Goethe University Frankfurt enters “Excellence Strategy”
Goethe University Frankfurt is applying with four new clusters on the research topics “Confidence in Conflict” (CONTRUST), “Infection and Inflammation” (EMTHERA), “Origin of Heavy Elements” (ELEMENTS) and “Cellular Architectures” (SCALE) for the upcoming round of the German federal and state governments’ Excellence Strategy. The applications combine the competencies and future-oriented ideas of Goethe University with those of colleagues from the strategic Rhine-Main Universities (RMU) Alliance and other non-university partners from the four major non-university research organizations. The Cardio-Pulmonary Institute (CPI) Cluster of Excellence, in existence since 2019, will submit a full proposal directly next year.
Goethe University President Prof. Dr. Enrico Schleiff is looking forward to the Excellence Competition: “We are entering the competition for funding as Clusters of Excellence with four new, outstanding and extremely exciting projects, alongside our existing, unique cluster. The projects, which emanate from all research areas at Goethe University, address burning research issues like how we handle conflicts in our society and create trust in these difficult times. We are also working on a fundamentally new understanding of the structure-function relationship of cells that describes their diverse functions. In addition, we are developing new, knowledge-based approaches to treat diseases of the cardiovascular system and the lungs, or for complex diseases in which our immune system goes off the rails. And we will answer the question of how stardust is formed.”
Schleiff emphasizes the importance of the Rhine-Main Universities Alliance in the research clusters’ conception: “We form an integrated science region in the Rhine-Main area, bringing together Goethe University Frankfurt, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and Technical University Darmstadt with numerous first-class non-university institutes and companies specialized in research. Although this science region extends only over a very small area, it possesses an expertise unique in Germany and makes it globally visible. Combining our strengths allows us to proliferate on the Excellence Initiative, and the applications would not have been possible without these partnerships.”
All five clusters constitute supporting pillars of Goethe University’s research profile and were developed with the university’s overall strategy closely in mind. The four new clusters developed draft proposals as part of a quality-driven selection process led by the Executive Board and accompanied by a Goethe University-appointed International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB). The draft proposals have now been submitted to the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) and will be reviewed by expert panels in the coming months before the clusters will be allowed to submit full proposals next year. Following a two-stage evaluation process, funding as a Cluster of Excellence will begin in 2026.
CONTRUST: Trust in Conflict – Political Life under Conditions of Uncertainty. Although conflicts are unavoidable in social contexts, coexistence still works. Trust plays an important role in this respect. It provides us with the certainty that disputes will not escalate, that the respective counterpart will abide by rules, that institutions will safeguard us against transgressions, and that the social world as a whole is so stable that we can meaningfully orient our actions within it. CONTRUST researchers are investigating how this trust is formed and where its origins lie. Prof. Luciano Rezzolla, spokesperson of the ELEMENTS cluster, wishes his colleagues in CONTRUST every success in the competition: “How trust can be maintained or created in conflict is a fundamental question of our multifaceted societies and political systems. I am pleased that some of the most brilliant scholars in this research field will find answers to these questions within CONTRUST.”
EMTHERA: Emerging Therapeutics. Infectious and inflammatory diseases and immune system disorders affecting the entire human body constitute some of the greatest medical challenges to global health. Since the processes are not well understood scientifically, a large number of treatments fail. EMTHERA is looking for new approaches to study these diseases and develop novel therapies. To this end, the scientists are focusing on mRNA-based delivery systems, agents that specifically degrade disease-relevant proteins, as well as computational and nanotechnological applications. Prof. Inga Hänelt, SCALE cluster spokesperson, emphasizes EMTHERA’s importance as a translational cluster: “EMTHERA is a collaboration within the Rhine-Main Universities Alliance and another lighthouse project that closely links basic research into the molecular relationships of disease development with the development of novel therapies.”