Successful Development of the Research Alliance Ruhr: 27 Professors Already Appointed

Picture: collage of campus images of the three UA Ruhr universities © TUDo/RUB/UDE - Arne Rensing

The four Research Centers and the College of the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr) form a new research hub in the science metropolis of the Ruhr region. Twenty-seven top international researchers have already opted for a future in the UA Ruhr and thus at one of the three partner universities, Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund University or the University of Duisburg-Essen. In total, more than 50 new research professorships will be created within the centers and the college.

Since 2022, the University Alliance Ruhr has been expanding its cutting-edge international research in the centers and the college under the umbrella of the Research Alliance Ruhr. Two renowned Humboldt Professors are among the high-profile researchers who have accepted the call to the heart of the Ruhr region: Prof. Dr. Edvardas Narevicius and Prof. Dr. Dana Branzei. Prof. Dr. Narevicius has already moved from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel to the Research Center Chemical Sciences and Sustainability as Humboldt Professor for Ultracold Reactions in 2022. Prof. Dr. Branzei will join the Research Center One Health Ruhr as Humboldt Professor for Biological and Genomic Treatment Approaches in April 2025. Until then, she will be working as a scientist at the AIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan.

The decisive criteria for appointing the more than 50 new professorships under the umbrella of the UA Ruhr are proven academic excellence and the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration. The professors are employed at one of the three universities, so that the newly appointed professors also strengthen the faculty of their respective subject area. Of the professorships confirmed so far, 13 are based at Ruhr University Bochum, seven at the University of Duisburg-Essen and six at TU Dortmund University. A further research professorship has also been divided proportionally between the universities in Dortmund and Duisburg-Essen.

Program brings excellent academics to the Ruhr region

The College for Social Sciences and Humanities also successfully launched an international Senior Fellowship Program in 2023; the second cohort of researchers is currently visiting. The fellowship program offers excellent international researchers from the social sciences and humanities the opportunity to pursue an independent research project and collaborate with tandem partners from the University Alliance Ruhr as part of a six-month fellowship.

The innovative structure within the UA Ruhr has taken the cooperation between Ruhr University Bochum, TU Dortmund University and the University of Duisburg-Essen, which has existed since 2007, to a new level. This is based on the decision to form centers of excellence beyond faculty boundaries and to bring internationally established researchers and rising stars to the Ruhr region. This opens up ideal career opportunities for excellent academics from all over the world. The UA Ruhr provides optimal conditions such as competitive equipment, academic staff and reduced teaching commitments.

The Research Alliance Ruhr was initiated by the Ruhr Conference of the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia and is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science.

Overview of the newly appointed professors of the Research Alliance Ruhr

Research Center One Health Ruhr - from Molecules to Systems

• Prof. Dr. Helen Blank, Predictive Cognition, previously: University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)
• Prof. Dr. Dana Branzei, Humboldt Professor for Biological and Genomic Treatment Approaches, AIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Milan (start: April 2025)
• Dr. Amelie Heuer-Jungemann, Hybrid Bionanosystems, MPI of Biochemistry (start: January 2025)
• Prof. Dr. Lucia Melloni, Predictive Brain, previously: MPI for Empirical Aesthetics
• Prof. Dr. Alexander Probst, Environmental Metagenomics    
• Prof. Dr. Ralf Schäfer, Ecotoxicology, previously: Rhineland-Palatinate University of Technology Kaiserslautern-Landau
• Prof. Dr. Dirk Scheele, Social Cognitive Neuroscience
• Prof. Dr. Caspar Schwiedrzik, Cognitive Neurobiology, previously: MPI for Multidisciplinary Natural Sciences
• Prof. Dr. Kathrin Thedieck, Metabolism, Senescene & Autophagy, previously: University of Innsbruck

Research Center Chemical Sciences and Sustainability

• Prof. Dr. Jörg Behler, Theoretical Chemistry II, previously: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Prof. Dr. Simon Ebbinghaus, Biophysical Chemistry, previously: Technical University of Braunschweig
• Prof. Dr. Edvardas Narevicius, Humboldt Professor for Ultracold Reactions, previously: Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
• Prof. Dr. Clara Saraceno, Photonics and Ultrafast Laser Science
• Prof. Dr. Igor Schapiro, Theoretical Biophysics, previously: Fritz Haber Center for Molecular Dynamics, Israel
• Prof. Dr. Xijie Wang, Ultrafast Electron Diffraction, previously: Stanford University, USA

Research Center Trustworthy Data Science and Security

• Prof. Dr. Ivan Habernal, Fairness and Transparency, previously: University of Paderborn  
• Prof. Dr. Nils Köbis, Human Understanding of Machines and Algorithms, previously: MPI for Human Development
• Prof. Dr. Alexander Marx, Causality, previously: ETH Zurich
• Prof. Dr. Daniel Neider, Verification and Formal Guarantees of Machine Learning, previously: MPI for Software Systems    
• Prof. Dr. Jatinder Singh, Compliant and Accountable Systems, previously: University of Cambridge
• Prof. Dr. Muhammad Bilal Zafar, Computing and Society, previously: MPI for Software Systems and Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems

• Prof. Dr. Silvana Botti, Computational Design of Functional Interfaces, previously: Friedrich Schiller University Jena
• Prof. Dr. Anna Isaeva, Quantum Materials, previously: University of Amsterdam
• Prof. Dr. Christian Liebscher, Advanced Transmission Electron Microscopy, previously: MPI for Sustainable Materials
• Prof. Dr. Miguel A. L. Marques, Artificial Intelligence for Integrated Materials Science, previously: Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
• Prof. Dr. Gabi Schierning, Applied Quantum Materials, previously: Bielefeld University

College for Social Sciences and Humanities

• Prof. Dr. Tahani Nadim, Curating Digital Objects of Cultural Knowledge and Memory, previously: Humboldt University of Berlin

Article form University Alliance Ruhr