{"id":3762,"date":"2026-02-05T11:07:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T10:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northwest-alliance.de\/startseite\/cross-cutting-themes\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T09:55:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T07:55:41","slug":"cross-cutting-themes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/northwest-alliance.de\/en\/startseite\/cross-cutting-themes\/","title":{"rendered":"Cross-Cutting Topics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cross-Cutting Topics<\/h1>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

Diversity, Equal Opportunities, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB)<\/h2>\n

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. <\/p>\n

The joint Cluster of Excellence \u201cThe Ocean Floor\u201d is leading the way, developing not only binding measures, but also diversity monitoring as a model and pilot project. The NWA\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

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Sustainability<\/h2>\n

Both founding universities of the Northwest Alliance stand for social responsibility and have prioritized sustainable and climate-friendly action for decades.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

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Transdisciplinarity<\/h2>\n
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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. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

In transdisciplinary teaching and learning projects, students, teaching staff members, and community stakeholders work together on real-world issues. This fosters an open, collaborative learning process in which diverse experiences, backgrounds, and forms of knowledge are explicitly welcomed. Through the sharing of scientific and everyday perspectives, problems are better understood and discussed, and new approaches to solutions are developed. In doing so, students learn to recognize and distinguish between different sources of knowledge and to apply them specifically to concrete questions. They develop an intuition for which knowledge is helpful in which situation \u2013 and how these perspectives can be meaningfully integrated into their degree. At the same time, they reflect on their responsibility toward society and explore ways to share their own learning experiences in a tangible way. The pedagogical formats are diverse: They range from project workshops and living labs to service-learning and exploratory student research. Transdisciplinary teaching creates spaces where knowledge is developed collaboratively rather than merely imparted \u2013 at the intersection of science, real-world practice, and society. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>

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Internationality<\/h2>\n

Our strategic partnerships with stakeholders in Europe and around the world are founded on shared values and mutual trust, as well as equal and participatory dialogue.<\/p>\n

Together with the Northwest Alliances strategic alliance partner, the University of Groningen, we are committed to advancing European excellence. We also maintain long-standing relationships with other strategic partner universities in the areas of research, teaching, and knowledge transfer. These include: Nelson Mandela University<\/a> (South Africa), Mahidol University<\/a> (Thailand), and Cardiff University<\/a> (United Kingdom). <\/p>\n

In the spirit of creating a European research space, the Northwest Alliance is affiliated with the YUFE<\/a> (Young Universities for the Future of Europe) European university alliance and the YERUN<\/a> (Young European Research Universities) network.<\/p>\n

These diverse connections position the Northwest Alliance as a network and driving force for future-oriented, global higher education that is democratic, participatory, and socially responsible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cross-Cutting Topics 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...","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":427,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3762","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nCross-Cutting Topics - Northwest Alliance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"DEIB, sustainability, and transdisciplinarity shape the Northwest Alliance and strengthen research, teaching, and transfer in the Northwest.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/northwest-alliance.de\/en\/startseite\/cross-cutting-themes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cross-Cutting Topics - 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