Excellence Clusters

The systematic pooling of subject-specific expertise is one of the primary goals of the Excellence Initiative sponsored by the German federal government and the governments of the Länder.

With this aim in mind, universities and non-university research institutions were called upon to submit concepts for the establishment and development of competitive institutions with a high international profile in the fields of research and teaching to pursue the aim of promoting academic and scientific networking and cooperation in fields of research that are especially important for the future.

For each higher education institution that engages in the initiative, the excellence clusters are an important part of the institution’s long-term strategic planning. They help to shape the university’s profile and accelerate the process of establishing thematic priorities. Across Germany, 37 clusters received distinction in the first round of the Excellence Initiative.

As part of these activities, numerous groups of scientists, scholars, and researchers at Freie Universität have prepared initial concepts for excellence clusters. The following excellence clusters at Freie Universität, all of which originated within this process, were granted awards under the Excellence Initiative:

• TOPOI – The Formation and Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilizations

• Languages of Emotion

• NeuroCure – Towards a Better Outcome of Neurological Disorders

• UniCat – Unifying Concepts in Catalysis