National Relations
Table of Contents
Regional and national networking – National relations
Forschungszentrum Jülich collaborates with a number of national universities and institutions. There is a particularly close connection with the Rhineland regional universities Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Jülich (ABCD-J) resulting from joint professorial appointments and training of young scientists, as well as active scientific exchange in projects and alliances.
Collaboration with national universities and institutions enhances scientific work. Infrastructures and expertise can be used in synergy with other institutions to work together to find answers to the urgent issues society faces.
National university collaborations
Cooperation with universities is essential for Forschungszentrum Jülich and can be established on several different bases. The instruments of collaboration are varied and differ in their binding nature, degree of structure, duration, effectiveness, and visibility. Joint professorial appointments and joint support for young scientists are fundamental features of such collaboration. Both general and thematically focused collaborations are established in a binding manner with cooperation framework agreements and they form another basis for long-term interactions and the joint development of topics. In addition, cooperation can develop through collaborative projects or networks. Forschungszentrum Jülich is involved in various different collaborations with universities all over Germany. The Rhineland universities in Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, and Düsseldorf are particularly important.
Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA) – Focusing Expertise – Shaping the Future
For Forschungszentrum Jülich, the Jülich Aachen Research Alliance is a particularly important collaboration. In 2007, the first Excellence Initiative by the German federal and state governments provided the opportunity to consolidate the existing collaboration between RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich in the JARA agreement. This enabled the two partners to create a model of cooperation that was unique at the time. In JARA, RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich pool their expertise without rescinding their own autonomy.
Both partners combine their strengths in strategic, complementary research fields and create a world-class scientific environment that attracts the very best scientists. At the same time, JARA opens up new research opportunities and facilitates projects that would not be attainable for either of the partners on their own.
The scientists from Aachen and Jülich currently work together and conduct research on the major challenges facing society in five sections and one JARA Center:
- brain research (JARA-BRAIN)
- sustainable energy (JARA-ENERGY)
- particle physics and antimatter (JARA-FAME)
- information technologies of the future (JARA-FIT)
- soft matter research (JARA-SOFT)
- JARA Center for Simulation and Data Science (JARA-CSD)
JARA has always continued to develop over the years and as such has become a model and blueprint for other collaborations between universities and non-university research institutions.
Since 2016, four JARA institutes have complemented and consolidated research within the JARA sections. JARA institutes are located in both Aachen and Jülich and are headed collegially by JARA professors, who are appointed at both institutions.
In 2018, the activities of the JARA-HPC section were combined with the AICES graduate school, the Center for Computational Engineering Science (CCES), and the profile area Computational Science & Engineering (CompSE) in the JARA Center for Simulation and Data Science to create a unique, internationally visible competence centre.
Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA)
University of Bonn (FWU)
The University of Bonn is one of the Universities of Excellence in North Rhine-Westphalia. In the Excellence Strategy in 2018, the university impressed with its four own Clusters of Excellence and two more in which it participates. Forschungszentrum Jülich is also involved in Bonn’s Cluster of Excellence “PhenoRob”. The joint research in the cluster is based on a long-standing cooperation between the two partners.
In 2007, the University of Bonn and Forschungszentrum Jülich consolidated their collaboration in a cooperation agreement with a focus on supercomputing, genomic imaging, environment, agriculture, and horticulture. Thanks to the university’s outstanding expertise in environmental research and the joint initiative within the Bioeconomy Science Center (BioSC) and Geoverbund ABC/J, collaboration is now increasingly focusing on the research fields of bioeconomy and terrestrial systems research.
In the latest project, “Center for Earth System Observation and Computational Analysis” (CESOC), the University of Bonn, the University of Cologne, and Forschungszentrum Jülich join forces in the fields of Earth system observation and computational analysis. The purpose in the centre is to conduct global observations of the Earth system, so as to make better climate and weather forecasts possible. This involves analysing components such as atmosphere, oceans, ice, soil, vegetation, and humans as well as their interactions.
University of Bonn
Press release on CESOC
Center of Earth System Observation and Computing Analysis (CESOC)
Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf (HHU)
The expertise of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in the life and natural sciences is reflected in its long-standing collaboration with Forschungszentrum Jülich. In addition to many joint professorial appointments and joint participation in the Bioeconomy Science Center (BioSC), the two partners have been working together and conducting research together since 2011 as part of a cooperation agreement. The cooperation focuses particularly on medical imaging, brain research, medical physics, laser and plasma physics, biotechnology, structural biology and biophysics, as well as energy and climate.
Together, they obtained approval for the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS) in 2018. CEPLAS integrates the resources of the Universities of Düsseldorf and Cologne, the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ), and Forschungszentrum Jülich into an internationally leading plant science centre.
Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf
University of Cologne - Research Alliance Cologne
An intensive scientific collaboration has connected Forschungszentrum Jülich with the University of Cologne for many years.
The first thematic framework agreement between the University of Cologne and Forschungszentrum Jülich dates back to 2010. The agreement was related to joint usage of large-scale scientific facilities. This collaboration expanded a year later with the addition of a framework agreement on “functional materials”. In 2012, more priorities in the areas of neuroscience and atmospheric research were added.
