Minister breaks ground
Start for ACTIVE SITES research building
- 07.04.2025
Today, 7 April, Ina Brandes, Minister of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, together with the Mayor of Essen, Thomas Kufen, broke ground for ACTIVE SITES on the Thurmfeld site in Essen. This marks the start of the University of Duisburg-Essen's new research building, which will bring together scientists from the natural sciences, life sciences and engineering: They will use state-of-the-art large-scale facilities and the latest methods to analyse the reaction sites of ultra-fast processes. The German government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia will each contribute half of the costs for construction and equipment, totalling around 70 million euros. Research operations are scheduled to start in the summer of 2028.
A new research and innovation campus is being built on the Thurmfeld site in Essen. The University of Duisburg-Essen is kicking things off with the ACTIVE SITES research building, which will bring together researchers from the fields of nanoscience and materials science, energy, water, microbiome, protein and environmental research, and supramolecular chemistry. A particular focus will be on the development of state-of-the-art analytical methods to study chemical or biological reactions under conditions similar to those found in nature. On a total floor space of around 4,800 m2, many open-plan work areas and shared laboratories will be created for the work and intensive exchange of a total of 125 researchers.
Science Minister Ina Brandes: "Our cutting-edge research needs cutting-edge conditions. The ultra-modern new building will provide the best possible conditions for answering pressing questions in water and energy research. Active Sites brings together scientists from different disciplines and promotes the practical development of new technologies. Cutting-edge research "made in NRW" will make a decisive contribution to improving the lives of people in North Rhine-Westphalia and far beyond, while at the same time ensuring the competitiveness of our location.
Rector Prof Dr Barbara Albert: "The University of Duisburg-Essen is one of Germany's most successful research institutions in the natural sciences. The new research building opens up great development opportunities, especially for our excellent water and catalysis research. For example, we analyse the influence of stress factors on aquatic organisms and combine the latest analytical methods at the highest level.
The ACTIVE SITES research approach of working across disciplines and processes is unique: "A set of methods developed by a biologist to study a cell in a cell cluster, for example, could also be used by an engineer to analyse individual particles in a mass of catalyst particles," explains Prof. Dr Stephan Barcikowski, spokesperson for ACTIVE SITES.
The topics that will be physically concentrated in the new research building are already of supra-regional importance: one example is the Natural Water to Hydrogen project, funded by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and headed by Prof. Dr Corina Andronescu. It combines the strengths of the University of Duisburg-Essen in the fields of water, catalysis and materials research to make the production of green hydrogen more sustainable and energy efficient.
International guest scientists will also contribute their respective expertise to current research projects. For example, collaboration with the Laurence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US has recently been intensified to advance research on algae. Algae have great potential, from CO2 storage to river detoxification and fuel production. The University of Duisburg-Essen has one of the largest algae collections in the world, with a central collection of about 7500 strains.
ACTIVE SITES is the first building project that the UDE has managed and realised independently as a client, and Chancellor Ulf Richter is proud of this: "Thanks to the trust placed in us by the state, we at UDE are able to act as client for the first time and implement this demanding construction project independently. We are rising to the challenge and will show that this can speed things up. I would also like to thank all those involved in the property management and my colleagues from the city of Essen for their excellent cooperation.
In chemistry and biology, active sites are the parts of a catalyst or enzyme where catalysed reactions take place. In the new research building, the term is defined more broadly: Active sites generally refer to the reaction sites where crucial processes take place. These include, for example, the binding of molecules to certain surfaces of proteins or individual cells with special properties within a community of microorganisms. Crucial to the research approach is that the scientists study the reaction sites in their natural environment, as this has an impact on the chemical and biological processes.
Photo (from left): Prof Dr Stephan Barcikowski, Mayor of Essen Thomas Kufen, NRW Science Minister Ina Brandes, Chancellor Ulf Richter, Rector Prof. Dr Barbara Albert.
Further Information:
https://www.uni-due.de/activesites/
Prof Dr Stephan Barcikowski, Speaker ACTIVE SITES, +49 201/18 3-3150, stephan.barcikowski@uni-due.de