Development of a Focus Area

The process of developing a Focus Area takes place over several stages. It is coordinated and monitored by the CCD, with the participation of the university management and the excellence council.

As with all innovations, identifying a new and unique idea is the essential prerequisite for the development of Focus Areas as well. The impetus for this stage of the process comes from the departments, university-wide competitions to generate ideas, or individual scholars or scientists.

The CCD provides additional stimulus for this discourse in the form of analyses by cooperation partners, publications, and studies of the future development of the research. The group of scholars or scientists putting a specific idea forward can be an interdisciplinary group right from the start, or, as is often the case, the interdisciplinary aspects of the proposed research can develop over the process of refining and fully developing the idea.

If the core idea turns out to offer a good basis for research, and if there is sufficient research potential at Freie Universität itself and within the region, the next step is to identify appropriate sources of funding. To that end, the central question addressed in the Focus Area’s research should cover a basis broad enough to allow for the implementation of several individual sub-projects aimed at specific aspects of the overall topic. Cluster participants also seek to establish cooperative arrangements with various sources of funding.

The next stage is the further development of the idea into an interdisciplinary concept for a new academic area of focus within the university’s research activities. At the same time, the search for appropriate partners and the development of the Focus Area organization and administration begin.

During this phase, it is possible to receive start-up financing using CCD funds as part of the future concept of Freie Universität. These funds can be used as seed money for the financing of academic, scientific, or other preliminary work that needs to be done for a proposal to be submitted. They can also contribute to securing the Focus Area organization’s financing, for instance in the hiring of a cluster coordinator. These supporting funds can also be used for other purposes, such as presenting initial findings from joint research with cooperation partners or initiating “bridge” projects.