In the Excellence Strategy in 2018, the University of Cologne celebrated successes with the “ML4Q – Material and Light for Quantum Computing” cluster and three other Clusters of Excellence in which it was involved. The cluster is an association of the University of Cologne, the University of Bonn, RWTH Aachen University, and Forschungszentrum Jülich. Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, the Fraunhofer Institute for Laster Technology (ILT) in Aachen, and the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques (FHR) in Wachtberg are partner institutions.
The two partners also cemented their cooperation in 2018. A framework agreement governs cooperation and provides opportunities for it to be expanded further. Its thematic priorities since then have been primarily in geosciences (particularly climate, atmospheric, and Earth system research), physics (quantum computing/quantum materials), life sciences (neuroscience and nuclear medicine), data science (high-performance computing and big data), and energy research (particularly systems research and energy law).
University of Münster (WWU) and Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
Alongside the universities located in the Rhineland, the universities in Münster and Erlangen-Nuremberg are important partners. The collaboration has achieved a high degree of institutionalization through the foundation of the Helmholtz institutes, mainly covering materials development in battery research and research into renewable energy.
The establishment of the Helmholtz institutes “Ionics in Energy Storage” and the “Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy” demonstrates the great relevance of these research issues for the partner institutions and shows that the breadth of the energy science topics also necessitates more versatile cooperation, in which expertise in holistic approaches to the energy transition as well as individual fundamental research findings and their effect on the energy system can only be put to comprehensive use by a large number of different locations.
Helmholtz Institute Münster „Ionics in Energy Storage“ (HI MS)
Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN)
Clusters of Excellence involving Jülich
The allocation and funding of the Clusters of Excellence in September 2018 ended the first phase of the Excellence Strategy, which had begun two years earlier with the call for proposals issued by the German Research Foundation. With the Excellence Strategy, the federal and state governments aim to bolster cutting-edge research at universities. Funding is available for Clusters of Excellence in specific research fields and Universities of Excellence as strategic support for outstanding university locations. Out of the 195 funding proposals for Clusters of Excellence that were submitted, 88 projects were invited to submit full proposals. Following extensive assessment, 57 Clusters of Excellence were selected for funding.
Forschungszentrum Jülich is a strong partner of the respective universities in four of these clusters:
- Cluster of Excellence for Plant Sciences (CEPLAS) – SMART Plants for Tomorrow’s Needs
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf/University of Cologne
The Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences has been conducting research since 2012. Its focus is on developing optimized crops to meet the demand for food of a growing global population in the face of climate change and its consequences.
CEPLAS - Fuel Science Center – Adaptive Conversion Systems for Renewable Energy and Carbon Sources (FSC)
RWTH Aachen University
This new Cluster of Excellence aims to generate new insights and scientific methods to replace engine combustion of fossil fuels with adaptive production and drive systems based on renewable energy sources and alternative carbon sources under dynamic boundary conditions.
Fuel Science Center - Material and Light for Quantum Computing (ML4Q)
University of Cologne/RWTH Aachen University/University of Bonn
Quantum information processing promises capabilities such as physical security against interception in communications and drastic increases in computer performance that cannot be achieved with traditional approaches. The Cluster of Excellence pursues the goal of creating new computer and network architectures based on the principles of quantum mechanics.
ML4Q - PhenoRob – Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production
University of Bonn
One of the major challenges is to increase plant production despite limited arable land while reducing the ecological consequences at the same time. In the cluster “PhenoRob – Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production”, scientists work on methods and new technologies to observe, analyse, and treat plants with precision. This involves monitoring fields both from the air and from the ground. Computers process these sensor data so that robots can automatically locate and treat individual plants. This will help to gain new insights into plant growth and to avoid the use of chemicals.
PhenoRob
Selected graduate schools involving Jülich
HITEC Graduate School for Energy and Climate
Helmholtz Interdisciplinary Doctoral Training in Energy and Climate Research (HITEC) is a graduate school of Forschungszentrum Jülich and five partner universities in Aachen, Bochum, Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Wuppertal focusing on energy and climate research. The aim of the graduate school is to provide doctoral researchers with the expertise and the methodological and communication skills necessary for scientific work on the highest international level. Furthermore, well-founded interdisciplinary know-how will be imparted on the scientific, technical, and social dimensions of the topic of energy and climate, such as the complex relations between the energy supply and its impact on climate change.
HITEC
International Helmholtz Research School of Biophysics and Soft Matter (IHRS BioSoft)
The International Helmholtz Research School of Biophysics and Soft Matter (IHRS BioSoft) was established at Forschungszentrum Jülich and is run in collaboration with the University of Cologne, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, RWTH Aachen University, and the University of Bonn. The school belongs to the Helmholtz research schools, the Helmholtz graduate schools, and the Albert Magnus Graduate Center (AMGC). A total of 16 groups with research priorities in soft matter, biophysics, optical spectroscopy and imaging, bioelectronics, biomechanics, and structural biology actively contribute to teaching and research.
The graduate school offers doctoral researchers the chance to receive additional support and training opportunities that go beyond the work in their own groups. In addition IHRS BioSoft offers an annual visiting student programme for master’s students.
IHRS BioSoft
Further Links
Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA)
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelm-University Bonn
Press release on CESOC
Center of Earth System Observation and Computing Analysis (CESOC)
Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf
University of Cologne
Helmholtz Institute Münster „Ionics in Energy Storage“ (HI MS)
Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN)
CEPLAS
Fuel Science Center
ML4Q
PhenoRob
HITEC
IHRS BioSoft
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