Collaboration with Regional Research Institutions

The University of Cologne is located in the Rhineland – a mega-urban region in the heart of Europe.
This region has excellent working and living conditions and is one of Europe’s most
developed research and economic areas, making it highly attractive for students
and researchers alike, and enabling a multitude of close collaborations and strategic
partnerships to be forged.

A powerful research network has already been established in the life sciences. Researchers working in the fields of plant sciences and quantitative biology enjoy excellent close collaborations with the MPI for Plant Breeding Research (Cologne) and the Research Center Jülich (RCJ).

Moreover, the last four years alone have witnessed the following new establishments:

In addition, the research centre caesar (Bonn) has recently changed its focus to neurosciences and further momentum will be gained when the MPI for Neurological Research (Cologne) shifts its research focus to metabolic diseases later this year. These highly dynamic developments have established critical mass, placing UoC among world-leaders in the field of age-related diseases. Finally, the recently founded Center for Integrated Oncology (Cologne, Bonn) offers an excellent platform for translational research. Clinical studies are also supported by the German Aerospace Center (Cologne) and Bayer AG.

At UoC, physics and geosciences profit from long-standing collaborations with the RCJ and the MPI for Radio Astronomy (Bonn). In addition, UoC has a collaboration agreement with the Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing (St. Augustin),
and has recently founded the “Ideas Factory Cologne” – with a first innovative R&D project in the field of organic electronics.

The Geo Alliance ABC/J represents a network for education and research in geosciences and geography, and brings together groups from UoC, the Universities of Aachen and Bonn, and the RCJ.

Social scientists at UoC have strong links with the Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences GESIS (Cologne, Mannheim). Collaborations are currently being established with the MPI for Research on Collective Goods (Bonn), and cooperation with the MPI for the Study of Societies (Cologne) is to be strengthened, e.g. via a bridging professorship.

UoC’s regional cooperations not only address particular research projects, but also involve joint strategic planning, appointments, use of infrastructures, and the advancement of graduate students and young researchers. Moreover, many senior researchers of the non-university institutes are members of the UoC Faculties, e.g. on the legal basis provided by the “Jülich Model” and two UoC professors are MPI Fellows.

The so-called ABC Universities of Aachen, Bonn and Cologne meet regularly at rectorate level to advance regional strategic developments in research and teaching. Further important stimuli are provided by the NRW Innovation Alliance, an exchange and joint planning forum involving the universities in Aachen, Bonn, Düsseldorf and Cologne, the German Aerospace Center, the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Research Center Jülich, as well as the Chambers of Industry and Commerce in Aachen, Bonn, Düsseldorf and Cologne.