Diversity, Equal Opportunities, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB)
The Northwest Alliance considers diversity, equal opportunities, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) to be fundamental values and goals. The alliance uses its strong organizational structures and many years of experience at both locations (Oldenburg and Bremen) to implement these values and goals, for example, in the recruitment of professors and the development of an anti-discrimination policy.
The joint Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean Floor” is leading the way, developing not only binding measures, but also diversity monitoring as a model and pilot project. The NWA’s main focus is on recruiting people for research, teaching, and transfer with diverse perspectives and backgrounds. Diversity-competent selection procedures play a central role, as do targeted offers for underrepresented groups in academia and fostering diversity competence among leaders.
Sustainability
Both founding universities of the Northwest Alliance stand for social responsibility and have prioritized sustainable and climate-friendly action for decades.
In 2023, the University of Bremen anchored sustainability in its mission statement. The University of Oldenburg has a long-standing commitment to addressing sustainability issues in teaching, research, and campus operations.
The focus at both locations is on topics such as switching to renewable energies, new study programs with a sustainability focus, and a wide range of research activities for a more sustainable and climate-friendly world. This approach characterizes the Cluster of Excellence “The Martian Mindset,” among others. There are also numerous sustainability initiatives at the student level at both locations.
Transdisciplinarity
The Northwest Alliance is focused on transdisciplinary research. Through this approach, the alliance strives to achieve excellence in research, teaching, and knowledge transfer. Transdisciplinary research is essential because it connects academic disciplines with stakeholders from politics, business, administration, and civil society. This means that complex problems are not investigated in isolation but rather in the context of their entire social environment.
In the area of knowledge transfer, transdisciplinary research creates further bridges between universities and society because knowledge is produced jointly. This considerably increases the social impact of university work. Universities have a special responsibility for social transformation processes because they are places of independent reflection and innovation, that are shaping the future. Transdisciplinary research enables them to live up to this responsibility and actively contribute to solving pressing social problems.