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.
Climate research, sustainability, artificial intelligence (AI), the energy transition, and health are highly topical research areas supported by the new cooperation program, the Northwest Alliance Research Fund (NoW), in Bremen and Oldenburg. Through the two funding lines, “Northwest Impulse” and “Northwest Advanced,” the universities are advancing their joint research in these and other fields. The first applications have already been approved and further proposals can be submitted until the end of June.
“With the new funding lines, we are pursuing the goal of further intensifying and expanding the academic networks between the University of Bremen and Oldenburg,” said Prof. Dr. Ralph Bruder, President of the University of Oldenburg. Prof. Dr. Jutta Günther, President of the University of Bremen, emphasized: “In addition to supporting our existing research focuses, we also want to develop new areas of potential and make our joint projects more visible internationally.”
The Northwest Advanced program aims to support collaborative research between the two universities. Teams of professors from both universities can apply for up to 20,000 euros in funding for conferences, pilot studies, and support services for third-party funding applications, for example. Up to ten teams will be eligible for funding. Northwest Impulse aims to initiate new collaborations between researchers from both universities. Up to 40 tandems that have not yet published jointly or acquired third-party funds will be supported. Professors and researchers with permanent contracts at both universities are eligible to apply. They can apply for material funding of up to 5,000 euros for workshops, feasibility studies, or the preparation of draft proposals.
The two funding lines are already bearing fruit and bringing researchers from both locations closer together. Below are just some of the projects:
Optimizing Quantum Materials
Quantum materials, found in smartphones, solar cells, and lasers, for example, do not behave according to the laws of classical physics. Their properties are extremely difficult to understand; however, they must be precisely adapted and optimized to be used in future technologies. Physicists Prof. Dr. Michael Sentef (University of Bremen) and Prof. Dr. Christian Schneider (University of Oldenburg) are researching this topic. They also plan to collaborate in the future to determine how light can influence the electronic, magnetic, and structural properties of quantum systems. They plan to acquire third-party funds together and cooperate on a long-term basis as part of a large joint project. The two scientists intend to hold a workshop to determine the strategic direction of this project.
What Voters Think About Inheritance Tax
When wealth is inherited, it’s often about more than just money – it’s about justice. The structure of inheritance tax is therefore one of the most controversial issues in German tax policy. While some see inheritance tax as an important instrument against wealth inequality, others fear it could burden families and businesses. At the same time, many citizens know little about the specific regulations. A research team from the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg is investigating how information and ideas of fairness shape attitudes toward inheritance tax structures. Prof. Dr. Sarah Berens, Prof. Dr. Markus Tepe (both University of Bremen), and Prof. Dr. Jan Sauermann (University of Oldenburg) are interviewing participants of the “Niedersachsenpanel.” The aim is to gain a better understanding of how to facilitate an objective and constructive public debate on the future of inheritance tax.
Future Migration Concepts
Societies around the world are currently undergoing far-reaching transformations as a result of phenomena such as climate change, digital disruptions, migration, and the rise of authoritarian tendencies. What roles do education and media use play in such contexts? Educational scientists Prof. Dr. Ayça Polat (University of Oldenburg) and Prof. Dr. Yasemin Karakaşoğlu (University of Bremen) are planning an international symposium with approximately 40 participants from countries including the United States, Namibia, the Netherlands, and Turkey. One focus will be how knowledge is imparted in the context of migration and the role of pedagogical professionalization.
Forms of Resistance by Marginalized Communities
Educational scientist Prof. Dr. Alisha M.B. Heinemann (University of Bremen) and art educator Prof. Dr. Michaela Kaiser (University of Oldenburg) are investigating poetic and audiovisual forms of expression of marginalized groups in Germany. They are particularly interested in how affected communities process experiences of racism and ableism poetically and aesthetically – for example in poems, spoken word performances, and audio and video installations in social media. The aim is to highlight the potential of educational media spaces as places of resistance, hope, and imagination for alternative futures. As part of a joint study, they will compile and publish a text and image archive on the topic.
Services Related to Statistical Methods
The Center for Statistics in Oldenburg and Bremen (ZeSOB), led by Professor Thorsten Dickhaus (University of Bremen), intends to expand its services, which it has offered since 2015. Professors Werner Brannath, Marcus C. Christiansen, and Peter Ruckdeschel from the University of Oldenburg are also involved. In the joint project, researchers from mathematics and the natural sciences are developing new statistical methods to analyze data from finance, insurance, climate and ecology, and health and medicine. With funding, the network is planning a series of events in which international researchers will give lectures to promote research into statistical methods.
Why Some Children Find It Harder to Rest: Recognizing Signals Early On
Difficulties sleeping, excessive crying, and pronounced anxiety can indicate self-regulation difficulties in children. Such difficulties can set a cycle in motion: The child’s stress is transferred to the parents, which makes it more difficult for the child to calm down. Oldenburg child and adolescent psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Yulia Golub, Bremen developmental psychologist Prof. Dr. Louisa Kulke, and Oldenburg neuroscientist and methodologist Prof. Dr. Andrea Hildebrandt are investigating whether there is measurable evidence of an imbalance in the mother-child relationship. To this end, they are investigating possible synchronization in the brain function of mothers and children by measuring brain waves and the concentration of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva samples. Their aim is to define specific measurable values that can be used to detect and treat self-regulation difficulties at an early stage.
Insights into Everyday Hearing
Neuroscientist Prof. Dr. Martin Bleichner (University of Oldenburg) and computer scientist Prof. Dr. Tanja Schultz (University of Bremen) aim to make hearing research more accessible outside of laboratories. They plan to develop a fully functional prototype that can be used to measure brain waves and ambient noise in everyday life. The starting point is the nEEGlace, an apparatus for mobile electroencephalography that test subjects wear around their necks in everyday life and is connected to sensors that record brain waves. Additionally, a smartphone registers the surrounding sounds. This combination makes it possible to study how sounds are perceived and processed neurologically.
Funding will enable further technical development of the nEEGlace. Bleichner and Schultz intend to develop it into an open research platform based on open-source hardware (OSH). This will allow researchers to use a single device to study the effect of everyday sounds on the brain. Unlike previous models, the new nEEGlace OSH will not require smartphone support and will be easier to integrate into everyday situations.
Sponges in the Ocean
The ocean contains an invisible mixture of water-soluble, carbon-containing molecules called dissolved organic matter. Over thousands of years, this mixture stores huge amounts of carbon – far more than all the world’s forests combined – and therefore has a significant impact on climate development. Microbial processes underwater determine the composition of this complex chemical mixture. In this context, geochemist Prof. Dr. Torsten Dittmar (University of Oldenburg) and geoscientist Dr. Florence Schubotz (University of Bremen) are investigating the role of sponges living in coral reefs in these processes, including if and how they produce and process dissolved organic material, as well as how warming oceans due to climate change affect them. The funding will enable the researchers to collect relevant sponge samples from coral reefs for laboratory experiments, among other things. It is currently unclear how the underwater carbon reservoir will behave in the future. According to Dittmar and Schubotz, sponges could provide insight into potential developments because they can swiftly convert older dissolved organic material into CO₂.