Projects in the spotlight
CRC 1604: Production of migration
How and by whom does migration, i.e. the spatial change of the center of life, acquire changing meanings? How and why does society's approach to migration change? These questions are the focus of the Collaborative Research Center "Production of Migration", which thus addresses a research gap: the insufficient understanding of how and with what consequences for the transformation of societies they produce migration and its constantly renegotiated meaning. The aim of the Collaborative Research Center is to develop a reflexive theory of the social production of migration that includes science as an object of research.
To the Collaborative Research Center Production of Migration
CRC 1557: Functional plasticity encoded by cellular membrane networks
The researchers in the Collaborative Research Center 1557 use state-of-the-art methods of fluorescence microscopy and mass spectrometry for their basic biochemical questions, as well as a cryo-electron microscope that has been available since 2021. The Center for Cellular Nanoanalytics Osnabrück (CellNanOs) on the Westerberg campus is the hub of the Osnabrück CRC's cutting-edge research. Of particular interest is the analysis of functional plasticity, i.e. the adaptation of membranes to new conditions such as oxidative stress or starvation, which is essential for the survival of organisms.
A decisive advantage of the CRC 1557 lies in the close cooperation between working groups with different biological model systems and methodological expertise.
DFG Emmy Noether Group: Scales in language processing and acquisition: Semantic and pragmatic factors in the calculation of implicatures
The project investigates the processing and acquisition of a variety of different Horn scales. The overall aim is to develop a new model for the calculation of implicatures that takes into account the variability of different Horn scales. It is investigated (a) to what extent a single mechanism can be assumed for the calculation of implicatures and (b) which types of alternatives form the basis for the implicature calculation. A major focus is on the interpretation of adjective scales, which are well researched in semantics but have been little studied in pragmatics. A variety of psycholinguistic methods and probabilistic modeling will be used to integrate findings from semantics, pragmatics and cognitive science. The project is the first comprehensive investigation of different semantic and pragmatic factors in the processing of implicatures, both in adults and children.
DFG Research Training Group: Ecological Regime Shifts and Systemic Risk in Coupled Social-Ecological Systems
Current developments in relation to climate change and the loss of biodiversity clearly show the extent of global interdependence and interconnectedness. In various crisis contexts, it has been shown that this complexity and the resulting regime shifts (i.e. large-scale changes with long-lasting consequences in a complex system) and the associated systemic risks (that an entire system and not just its parts collapse) have so far been underestimated. Examples include the various impacts of intensive agriculture on biodiversity loss, soil degradation and water scarcity and pollution. These interlinked crises clearly show the urgency of interdisciplinary research for a better understanding of non-linear developments that may entail systemic risks and the ability to anticipate and respond to them. The Research Training Group is the first to comprehensively address ecological regime shifts, taking into account the dynamics of ecological systems, human activities and governance.
To the Research Training Group ecorisk
DFG Research Training Group: nanomaterials@biomembranes
The Research Training Group nanomaterials@biomembranes aims to contribute to answering unsolved questions in membrane biology with a customized combination of artificial nanomaterials and biomembranes. The highly interdisciplinary, biophysical research approach from biology, chemistry and physics will enable the investigation of the structure, dynamics and interactions of proteins and lipids in cellular membranes with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. The groups involved in the Research Training Group will jointly develop new methods to understand central biological functions such as transport and signaling across membranes down to the atomic level. In order to achieve this, chemists and physicists must work very closely with biologists.
To the Research Training Group nanomaterials@biomembranes
Participation in the DFG Research Training Group: Situated Cognition
In the interdisciplinary Research Training Group "Situated Cognition", researchers from Ruhr-Universität Bochum and Osnabrück University are working together on the question of how cognitive processes interact with external influences to produce human mental abilities. The research group will methodically link the philosophy of mind and cognition with psychology and the neurosciences, with philosophical theory formation at the center.
A basic assumption of the research work in the research group is that human mental abilities cannot be described solely as brain activity. External factors also play a role: for example, the facial muscles determine how a person feels - not just the other way around. Memory is also dependent on context.
DFG Research Unit: "Fundamental Aspects of Statistical Mechanics and the Emergence of Thermodynamics in Non-Equilibrium Systems"
The question of whether and how a physical system reaches equilibrium plays a key role in many areas of modern experimental and theoretical physics.
The research group "Fundamental Aspects of Statistical Mechanics and the Emergence of Thermodynamics in Non-Equilibrium Systems", now approved by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and headed by Junior Professor Dr. Robin Steinigeweg, will address this complex issue. The universities of Bielefeld and Oldenburg and the Research Center Jülich are involved. The DFG is providing the group with funding of around € 1.3 million for an initial period of three years.
ERC-Starting Grant: TIME - Towards a dynamic account of natural vision
Various aspects of vision interact dynamically. The ERC project will take a closer look at this fascinating process: Through vision, visual information is filtered and selected in just an instant, it is processed in the brain and brought together with many other known pieces of information. At the same time, a number of processes take place, such as deciding when and where the eyes move to collect further information. In order to better understand these interrelated processes, high-resolution measurements of brain waves will be taken as part of the ERC Starting Grant and analyzed and modeled using machine learning methods.
To the working group on neuro-inspired machine learning
ERC Consolidator Grant: Taking turns - The 'missing' link in language evolution?
The emergence and development of communication and the special significance of gestures are at the heart of Prof. Dr. Simone Pika's ERC Consolidator Grant project. The focus is on the development and evolution of communicative interplay, turn-taking. In particular, the development of infants, primates and corvids will be examined. In addition, the influence of ecology, social structure and endocrinological profile on communication will be investigated. The turn-taking system can be understood as a unique feature of human communication. At the same time, it can also be understood as an evolutionary link between animal and human communication: a "missing link".