Research Training Groups
Research Training Groups aim to promote and support the academic qualification of doctoral students. In a structured working environment, the young researchers work in interdisciplinary teams on challenging research projects.
Ecological Regime Shifts and Systemic Risk in Coupled Social-Ecological Systems
Current developments in relation to climate change and the loss of biodiversity clearly show the extent of global interdependence and interconnectedness. Various crisis contexts have shown that this complexity and the resulting regime shifts (i.e. large-scale changes with long-lasting consequences in a complex system) and the associated systemic risks (that an entire system and not just its parts collapse) have so far been underestimated. Examples include the various impacts of intensive agriculture on biodiversity loss, soil degradation and water scarcity and pollution. These interlinked crises clearly show the urgency of interdisciplinary research for a better understanding of non-linear developments that may entail systemic risks and the ability to anticipate and respond to them. The Research Training Group is the first to comprehensively address ecological regime shifts, taking into account the dynamics of ecological systems, human activities and governance.
nanomaterials@biomembranes
Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Jacob Piehler
The Research Training Group nanomaterials@biomembranes aims to contribute to answering unsolved questions in membrane biology with a customized combination of artificial nanomaterials and biomembranes. The highly interdisciplinary, biophysical research approach from biology, chemistry and physics will enable the investigation of the structure, dynamics and interactions of proteins and lipids in cellular membranes with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. The groups involved in the Research Training Group will jointly develop new methods to understand central biological functions such as transport and signaling across membranes down to the atomic level. In order to achieve this, chemists and physicists must work very closely with biologists.
Situated cognition
Interdisciplinary in cooperation with Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Co-speaker at Osnabrück University: Prof. Dr. Achim Stephan (Institute of Philosophy)
In the interdisciplinary research training group "Situated Cognition", researchers from Ruhr-Universität Bochum and Osnabrück University are working together on the question of how cognitive processes interact with external influences to produce human mental abilities. The research group will methodically link the philosophy of mind and cognition with psychology and the neurosciences, with a focus on philosophical theory formation. A basic assumption of the research work in the research group is that human mental abilities cannot be described solely as brain activity. External factors also play a role: for example, the facial muscles determine how a person feels - not just the other way around. Memory is also dependent on context.
Computational Cognition (DFG Research Training Group)
Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Gordon Pipa
The Research Training Group "Computational Cognition" aims to contribute to a better understanding of intelligence in humans and machines. The focus is on understanding the connections between lower and higher levels of cognition. Problems that are simple for humans but are still considered difficult for artificial systems are worked on as examples. These include analogies, the introduction of new concepts and pragmatic reasoning. The Research Training Group brings together the two research fields of cognitive science and artificial intelligence.
Further Research Training Groups
Emergence and initiation of area-specific learning in early childhood education processes
Spokesperson: Prof. Dr. Hedwig Gasteiger
Against the background of the increasing importance of education in elementary education, the Research Training Group promotes Doctorate and qualification projects on the connection between area-specific learning and the special nature of early childhood educational processes. The research interest focuses on the emergence of area-specific competencies in children's practical activities as well as on possibilities and strategies for initiating, encouraging and supporting area-specific learning processes in the educational interaction between children and professionals. In this interdisciplinary research training group, access to the subject area of emergence and the initiation of area-specific learning will be opened up from three perspectives.
EvoCell - Cellular mechanisms of evolutionary innovation
Speakers: Prof. Dr. Christian Kost, Prof. Dr. Sabine Zachgo
Over 200 years ago, Charles Darwin revolutionized the natural sciences with his theory of evolution. It is still unclear which innovations at the level of the smallest building blocks of life, the cells, are the basis for evolutionary development processes. This question is being researched by the interdisciplinary EvoCell Kolleg, in which biologists, a physicist and an environmental systems scientist jointly supervise doctoral students. Molecular biological and microscopic techniques and modeling approaches are used to investigate the cellular mechanisms that enable increasingly complex cell communities and ultimately organisms to develop in the course of evolution.
Graphs and Networks
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Markus Chimani
Graphs and networks are models for complex relationships in a wide range of applications. Characteristic properties are usually described by mathematical parameters. In many applications, e.g. in telecommunications networks, the movements of the participants, their data exchange and their topological relationship structure are described by stochastic models. In this research group, computer scientists and mathematicians jointly investigate the geometric, combinatorial and topological properties of networks and graphs.
Shaping religious differences. Forming pluralism in Christianity and Islam
Spokespersons: Prof. Dr. Margit Eckholt, Prof. Dr. Gregor Etzelmüller, Prof. Dr. phil. Habib El Mallouki
The Research Training Group for Christian Theology and Islamic Theology explores what theologically and interreligiously reflected religious traditions and spiritual practices can contribute to the productive shaping of religious differences. The doctoral projects are each supervised by a Christian-Muslim tandem; the Research Training Group sees itself as a "contact zone" and "place of learning" for interreligious theological reflection.
directly to the Research Training Group
Trust and acceptance in extended and virtual working environments
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Oliver Thomas
Technical innovations such as wearable devices and intelligent voice control are overcoming the limits of traditional information systems. In the course of this digital transformation, global sales of wearables are increasing, which, especially in combination with augmented and virtual reality applications (AR or VR for short), enable innovative use cases for operational practice. The benefits of these technologies can be seen in the improvement and flexibilization of processes through the targeted provision of information and the design of user-friendly workplaces in a digital working environment. On the other hand, there are risks such as digital stress, side effects of use such as simulation sickness and a restriction of the user's privacy. Interdisciplinary research into acceptance and trust in augmented and virtual working environments is therefore of great importance on the road to Industry 4.0.
Interprofessional teaching in the health professions (Robert Bosch Stiftung Research Training Group)
Cooperation project with the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich directly to the Research Training Group
Project management at Osnabrück University: Prof. Dr. Ursula Walkenhorst
The Robert Bosch Stiftung is funding the Research Training Group 'Interprofessional Teaching in the Health Professions' - ILEGRA, which is being carried out in cooperation between Osnabrück University (Institute of Health Research and Education) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (Institute for Didactics and Educational Research in Medicine). In their dissertations, the twelve scholarship holders deal with topics relating to interprofessional teaching in the healthcare professions with a focus on teaching, examination and evaluation.
