Research Profile and Institutes

It's a success story: Osnabrück University, founded in 1974, has built up an outstanding reputation over the past five decades - regionally, nationally and internationally. Its research strengths include microbiology, comparative law, artificial intelligence, cognitive science and migration research. These areas of research and teaching at the highest level are embedded in a comprehensive scientific canon of numerous other disciplines. The research results achieved here flow directly into a highly qualified academic education in the form of "research-based learning".

In addition, the university's research has an impact on the culture of the city of Osnabrück, for example: The joint  Osnabrück Peace Forums and the joint  Erich Maria Remarque Peace Center.

The economy also benefits from the university through the transfer of scientific research results to companies.

In summary, the following applies to Osnabrück University: researching and teaching together in responsibility for a future worth living.

A person wears augmented reality glasses. Their view is projected onto a screen behind them. She navigates a virtual menu by hand. Three people are sitting at seminar tables in front of her
© Simone Reukauf
Three chimpanzees on the forest floor. One of them rubs his arm with a trapped insect.
© Tobias Deschner
Five people sit at a table in a circle and read books and a laptop together. One person is wearing a headscarf.
© Simone Reukauf
Two people standing in a field of tall, green plants (presumably corn). One of the people is holding a laptop, while the other person appears to be looking at the laptop and pointing at it. In the background are other plants
© Simone Reukauf

Further information

 Profile Lines
 Research Centers and Institutes
 Research Training Groups
 Projects in the spotlight

Research without (subject) boundaries

The university impresses with its exceptional research achievements, which are characterized by interdisciplinary cooperation:

  • The  AI Campus is the result of many years of profile development in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). The research-intensive and application-oriented subjects of Computer Science, Cognitive Science, Information Systems and Mathematics research groups are linked here. Around 20 professors and around 80 research assistants currently work at the AI Campus. These include endowed professorships funded by industry and the city and district of Osnabrück.
  • The interdisciplinary Research Center  of Cellular Nanoanalytics Osnabrück | CellNanOs, which is unique in Germany, develops new approaches in modern cell biology. The research approach can build on the experience of the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 944) "Physiology and Dynamics of Cellular Microcompartments", which is characterized by the cooperation of working groups from biology, physics and mathematics. Same for the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 1557) "Functional Plasticity, encoded by cellular membrane networks". In total, Collaborative Research Centers have existed continuously in the School of Biology/Chemistry for more than 40 years. The first two focused on membrane proteins (SFB 193, 1983-1998) and their function within cells (SFB 431, 1999-2010).
  • The  Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies | IMIS research center conducts interdisciplinary work on the diverse aspects of spatial mobility and intercultural encounters in the past and present. The Collaborative Research Center (1604) "Production of Migration" is also based at IMIS. Around 50 academics from Osnabrück, Berlin/Potsdam, Dortmund, Flensburg, Frankfurt am Main and Münster are conducting research in 17 sub-projects. To implement this ambitious research project, Osnabrück University, as the host university, will receive € 8.3 million from the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the first funding phase until the end of 2027.
  • Early childhood education and development has been a focus at Osnabrück University for many years. The  Center for Early Childhood Development and Education Research | CEDER Research Center, for example, conducts research on this topic with the participation of five departments.
  • The renowned Research Center  Institute of Early Modern Intercultural Studies | IKFN, which is supported by nine subjects, is one of the few German research centers explicitly dedicated to interdisciplinary research into the early modern period. In numerous third-party funded projects, pioneering historical, theological and literary-historical studies have been compiled and published in recent years.
  • Another interdisciplinary beacon is the  Institute of Cognitive Science | IKW, which deals with questions of higher cognitive functions. Its research activities cover the entire spectrum of cognitive science disciplines. International Bachelor's and Master's degree courses, in which the basics of the entire spectrum of cognitive science are taught and in which interdisciplinary thinking and work are in the foreground, round off the offer.
  • At the  Institute of Environmental Systems Research | IUSF Research Center , changes in environmental systems and the resulting problems and their solutions are researched on an interdisciplinary basis. In particular, the focus is on the systemic networking of different actors that cause changes in the natural environment. The disciplines of mathematics, computer science and systems science are combined with applied ecological and socio-economic sciences.
  • The  European Legal Studies Institute at Osnabrück University is one of the most important research institutions in Europe for comparative law and legal harmonization.
  • The prevention of occupational skin diseases is a field of research known beyond national borders at the Institute for Interdisciplinary  Dermatological Prevention and Rehabilitation | iDerm.
  • Interdisciplinary research is also visible through the Osnabrück branch of the  German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence | DFKI.
  • Osnabrück University and the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) in Potsdam are jointly training doctoral students at the interface of agricultural science and artificial intelligence in the  Joint Lab Artificial Intelligence & Data Science graduate school.

PhD/Postdoc Career Center (ZePrOs) : Scientific qualification

The training and promotion of young academics is one of the university's core tasks, which it addresses through the ZePrOs, among other things.