Clusters of Excellence

Freie Universität is involved in four research clusters that are funded in the German national Excellence Initiative. Source: Bernd Wannenmacher

Systematic pooling of subject-specific expertise was one of the primary goals of the German Excellence Initiative. In Clusters of Excellence top-notch scientists and scholars from Freie Universität work together in interdisciplinary groups in close collaboration with other research institutions and partners in industry and business to find innovative solutions to current issues.

The Excellence Clusters are an important part of Freie Universität's strategic planning. They help to shape the university’s profile and accelerate the process of establishing thematic priorities.

The activities of the Excellence Clusters are devoted to different tasks, including the following:

• Identifying trends in global developments and using them to determine where new need for knowledge is arising
• Coordinating high-performance fields of expertise at Freie Universität to work together
• Strategic pooling of resources in excellence clusters
• Training outstanding junior scholars and scientists
• Maintaining strategic dialogue between the academic and scientific community and private enterprise, organizations, and institutions outside of academia.

Freie Universität is involved in four Clusters of Excellence:

• LoE - Languages of Emotion (2007 – 2014)
• Topoi (2007 – 2017)
• NeuroCure (2007 – 2017)
• UniCat (2007 – 2017)