---

---

01.12.2017 11:50

Double success for the University of Bremen

Kristina Logemann Pressestelle
Universität Bremen

A new Collaborative Research Center approved, another one extended. New CRC 1342 researches “Global Development Dynamics of Social Policy”. Transregional CRC “Process Signatures” is entering another four-year funding period. University of Bremen now hosts seven Collaborative Research Centers

This is great news for the University of Bremen and clear confirmation of the excellent quality of research “made in Bremen”: Following a very positive assessment, at its autumn meeting in Bonn the grant committee of the German Research Foundation (DFG) decided to support a new Collaborative Research Center (SFB) at the University of Bremen. The CRC 1342 “Global Development Dynamics of Social Policy” starts on January 1, 2018. It will receive about 11 million euros in the first four years. But that's not all: The DFG also decided to prolong the Transregional Collaborative Research Center (CRC / TRR) 136 “Function-Oriented Manufacturing Based on Characteristic Process Signatures” for another four years. After extremely successful work in the first funding phase (since 2014), the CRC / TRR can now continue its successful work with another 9.5 million euros of funding up to 2021.

The President of the University is pleased: “A beacon on the research landscape”

The President of the University of Bremen, Professor Bernd Scholz-Reiter, is more than pleased about the two positive decisions and the acquisition of third-party funding in such high amounts. “For the University of Bremen, this double success is emphatic confirmation of the DFG's trust in our outstanding research work and strength in cooperation. The funding not only anchors research in socially important fields of knowledge in Bremen, it also opens up good prospects for our early-career researchers. The decisions also illustrate that the University of Bremen acts like a ‘beacon’ on the research landscape”, says the University President. It means that in future the University of Bremen will be hosting a total of seven DFG Collaborative Research Centers (including three transregional CRCs).

How does state social policy develop and change?

The new CRC 1342 deals with the worldwide development and changes taking place in state social policy. “Social policy, on the one hand, should guarantee social rights and at the same time create social security – an important prerequisite for the functioning of societies,” explains Professor Herbert Obinger, the future spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Center. “In addition to the market and family networks, social policy is a key producer of welfare. But every country has a different take on this, and the development of social policies is taking different forms and changing at different speeds around the world.”

New impulses through new approaches

The DFG grant now gives Bremen social scientists the opportunity to reach beyond previous social policy research and to set new impulses geographically, conceptually and analytically. For instance, developing and emerging economies will now be included in the analysis. The conventional understanding of social policy is to be extended, and the orientation of social policy research on nation states has been supplemented by international influencing factors. For example, the CRC will also examine the impact of colonialism, war, trade relations, capital movements and migration flows on social policy.

More than 70 researchers from the fields of political science, sociology, health sciences, history, geography, computer science and law will be involved in the new Collaborative Research Center. In addition to the researchers from the University of Bremen, the Jacobs University (China Global: Center for the Study of China and Globalization), the University of Duisburg-Essen (Institute for East Asian Studies) and the University of Cologne (Cologne Center for Comparative Politics) are contributing subproject in the CRC.

Production Engineering CRC “Process Signatures” enters the second funding phase

What the new Collaborative Research Center in the social sciences has in front of it has long been achieved in the existing Transregional Collaborative Research Center “Function-oriented production based on characteristic process signatures”; namely, the first funding phase. In order to secure prolongation of funding, the researchers had to show they have made excellent progress over the past four years and submit a convincing request for follow-up finance. They were successful in this: With its positive assessment, the DFG has given green light for a second funding amount of 9.5 million euros as of January 1, 2018. In addition to the University of Bremen, the RWTH Aachen and Oklahoma State University are also involved in the CRC.

“The prolongation of the CRC is a great success for us. The entire team has already done a great job in the first funding phase. We are delighted to be able to continue with the good work,” says Professor Ekkard Brinksmeier (Faculty of Production Engineering), who is the initiator and spokesman of the Collaborative Research Center.

Process signatures - a new approach to the use of materials in manufacturing

Over the next four years, the goal of the scientists working in the CRC is to further develop the concept of so-called “process signatures”. Process signatures are a new approach to the use of materials in manufacturing. An example: In the industrial production of gear wheels for wind turbines, which are subjected to very high loads during operation, it is possible to tailor dimensions, shapes, and surface geometry. But the surfaces of these components also have what is known as edge zone properties, such as residual stresses and hardness. These properties cannot yet be systematically “fine-tuned”. However, it is precisely these parameters that are of decisive importance for the service life and performance of the components, as the stresses caused by operating loads on the surface of materials impact on the entire component.

It is therefore important to understand exactly the processes in the manufacturing process that change materials’ properties. These processes are now to be specified in a new and consistent manner – by means of “process signatures”. In the first funding phase of the CRC, researchers were able to basically substantiate the concept of process signatures under simplified conditions. In the second funding phase, these signatures will now be further developed in the direction of industrial application. Eventually, the long-term goal is to use process signatures to specifically adapt the functional properties of materials and thus the quality of industrial components.

What are Collaborative Research Centers?

Collaborative Research Centers (CRCs) are among the most sought-after grants for cooperating researchers at German universities. These are long-term projects that must be reviewed every four years in order to be renewed by the DFG. The maximum funding of twelve years is a distinction. It means that the institution in question is particularly successful in researching the funded topic. Currently, the University of Bremen is hosting no less than four Collaborative Research Centers and – with “Global Development Dynamics of Social Policy” – three Transregional CRCs.

For more information on CRC 1342 “Global Development Dynamics of Social Policy”, feel free to contact:

Dr. Irina Wiegand
SOCIUM - Research Center for Inequality and Social Policy
Phone: 0421/218-58508
email: irina.wiegand@uni-bremen.de

For more information on the CRC/Transregio 136 “Process Signatures”:

Dr.-Ing Jens Sölter (Managing)
CRC/Transregio 136
Phone: 0421/218-51187
email: soelter@iwt-bremen.de

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Prof. h.c. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Ekkard Brinksmeier
Spokesman for CRC/Transregio 136
Phone: 0421/218-51101
email: brinksmeier@iwt-bremen.de

---

---

Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
Journalisten
Gesellschaft, Maschinenbau, Politik, Werkstoffwissenschaften
überregional
Forschungsprojekte
Englisch

---