Clusters of Excellence
We use the challenge of the Excellence Strategy to constantly reinvent ourselves and strive to bring out the best in us as institutions. With each new round of the competition, the partners of the Ruhr Innovation Lab have not only successfully increased the number of their funded Clusters of Excellence but also enhanced their competitiveness in research quality across the board.
Cluster of Excellence RESOLV
The Cluster of Excellence RESOLV – Ruhr Explores SOLVation, established in 2012, has put a focus on solvents and established a new research discipline in chemistry. The consortium, which is based at Ruhr University Bochum and TU Dortmund University, will enter its third funding period in 2026. Its aim is to gain an even better understanding and ability to regulate solvent-controlled processes. This could enable the direct use of electricity from sustainable energy sources for synthesizing chemicals and ultimately replace fossil carbon sources with sustainable ones.
Cluster of Excellence CASA
The Cluster of Excellence CASA – Securing the Digital Society is the center for pioneering cyber security research at Ruhr University Bochum. CASA pursues the clear goal of ensuring that the digital world is sustainably more secure. Together, our researchers develop effective solutions against powerful cyber attackers. In doing so, they demonstrate international excellence, interdisciplinary research, and innovative approaches.
Cluster of Excellence Color meets Flavor
In the new Cluster of Excellence Color meets Flavor, starting in 2026, researchers from TU Dortmund University, the University of Bonn, the University of Siegen, and Forschungszentrum Jülich will jointly search for new phenomena in the interaction of fundamental particles. The focus of the new Cluster is on the physics of quarks and the question of how these fundamental building blocks of matter form complex bonding states. In addition, the properties of the Higgs boson will be explored and the search for the axion will be continued.