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Dynamics of Religion


Supervisor

Prof. Christian Wiese

Email: c.wiese@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Phone: +49-69-798-33313

Co-Supervisor
Prof. Birgit Emich

Email: emich@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Phone: +49-69-798-32594

Department: 
Protestant Theology (FB 06)
History and Philosophy (FB 08)

Institute:
Martin Buber Chair
Frankfurt-Tel Aviv Center
Research project “Dynamics of Religion"

DynRel Website


The research program focuses on interdisciplinary and interreligious explorations of the – dialogical or conflictual – reciprocal relations and perceptions between the three monotheistic religions "Judaism," "Christianity" and "Islam" (and between them via the increasingly secular constellations of modern and present-day plural societies) in historical and contemporary global contexts.

The project aims to systematically investigate the multifaceted forms of interdisciplinary and interreligious religious research disciplines in the field of research on religion, historical conditions, religious-cultural constellations, and philosophical-theological implications of mutual religious understanding processes.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam have always been challenged in their self-understanding by the existence of the respective "neighboring religions" and have been forced to distance themselves from them.

However, they stood (and stay) – as closely interwoven traditions – in constant conscious or unconscious conversation about the respective understandings of God, anthropological concepts, concepts of law and morality, concepts of rationality, hermeneutic and liturgical practices, eschatological expectations, or aesthetic expressions.

The history of the complex dynamics of interconnectedness, translation, cultural contact and exchange, but also of coexistence and separation, tolerance and conflict, is one of the essential factors that determined their perceptions of each other. 

The research project “Dynamics of Religion" welcomes projects of students from different disciplines (theology, history, philosophy, religious studies, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, e.g.) that can identify with this research outline and could fruitfully connect and participate in our research group!

GREP Intake:

Summer: April/May-September (latest)
Winter: October-March (latest)

Pre-requisites for the project:

German language skills would be an advantage, however are not mandatory.

ELEMENTS


Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Luciano Rezzolla

Department: Institute for Theoretical Physics

Email: rezzolla@itp.uni-frankfurt.de
Phone: 0049-(0)69-79847871-47879


ELEMENTS website

The Hessian Research Cluster “ELEMENTS Exploring the Universe from Microscopic to Macroscopic Scales“, which is funded by the HMWK (2021-2025), brings together world-leading scientists from distinct fields of research – the physics of particles and nuclei, the gravitational physics of neutron stars, and the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements – to combine the microscopical scales of elementary particles with the macroscopical scales of astrophysical objects.


The ultimate goal is to address the question of the origin of the heavy chemical elements, such as gold and platinum, in our universe. The Cluster consists of 4 Working Areas, with distinct, but interconnected research foci:


Working Area 1 is dedicated to the understanding of matter at the largest temperatures and densities via calculations from quantum chromodynamics, gravitational waves, astronomical observations and experiments.


Working Area 2 is dedicated to the study of neutron-star mergers by simulations, that serve to obtain accurate predictions of gravitational wave signals and of ttheir electromagnetic counterparts.


Working Area 3 studies the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements, by providing new theoretical and experimental constraints on the fission cycle, known as the r-process, which is believed to play a key role in the heavy elements nucleosnythesis in neutron-star mergers.


Working Area 4 the focus lies on the study of electromagnetic signals from compact stars. In particular, abundances of heavy elements and kilonova light-curves from simulations and experiments are compared with those obtained from observations.


The participating institutions in ELEMENTS are the GU Frankfurt, the TU Darmstadt, the Justus Liebig University in Gießen and the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt.

GREP Intake:

Summer: April/May-September (latest)
Winter: October-March (latest)

Pre-requisites for the project:

Not specified.

EMTHERA


Contact

Project Office

Dr. Laura Spindler 

Email: emthera@uni-frankfurt.de

Institute:

Institute of Biochemistry II
University Hospital Frankfurt


EMTHERA website


Advances in biomedical sciences, technologies and systems approaches have created powerful tools that enable a more holistic picture of a disease state and provide better tailored treatments to a large number of patients.

Despite these achievements, significant global health challenges remain, and the current pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 bears bitter witness to the vulnerability of health care systems. Among the most critical unresolved medical challenges are infectious and inflammatory diseases, with complex overarching patterns in the human body, which are not well understood and create not only a significant scientific gap, but also result in a huge number of therapy failures and thus patients´ lives.

Recent successes in using mRNA- based delivery methods, the dawn of a new era for proximity-inducing technologies, as well as use of advances in computational and nanotechnology applications provide toolboxes for basic research and at the same time novel opportunities for tackling unresolved medical needs.


Research and development into these scientific approaches at Goethe University Frankfurt and Gutenberg University Mainz have reached a critical stage that makes it ideal to complementarily combine our efforts in a joint initiative named EMTHERA - Emerging Therapeutics.


This research cluster will bring together interdisciplinary basic and clinical scientists to break frontiers by


(i) understanding common/unique causes for infectious and inflammation- and immunity-based disease development,


(ii) defining appropriate therapeutic targets,


(iii) utilizing novel tools to study and develop emerging strategies and new classes of therapeutics for infection, inflammation and impaired immune mechanisms.

GREP Intake:

Summer: April/May-September (latest)
Winter: October-March (latest)

Pre-requisites for the project:

Please check with the EMTHERA project office for any pre-requisites.

RobustNature


Contact


Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Henner Hollert

Department:
Evolutionary Ecology & Environmental Toxicology

Institute of Ecology, Diversity and Evolution

Email: hollert@bio.uni-frankfurt.de
Phone: +49 (0)69 798 42171

Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Ernst Stelzer 

Department:
Physical Biology and Advanced Light Microscopy

Institute of Cell Biology and Neuroscience

Email: stelzer@bio.uni-frankfurt.de
Phone: +49 (0)69 798 42547

Coordinator

Dr. Sarah Johann

Department:
Evolutionary Ecology & Environmental Toxicology

Institute of Ecology, Diversity and Evolution

Email: johann@bio.uni-frankfurt.de
Phone: +49 (0)69 798 42243


RobustNature website


We found a significant deficiency in the interdisciplinary approach to basic and transformational research concerning the interrelated impacts of environmental pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change.

Despite the substantial amount of research on chemical pollution over the last few decades, it has mostly remained within the domain of ecotoxicology, with little effect on broader ecological fields. Furthermore, there is a lack of social-ecological and social science research addressing the strong interdependence between societies and synthetic chemicals, as well as transformation paths.

Due to the complexity and global nature of this environmental issue, it requires integrated, cross-border research and solution strategies. On the one hand, there is a shortage of research in accurately measuring the effects of new factors on biodiversity and ecosystems. On the other hand, human-caused factors, and potential levers for transformation, such as strategic action fields, relevant actors, and political and economic governance options, need to be examined. 

The RobustNature consortium aims to address the research gaps by providing a comprehensive platform for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research.

The goal is to facilitate societal transformation by examining the safe and equitable operating space for new entities, accounting for both the ecological ceiling and the social foundation. This will be accomplished by combining research on novel entities, the resilience of organisms and ecosystems, and the related social activities, needs, and drivers of change.

Considering this, the consortium has developed the following core research question to guide its work: How do environmental pollution, climate change, and land use change interact to impact biodiversity, ecosystem health, and human well-being, and which societal drivers and transformation levers are involved?

GREP Intake:

Summer: April/May-September (latest)
Winter: October-March (latest)

Pre-requisites for the project:

Basic skills in one or more of the following fields: biology, social ecology, water research, ecotoxicology, environmental chemistry, biodiversity.

Contact

Lisa Pfeiffer
Programme Administration 

Phone +49 (0)69 798 15098
E-Mail: grep@uni-frankfurt.de