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Newsletter of the Rectorate - April 2026

Dear members of Ruhr University Bochum,

Truth Matters: Under this motto, we will host a global forum and festival this summer semester that emphasizes the crucial role of universities in promoting academic freedom, human rights and democratic values. The aim is to develop and share strategies that all of us - students, researchers, technical and administrative staff - can use to defend our values in an increasingly fragmented and volatile world. At the start of the lecture period, we are therefore looking ahead to a highlight of the coming weeks. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Scholars at Risk Network and the 10th anniversary of "University Without Borders" at Ruhr University Bochum, "Truth Matters" will take place from June 9 to 11. You can find more information here.

Dates in the summer semester that you should make a note of are: after the successful premiere last year, a small campus celebration organized by the AStA at the Nordforum (3 June), the information day for prospective students "Inside Bochum" (11 June), the summer festival of the Botanical Garden on the occasion of its 55th birthday (21 June) and the semester concert in the Audimax with the presentation of the university prizes for outstanding scientific work (12 July).

In the meantime, the final touches are being put to the new university development plan, which we will be publishing shortly. In it, we summarize our claim, which is also our mission: Built to change! Our university was built to shape change, and that is exactly what we are doing in our central fields of action: from the Ruhr University Bochum community on our campus to the partnership in the University Alliance Ruhr with Dortmund and Duisburg-Essen to digitality - we create sustainability, promote talent, push the transfer to the economy and network at all levels, locally and globally. When the University Development Plan, HEP for short, is available, we will provide campus-wide information about it.

For now, we wish you a good start to the lecture period and a successful summer semester 2026!

Read more in this issue:

Democracy Action Fund

In the summer semester 2026, we are supporting activities to strengthen democracy and academic freedom with the Democracy Action Fund. The aim is to strengthen democratic discourse on campus, create spaces for exchange and reflection and make commitment to an open and pluralistic university culture visible. Applications are now open. Further information

Partnership for sport

Together with the city and other partners such as AKAFÖ and Bochum Marketing, we are committed to promoting sport in Bochum. A successful example of this was the FISU World University Games last year. In the future, we intend to work together in other areas of sport such as national competition and international elite sport as well as popular and inclusive sport. To this end, we signed the "Partnership for Sport" declaration of intent with the city of Bochum at the beginning of April. The joint exhibition entitled "Excellence in Motion" can be seen in the A_Kaffee in the Mensa foyer until the end of May. Further information

RESOLV Cluster of Excellence and Research Center take off

Science Minister Ina Brandes has officially opened the Research Center Chemical Sciences and Sustainability at UAR. At the same time, RESOLV (Ruhr Explores Solvation) - the only Cluster of Excellence in the field of chemistry - celebrated the start of its third funding period. Members of RESOLV - a joint cluster with TU Dortmund University - have received over 200 prizes and awards to date. The funding for the period from 2026 to 2032 amounts to a total of 43 million euros. In both initiatives, top international researchers are strengthening the existing research excellence on site and working on solutions for the chemistry of tomorrow - from environmentally friendly chemical processes to innovative approaches to the production of chemicals and medicines. Further information

Cooperation with Latin American universities

As a partner in the University Alliance Ruhr, we have strengthened our cooperation with Latin American universities with a cooperation agreement. The Liaison Office is based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and aims to expand existing research partnerships and develop new ones, promote the mobility of students and researchers and increase the visibility of the University Alliance Ruhr in Latin America. Further information

UNIC Alliance networks researchers in the Ruhr University Bochum Makerspace

Researchers and employees from research funding and management from all ten UNIC partner universities met for the first time. New contacts were made and joint ideas for future projects were developed in the Ruhr University Bochum Makerspace. The participants from the ten UNIC partner universities, including Ruhr University Bochum, used the three-day meeting to network their expertise, identify joint research topics and initiate new collaborations. Further information

High honor for Gregor Leander

It is one of the highest honors in the field of cryptology. Gregor Leander, Professor of Symmetric Cryptography at the Faculty of Computer Science at Ruhr University Bochum and Principal Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence CASA, has been elected Fellow of the International Association of Cryptologic Research (IACR). The Fellow program is awarded each year to only 0.25 percent of the 2,500 IACR members and recognizes outstanding research. Congratulations! Further information

Youth research in the school lab

This year's state competition of Jugend forscht took place in our laboratory. 76 participants aged between 15 and 21 presented a total of 47 projects to the jury members in the Alfried Krupp School Science Laboratory. The jury selected the winners in the fields of the world of work, biology, chemistry, earth and space sciences, mathematics/computer science, physics and technology. A special prize was awarded by the RESOLV Cluster of Excellence. We would like to congratulate the young researchers and keep our fingers crossed for the national competition in May. Further information

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Last but not least ..

... we would like to thank 160 donors, whose active support raised a total of 27,000 euros. The reason for the campaign was a call for help from our Ukrainian partner university, the Taras Shevchenko State University in the capital Kyiv. Further information

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