Computer scientist Gabriel Zachmann of Bremen and visceral surgeon Dirk Weyhe of Oldenburg share a fascination with overcoming everyday challenges in the operating room with new, often futuristic technologies. Their goal is to ease the workload of operating room staff, reduce personnel costs, and improve patient safety. The shortage of skilled workers, particularly nurses, is always at the back of their minds, and it is also noticeable in the operating room.

The Universities of Oldenburg and Bremen maintain close ties with numerous academic institutions worldwide. A key partner in this network is the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.

This week, the Northwest Alliance reached an important milestone in the Excellence Strategy. On April 28 and 29, 20 international reviewers visited the Bremen campus to assess the joint Excellence proposal submitted by the University of Bremen and the University of Oldenburg.

The university is set to acquire a unique research facility, as recommended by the German Council of Science and Humanities. The ‘NaviGate’ building has been designed for the study of animal navigation in realistic conditions. 

Energy systems expert Astrid Nieße and bioinformatician Frank Oliver Glöckner both initially studied biology, then moved on to data science. They now head digital data repositories for research based at Oldenburg and Bremen: an interview.

Melina Kramer is pursuing her teaching degree in two different subjects – biology and geography – at two different universities, Oldenburg and Bremen. This puts her organisational skills to the test, but she would “make the very same choice all over again”.

Knowledge transfer, start-up support, and dialogue are just a few of the many tasks of the knowledge transfer offices at the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg. In this interview, Anne-Kathrin Guder, head of UniTransfer in Bremen, and Franziska Gloeden, team lead for transfer in Oldenburg, discuss shared goals and effective collaboration.

For ten years, the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg have worked together to support early-career researchers. This collaboration provides doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers with expanded opportunities for professional development, mentoring, and networking.

Two weeks before the on-site review by a panel of experts from the German Council of Science and Humanities, the Presidential Board of the University of Oldenburg and the Executive Board of the University of Bremen have held an event to provide staff and students at the two universities with details about the visit.

Germany excels in research but lags in entrepreneurship. This innovation gap costs growth, jobs, and long-term competitiveness. To counteract this, a broad coalition of science, business, and startup support has joined forces to establish the hoi startup factory.

Top research in northwestern Germany extends beyond the universities in Bremen and Oldenburg; it’s also thriving in Delmenhorst. The Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK) brings together around 50 international research fellows each year.

Wind energy is central to the sustainable energy transition and deeply rooted in northwestern Germany. The universities of Bremen, Oldenburg, and Hannover have united their expertise in ForWind, a joint center for wind energy research. This alliance demonstrates how successful strategic collaboration across institutions can be – not only through joint projects, but also through a deliberate allocation of strengths.

At the initiative of the Metropolitan Region Northwest Germany, the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg invited political representatives to a parliamentary breakfast at the HWK – Institute for Advanced Study in Delmenhorst.

There can be no energy transition without climate-friendly buildings – that much is clear. Led by the Oldenburg-based affiliated institute OFFIS, a team of researchers from the northwest region has investigated how digital solutions can help advance the “heating transition” (Wärmewende).

The coming into force of the UN High Seas Treaty in January raises many questions. One particularly pressing issue is where protected areas should be established by 2030. Researchers from the universities of Oldenburg and Bremen are jointly investigating this in the AGELESS project.

With the birth of a child, many women lose some of the demanding and complex tasks at work that are considered career-enhancing. This is shown by a new study from the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg. It thus highlights a previously little-noticed aspect of gender inequality.

With the birth of a child, many women lose some of the demanding and complex tasks at work that are considered career-enhancing. This is shown by a new study from the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg. It thus highlights a previously little-noticed aspect of gender inequality.

The Universities of Bremen and Oldenburg are forging a shared path in the race for excellence through the Northwest Alliance. In this interview, President Jutta Günther explains why the collaboration is an important step for both institutions, how the consortium adds value through its joint structures, and why social responsibility is a cornerstone of their shared vision.

The Northwest Alliance Research Fund is an initiative of the Northwest Alliance, a strategic partnership between the universities of Oldenburg and Bremen. The fund’s objective is to enhance academic collaboration between the two universities, and the new funding initiatives are proving to be successful.

University of Bremen scholars were invited by unifreunde to speak about “The Martian Mindset” Cluster of Excellence during the 16th Conrad Naber “Visions” Lecture held at the Chamber of Commerce.

Top-level Northwest Alliance meeting in the Forum at Domshof: Bremen’s Science Senator Henrike Müller and her Lower Saxony counterpart Falko Mohrs met with the leaders of the University of Bremen and the University of Oldenburg to discuss the status of the Excellence proposal.

