Research Alliance Ruhr 27 Professors Already Appointed

The four Research Centers and the College of the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr) form a new research-intensive center in the Ruhr area. Twenty-seven international top scientists have already chosen a future within the UA Ruhr and thus at one of the three partner universities: Ruhr University Bochum, Technical University Dortmund, or the University of Duisburg-Essen. In total, more than 50 new research professorships are being created within the centers and the college.

Since 2022, the University Alliance Ruhr has been expanding its top-level research in the centers and the college under the umbrella of the Research Alliance Ruhr. Among the newly appointed scientists are two renowned Humboldt Professors: Professor Edvardas Narevicius and Professor Dana Branzei. Already in 2022, Professor Narevicius decided to leave the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and join the Research Center Chemical Sciences and Sustainability as a Humboldt Professor for Ultracold Reactions. Professor Branzei will join the Research Center One Health Ruhr as a Humboldt Professor for Biological and Genomic Treatment Approaches starting in April 2025. Until then, she is working as a scientist at the AIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan. 

Some of the newly appointed researchers previously conducted their research at various Max Planck Institutes (Dr. Amelie Heuer-Jungemann, Professor Nils Köbis, Professor Christian Liebscher, Professor Lucia Melloni, Professor Daniel Neider, Professor Caspar Schwiedrzik, Professor Muhammad Bilal Zafar) or at international elite universities such as Stanford University (Professor Xijie Wang), Cambridge University (Professor Jatinder Singh), and ETH Zurich (Professor Alexander Marx). For eight new professors, starting their research activities in North Rhine-Westphalia involves moving to Germany, while twelve have relocated to the Ruhr area from another federal state. 

Key criteria for filling the more than 50 new professorships under the UA Ruhr umbrella are proven scientific excellence and the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration. The professors are employed at one of the three universities, thereby also strengthening the faculty of their respective fields. Thirteen of the 27 newly appointed professors are employed at tRuhr University Bochum, seven at the University of Duisburg-Essen, and six at TU Dortmund. One of the professorships is shared between the universities in Dortmund and Duisburg-Essen. 

In 2023, the College for Social Sciences and Humanities successfully launched an International Senior Fellowship Programme and is currently hosting the second cohort of scientists. The fellowship program offers excellent international researchers from the social sciences and humanities the opportunity to pursue an independent research project within a six-month fellowship and to collaborate with tandem partners from the UA Ruhr. 

The innovative structure of the UA Ruhr has taken the collaboration, which began in 2007 between Ruhr University Bochum, Technical University Dortmund, and the University of Duisburg-Essen, to new heights. A central goal was to form centers of excellence beyond faculty boundaries and to attract both internationally established researchers and emerging stars to the Ruhr area. The UA Ruhr opens up ideal career opportunities for excellent scientists from around the world by ensuring optimal conditions such as competitive equipment, scientific staff, and reduced teaching obligations. 

The Research Alliance Ruhr was initiated by the Ruhr Conference and is funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Newly appointed Professors of the Research Alliance Ruhr: