Germany’s Excellence Strategy strengthens world-class research by bringing together leading experts across disciplines to tackle the most pressing scientific challenges. In the Excellence Clusters, researchers collaborate across fields to develop groundbreaking solutions; advancing cutting-edge science while shaping strategic priorities for the future. These interdisciplinary hubs also offer funding opportunities and open positions for postdocs and early career researchers who want to contribute to high-impact research environments.

Learn more about the Excellence Strategy and current Clusters of Excellence here: DFG, German Research Foundation - Excellence Strategy or watch this Video.

How can new technologies safeguard historic treasures against climate change and mass tourism? At the University of Bamberg’s Graduate School of Smart City Science, Rana Tootoonchi is exploring how digital twins can transform the conservation of cultural heritage.

Anyone who thinks that a “digital twin" is merely a static digital image of a real object should consider the term more broadly. Digital twins are, in fact, digital representations of physical objects, processes or systems that interact with the real object in real time. This means that digital twins are dynamic, bring data to life in virtual form, and render data utilizable. The idea of the digital twin has already conquered the automotive and aerospace industries as well as agriculture and manufacturing, followed more recently by the healthcare and urban planning sectors. But what are the untapped potentials of this technology in the fields of heritage conservation and architecture?

Find out how Rana Tootoonchi is exploring this question here.

Innovative ideas arise at the intersection of different disciplines, where new perspectives are explored. The FCMH's "Experimental Spaces" programme helps researchers to develop highly innovative, cross-university projects.

One outstanding project, EPIC-CAM, illustrates this collaboration. It brings together researchers from all three FCMH universities – Dr. Richter (JLU), Prof. Sigges (THM), PD Dr. Jedelska (UMR) – to study epigenetic mechanisms in kidney cancer cells. Thanks to this collaboration, the project combines an in-ovo tumour model with high-resolution DNA methylation analysis.

The "Experimental Spaces" programme supports a wide range of disciplines, addressing key challenges of our time. Explore these groundbreaking projects and learn how they pave the way for future research here.

Butterflies in your tummy, nervous stomach rumblings, hunger: Our brain and gut are in constant communication with each other. In fact, there are more than 100 million neurons in our gut. That is why it is also known as the second brain. The brain-gut communication is particularly intense when we experience pain arising from the gastrointestinal tract. When fear of such pain becomes worse than the pain itself, this is often the result of learning processes. Professor Adriane Icenhour and PD Dr. Franziska Labrenz from Ruhr University Bochum are investigating how people could be helped to overcome the vicious circle of fear and pain. In the Collaborative Research Center 1280 “Extinction Learning”, the two neuroscientists work together with psychologists, neurobiologists, and physicians to understand the processes of learning, remembering, and forgetting.

• In this interview, Icenhour and Labrenz talk about their research and findings: https://news.rub.de/english/2024-04-29-neuroscience-second-brain-our-gut.
• The interview has also been published in the Science Magazine Rubin: https://news.rub.de/sites/default/files/2025-01/RUBIN_2025_Extinktionslernen_gesamt_en.pdf
• In the podcast “Kannste Vergessen? – Der Podcast vom Lernen, Vergessen und Erinnern” (Can You Forget? – The Podcast on Learning, Forgetting, and Remembering), various researchers talk about their interdisciplinary research in the Collaborative Research Center 1280 “Extinction Learning” (German only): https://open.spotify.com/show/17aiD35VDvxAkMwfLv4XTz

Find out more here.