Bremen and Oldenburg: On the way to becoming a university of excellence – 28 million euros in sight!

Bremen and Oldenburg: On the way to becoming a university of excellence – 28 million euros in sight!

On June 27, 2025, the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg submitted an important declaration of intent to the Science Council. The aim of this initiative is to receive funding from the federal and state governments as part of the excellence strategy. The application must be prepared and submitted in detail by November 12, 2025, which means an intensive amount of work for the rectories. If the application is successful, the universities will receive annual funding of between 15 and 28 million euros from 2027. The decision on the application will be made in October 2026, so everyone involved is sitting on hot coals.

In order to qualify as a university of excellence, at least three clusters of excellence must be approved. Bremen and Oldenburg have already taken a big step here: on May 22, 2025, they received approval for four clusters of excellence. This includes innovative research projects that deal with the areas of hearing research, materials and production research, animal navigation research and marine research.

Strong commitment from universities

Among the people involved are the rectors Prof. Jutta Günther from the University of Bremen and Prof. Dr. Ralph Bruder from the University of Oldenburg, as well as Science Minister Falko Mohrs and Senator Kathrin Moosdorf. Prof. Dr. Ralph Bruder emphasizes that the cooperation between the universities is constantly developing and that both institutions have been closely linked for decades. The joint excellence network is also supported by Lower Saxony, which further strengthens regional cooperation.

Another step in the right direction is the founding of the “Northwest Alliance” at the beginning of this year. This is intended to establish a common research and transfer area and further expand the synergy effects of the two universities.

Innovative clusters of excellence in focus

The clusters of excellence that will be funded from January 1, 2026 are extremely interesting projects. The NaviSense cluster, led by Prof. Dr. Henrik Mouritsen, is committed to the interdisciplinary understanding of the mechanisms of animal navigation. Among other things, research is carried out into how birds use their magnetic sense, which may be based on a quantum effect. The knowledge gained should not only expand knowledge about animal navigation, but also provide decisive impulses for nature conservation and ecology. In addition, the development of bio-inspired technical systems, such as sensors and autonomous devices, could benefit from this research, as uol.de explains.

The other clusters of excellence deal with the topics of materials and production research, hearing research and marine research - all areas that are of great importance in our modern world.

The Excellence Strategy, which was initiated by the federal and state governments, provides 208 million euros annually to support universities of excellence, which represents a significant increase of 60 million euros compared to the previous funding phase. By 2027, up to 15 universities of excellence can benefit from this support, as the German Research Foundation (DFG) explains (dfg.de).

Overall, this collaboration between the universities of Bremen and Oldenburg not only promises new scientific findings, but also a significant contribution to the regional and national research landscape. As we can see, a dynamic development is taking place here. So it is said not only in science, but also in the region: There is something going on!