce immune tolerance, since an overly aggressive immune response to the many antigens would damage the tissue. But immune tolerance also offers cancer cells and viruses a survival advantage in that it prevents them from being identified and eliminated by the immune system. For this reason, the CRC Immune regulation in the liver: from homeostasis to disease aims to investigate the mechanisms of immune regulation in order to establish a basis for therapies which target liver and gallbladder diseases. (University of Hamburg, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Christoph Schramm)

Port-Hamiltonian systems are suitable for describing, modelling and controlling complex networks such as electrical circuits, traffic flows or energy supply systems – in other words, important real-world problems. The individual components of such systems can differ significantly in terms of their type: the port Hamiltonian approach provides a universal mathematical description of the coupling between the different components so as to guarantee crucial system properties. The CRC Port-Hamiltonian Systems is dedicated to researching the mathematical foundations of these systems with the aim of providing relevant impetus for other fields of science. (University of Wuppertal, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Birgit Jacob)


The CRCs extended for a further funding period
(in alphabetical order by their host university, including the names of the spokespersons and additional applicant universities, with reference to the project descriptions in the DFG online database GEPRIS):

CRC Directed Cellular Self-Organization to Advance Bone Regeneration
(Charité – FU Berlin and HU Berlin, Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Georg Duda)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/427826188

CRC Dynamic Hydrogels at Biointerfaces (FU Berlin, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Rainer Haag) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/431232613

CRC Metaflammation and Cellular Programming (University of Bonn, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Dagmar Wachten) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/432325352

TRR Damage Controlled Forming Processes (TU Aachen, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Yannis Korkolis; also applying: RWTH Aachen)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/278868966

TRR Mobile Material Characterization and Localization by Electromagnetic Sensing (University of Duisburg-Essen, Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Kaiser; also applying: University of Bochum) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/287022738

CRC Multilevel response to stressor increase and release in stream ecosystems (RESIST) (University of Duisburg-Essen, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Bernd Sures)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/426547801

CRC Nephrogenetics (NephGen) (University of Freiburg, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Anna Köttgen) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/431984000

CRC Integrated Design and Operation Methodology for Offshore Megastructures (Leibniz University Hannover, Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Raimund Rolfes)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/434502799

CRC N-Heteropolycycles as Functional Materials (University of Heidelberg, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Petra Tegeder) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/281029004

TRR Strukturwandel des Eigentums (Structural Change of Property) (University of Jena, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Silke van Dyk; also applying: University of Erfurt) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/424638267

TRR Symbolic Tools in Mathematics and their Application (RPTU Kaiserslautern, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Gunter Malle; also applying: RWTH Aachen, Saarland University) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/286237555

CRC Tracking the active site in heterogeneous catalysis for emission control (TrackAct) (KIT Karlsruhe, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Jan-Dierk Grunwaldt)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/426888090

CRC Key mechanisms of motor control in health and disease (University of Cologne, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Gereon Rudolf Fink)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/431549029

CRC Prominence in Language (University of Cologne, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Petra Schumacher)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/281511265

CRC Fluctuations and Nonlinearities in Classical and Quantum Matter beyond Equilibrium (University of Konstanz, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Belzig)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/425217212

CRC Neural resources of cognition (University of Magdeburg, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Emrah Düzel) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/425899996

TRR Rationality and Competition: The Economic Performance of Individuals and Firms (LMU Munich, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Klaus Schmidt; also applying: HU Berlin) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/280092119

TRR Development, function and potential of myeloid cells in the central nervous system (NeuroMac) (TU Munich, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Josef Priller; also applying: Charité – FU und HU Berlin, University of Freiburg)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/259373024

CRC Neutrinos and Dark Matter in Astro- and Particle Physics (NDM) (TU Munich, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Elisa Resconi)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/283604770

CRC Intelligent Matter – From responsive to adaptive nanosystems (University of Münster, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Bart Jan Ravoo) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/433682494

CRC Multiscale imaging of organ-specific inflammation (University of Münster, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Michael Schäfers)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/431460824

CRC Transformations of the Popular (University of Siegen, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Niels Werber) https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/438577023

CRC Robust Vision — Inference Principles and Neural Mechanisms (University of Tübingen, Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Matthias Bethge)
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/276693517