Ressort Presse

• von Astrid Bergmeister
• 22.08.2024

Things are about to get exciting for the University of Duisburg-Essen: on 22 August 2024, UDE submitted the application for ‘REASONS: River Ecosystems in the Anthropocene - sustainable scientific SOlutioNS’ in the competition for excellence organised by the federal and state governments. In February of this year, the University of Duisburg-Essen was able to prevail in this highly competitive research competition with its preliminary application for water research. The interdisciplinary research project benefits from the excellent co-operation and structures within the University Alliance Ruhr. The two partners of the University of Duisburg-Essen, Ruhr-University Bochum and the TU Dortmund University, are in the running with further Cluster of Excellence proposals. The Excellence Commission will announce its decision in May 2025.

On 22 August, the University of Duisburg-Essen entered the next phase of the federal and state governments' excellence competition with a “full proposal” for a Cluster of Excellence in water research, “REASONS: River Ecosystems in the Anthropocene - Sustainable Scientific Solutions”. The Excellence Commission - consisting of 39 experts from various disciplines and the federal and state science ministers - will announce in May 2025 which of Germany's outstanding research teams will be selected. The decision will have a major impact on all three universities in the University Alliance Ruhr with its four proposed research clusters. The conditions are good, as the top scientists will benefit with their cluster applications from the excellent cooperation and structures within the University Alliance Ruhr and the support of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of the Research Alliance Ruhr founded in 2022.

‘The strength and reputation of our scientists in the field of water research is unique, and they have gained further - nationally and internationally - outstanding experts to put together their research team for the excellence competition,’ says the Rector of the University of Duisburg-Essen, Prof Dr Barbara Albert. ‘I am so pleased about this because the topic is very special and important. If there were no new solutions from our cutting-edge research to optimise waterways and ecosystems in the Anthropocene, i.e. the human-dominated age, then the inestimable value of science would not be fully exploited.’

REASONS focusses on water bodies in environments shaped by humans. Rising temperatures, antibiotic residues, droughts and floods: rivers are coming under pressure worldwide. In order to make them fit for the future, researchers from the REASONS Cluster of Excellence initiative are developing a new, sustainable concept for the management of water bodies. Using new measurement and analysis methods, the water experts are researching the basis for sustainable river management that integrates stressors such as climate change, material pollution and changes in biodiversity. What is special about this approach is that it places the changing system at the centre and finds an innovative way of dealing with the sometimes irreversible changes to inland waters. The interdisciplinary research team is led by Prof Dr Bernd Sures (University of Duisburg-Essen), Prof Dr Torsten Claus Schmidt (University of Duisburg-Essen) and Prof Dr Martina Flörke (Ruhr University Bochum).

The internationally renowned water scientists from the University of Duisburg-Essen are conducting research in a strong team with members from Ruhr University Bochum, Goethe University Frankfurt, Philipps University Marburg, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries and the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research.
 

About the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr)

Since 2007, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, the TU Dortmund University and the University of Duisburg-Essen have been working closely together strategically under the umbrella of the UA Ruhr. By joining forces, the partner universities are strategically expanding their joint research activities. ‘Better together’ shows the direction of cooperation, with over 100 collaborations in research, teaching and administration. With more than 120,000 students and 14,000 researchers, the UA Ruhr is one of the largest and most productive academic centres in Germany.