University president Professor Birgitt Riegraf looks back at six years in the post at the traditional New Year’s reception
Paderborn University celebrated its traditional New Year’s reception on Sunday 21 January with the University Orchestra, an awards ceremony and around 400 guests from the worlds of science, business and politics. During her speech in the auditorium, Professor Birgitt Riegraf looked back over the past year and took advantage of the opportunity to review her term of office as university president: ‘We have achieved a lot and set many things in motion together. We have strengthened research and teaching at Paderborn University, given it a stronger network and visibility on a regional level, and laid the foundations to ensure that this development continues in the future. In many ways, our university is perhaps the best it has ever been. I can now only encourage you to work together to continue this success story for the future.’
The federal and state governments’ excellence competition represents one way to demonstrate the university’s top-level research. A decision will be made regarding the Paderborn excellence cluster applications ‘Computing Quantum Systems’ and ‘Co-Constructing Embodied Understanding and Skills between Humans and Robots’ at the beginning of February, determining if the university is permitted to submit full applications. Riegraf emphasised that developing the university's status and visibility as a hub of excellent research requires the right framework conditions and support structures. Given this, it was fantastic that third-party funding in 2023 saw another increase compared with the previous to a total of 65.5 million, and that each of the five faculties was able to run a major German Research Foundation (DFG) joint project. Another cause for celebration was the approval granted to the university's application to join the EU’s European university alliance ‘COLOURS’.
International reach and local rooting
‘International reach in broad, top-level research goes hand in hand with a local rooting. In recent years, we have been strategically developing the university’s transfer structures to ensure that university research intermeshes as effectively as possible with non-university stakeholders’, Riegraf explained. One example of this is the Start-up Campus.OWL, which will offer a new, approximately 7,000 m² home for the start-up scene in Ostwestfalen-Lippe from 15 February of this year.
Another fantastic event was the topping-out ceremony for the PhoQS Lab in November. Following the symbolic groundbreaking in March 2022, the university celebrated this milestone with various guests. A total of four floors will host researchers from the fields of physics, computer science, electrical engineering and mathematics. The two mobility projects RailCampus OWL and NeMo.bil also received millions in funding. In addition, the university recently opened the KreativInstitut.OWL in conjunction with HfM Detmold and the OWL University of Applied Sciences and Arts. This institution links up the creative industry with various scientific disciplines.
Sustainability as a key requirement for now and the future
Riegraf cited the ‘UPB for the Future’ lecture series, held in the winter semester and examining perspectives on the topic of sustainability, as an example of a collaboration between researchers from all faculties at Paderborn University. October also saw the launch of the Paderborn Research Center for Sustainable Economy (PARSEC), which tackles the social, environmental and cultural phenomena of sustainability. ‘Given global warming and the scarcity of resources, Paderborn University is also facing significant challenges that we will have to overcome to an increasing extent, both now and in the future’, the president emphasised. The Sustainability Office established last year now serves as a coordination point to pool existing activities. Furthermore, the SAIL (‘SustAInable Life-cycle of Intelligent Socio-Technical Systems’) research network began operating in March, with scientists conducting interdisciplinary research into how AI systems can work in a sustainable, transparent, secure and resource-efficient way for the long term.
Socially just climate protection in times of crisis
Professor Anita Engels also focused on the topic of sustainability in her ceremonial address. Dr. Engels, Professor for Sociology, especially Globalisation, Environment and Society at the University of Hamburg and member of the Hamburg panel on climate change, spoke about socially fair climate protection in times of crisis: According to Engels, there are many indications that the Paris climate targets will not be met by 2024. Although current technologies have great potential, they cannot suffice on their own and must be accompanied by social transformations. Engels pointed out that wealthier people cause significantly more emissions and costs on average, while financially weaker people suffer more from the consequences of climate change. A fairer distribution of costs, benefits and responsibility is necessary for socially just climate protection. In addition, awareness of climate protection must be raised throughout the population. According to the sociologist, universities could also play an empowering role here and have an impact on society through teaching, research and transfer.
Awards and prizes
In addition, the ceremony was used as an opportunity to honour Paderborn scientists and students for their excellent achievements. The Research Award, the most highly endowed prize awarded by Paderborn University, went to Professor Claus Reinsberger, neurologist and head of the Department of Sports Medicine, and Dr.-Ing. Tanuj Hasija of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology. TThe researchers have developed an innovative system for a device worn on the wrist (a ‘wearable’) that predicts epileptic seizures in real time.
The New Year's reception was compered by Ulrich Lettermann from the Department of Music. The University Orchestra, conducted by Steffen Schiel, delighted the audience with music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven.