More than 100 researchers from the universities of Oldenburg, Bremen, and Groningen gathered in Oldenburg to exchange ideas about their future cooperation in the Northwest Alliance.

A delegation from the University of Groningen visited its German partner universities in the Northwest Alliance. The program included a visit to the new Clusters of excellence “NaviSense” and “The Martian Mindset”

At the “unifreunde” Association’s New Year’s Reception, the President of the University of Bremen, Jutta Günther, emphasized the importance of close cooperation with the partner universities in Oldenburg and Groningen. Around 240 guests gathered gathered in the Town Hall on Wednesday.

The university and the Universitätsgesellschaft celebrated their New Year’s reception with a special programme at the Oldenburg State Theatre.

From the ocean floor to Mars, from human hearing to animal navigation abilities – researchers in the four Clusters of Excellence at the universities of Oldenburg and Bremen are focusing on a wide variety of topics. The teams began their work at the beginning of the year. We present a brief overview of the Clusters here.

The Northwest Alliance wishes you happy holidays and a great start to 2026. We’re excited and optimistic about the year ahead and look forward to continuing our journey together.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has extended funding for the KD²School for Designing Adaptive Systems for Economic Decision-Making for five additional years.

For the second time, the Academic Senates from Bremen and Oldenburg met together. At the meeting, which took place at the HWK Delmenhorst, the university executive boards discussed the further strategy in the competition for the title of excellence.

„Northwest Alliance: Connecting for Tomorrow” – this is the title under which the Universities of Oldenburg and Bremen have submitted their application for a University Excellence Consortium. The decision on funding will be made in October next year.

The universities of Oldenburg and Bremen have been working together for 25 years. With a revised cooperation agreement, they have laid down the framework conditions for long-term strategic cooperation.

The University of Bremen and Bremen University of Applied Sciences have joined the “Astronomy Network Weser-Ems” (ANWE). The cooperation agreement was signed on Friday, October 24. The aim of the network is to promote and cultivate astronomy and related sciences in theory and practice.

With the “NoW – Northwest Alliance Research Fund,” the partnership between the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg aims to intensify scientific collaboration between the two institutions. Researchers can apply for up to 20,000 euros in funding.

In order to strengthen academic cooperation in northwestern Germany and provide new short-term momentum for excellent research, the University of Bremen and Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg are establishing the “Northwest Impuls” and “Northwest Advanced” funding lines as of October 1, 2025.

From August 29 to 31, the Northwest Alliance – the strategic alliance between the University of Bremen and the University of Oldenburg – presented itself together with the U Bremen Research Alliance at the annual conference of the German Academic International Network (GAIN) in Boston.

For most universities, rankings are an integral part of the game. But rankings alone do not reflect a university’s quality. The University of Bremen, together with the University of Oldenburg, has joined the international “More than our Rank” initiative to raise awareness to this fact.

The universities of Bremen and Oldenburg want to move into the future as a University Excellence Consortium. The two universities submitted their letter of intent to the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat, WR) today, meeting the deadline.

All three top research projects that applied in the Excellence Competition have been approved. The Clusters of Excellence Hearing4all, NaviSense and OceanFloor focus on hearing research, animal navigation and marine research.

Connect four: All four Excellence Clusters submitted by the founding universities of the Northwest Alliance—Bremen and Oldenburg—have been approved as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal and State Governments. This outstanding accomplishment marks a major milestone and opens the door to the next big goal: applying together for the title of “University of Excellence.”

They have been working together successfully since 2016: The Graduate Academy of the University of Oldenburg and the Bremen Early Career Researcher Development (BYRD) of the University of Bremen. The cooperation agreement has now been renewed – with the common goal of providing even better support for doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers at both institutions in the future.

The universities of Oldenburg and Bremen are jointly establishing the “Northwest Alliance.” A memorandum of understanding was signed by the university administrations and the heads of the Bremen and Lower Saxony science departments in Berlin.

The universities of Oldenburg and Bremen are jointly establishing the “Northwest Alliance.” Last Friday, a memorandum of understanding was signed by the university leaders and the heads of the Bremen and Lower Saxony science departments on the sidelines of the science ministers’ conference in Berlin.

For the first time in their history, the academic senates of the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg met together on December 11, 2024. At the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Delmenhorst, they discussed joint plans for the future in research, teaching, and knowledge transfer. Both senates unanimously endorsed the increased cooperation – including in the context of the Excellence Strategy.

The universities of Bremen and Oldenburg are intensifying their cooperation within the framework of the federal and state excellence strategy. The universities of Bremen and Oldenburg are intensifying their cooperation as part of the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments. Both universities have submitted several full proposals for Clusters of Excellence in order to expand their research strength in important future-oriented areas. A decision on the funding will be made in May 2025.