Current projects that are funded by the German government or federal states (selection)
Flight and Migration Research
EZRA – Raemembering Racism and Anti-Semitism
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Karin Scherschel (Faculty of History and Social Sciences; Chair of Flight and Migration Research)
Collaboration partner:
Freie Universität Berlin
Abstract:
It is only through remembering — or deliberately not remembering history, that the past is given meaning for the present and the future. The specific significance of civil society initiatives for the culture of public remembrance in Germany is the central focus of the project “EZRA – Remembering Racism and Anti-Semitism.” How should we remember the crimes of National Socialism, the consequences of European colonialism, and contemporary acts of racist and anti-Semitic violence? And what conclusions can be drawn from the past for current politics? This is the subject of ongoing public debate at various levels — whether in the German government, discussion forums, or political commentary. However, the focus is usually on aspects of official remembrance culture. Among other things, this research project examines civil society initiatives.
Funding body:
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Project duration:
2023 - 2026
Geography
DIYhoch3 - Youth Cultural Self-Organization in the Bavaria-Saxony-Thuringia Border Region (Subproject: Geographical Perspectives on Youth Cultures in Rural Areas)
Applicants:
Dr. Andreas Kallert (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Human Geography) and Prof. Dr. Rita Braches-Chyrek (University of Bamberg)
Collaboration partner:
Institut für Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft in Jena (IDZ); TU Dresden
Abstract:
The research project examines the spaces and opportunities for youth cultures in rural areas, thereby fostering a better understanding of the structures of opportunity and enabling conditions for self-organized cultural life. The regional focus is on the tri-state border region of Bavaria, Saxony, and Thuringia: This region (Upper Franconia, the Thuringian Forest, and the Vogtland) is classified as predominantly (very) rural and generally exhibits a socio-economic situation in need of improvement. However, differences in community life, traditions, politics, and youth work can also be observed in the former border areas.
The project, however, does not focus solely on three regions but also on three cultural communities: young people who 1. are dedicated to preserving customs and traditions, 2. are active in music scenes such as hip-hop, or 3. engage in informal sports cultures such as biking. Young people often pursue all these activities on their own initiative, thereby shaping the way they grow up and shaping their region.
The project examines what supports or limits them in these endeavors, how they are perceived in the communities, and how appropriate funding can be secured—even with tight municipal budgets. To this end, the project employs various research methods: youth culture is documented via questionnaires and subsequently analyzed. Interviews with local experts help identify underlying factors, while workshops with active young people bring the respective challenges and potential solutions to light.
The project aims to process the respective results in various formats, thereby making them accessible and usable for administrative bodies and policymakers, as well as for funding institutions and cultural practitioners. However, it is particularly important to process and translate the results for the cultural initiatives and projects of young people in the study region and beyond.
Funding body:
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMELH)
Project duration:
2023 - 2026
Project website:
https://diyhoch3.de/
German Studies
Language Assessment of Multilingual Children and Validation of a Test Battery (Subproject: Vocabulary)
Applicant: Prof. Dr. Tanja Rinker (Faculty of Languages and Literatures; Professorship of German as a Second Language)
Collaboration partners: Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University of Frankfurt; Technical University of Dortmund
Abstract:
Education and social opportunities for young learners depend largely on their language skills. Against this backdrop, the SPEAK project is developing a digitally aided language support program focused on vocabulary and grammar that is specifically tailored to first-grade students and involves teachers, educational staff, and parents as daily learning partners.
The systematic, regular support provided by German teachers in the classroom during the first school year is supplemented for some of the participating classes by the involvement of other educational staff (e.g., language games in the all-day program) as well as the children’s families (e.g., provision of weekly language games).
In a longitudinal randomized experimental design, the effectiveness of language support will be examined by measuring language skills using standardized tests at the beginning and end of first grade, as well as at the end of second grade (medium-term effects). Accompanying the project, the establishment of a research-practice network is planned to facilitate a structured and intensive exchange of knowledge between practice, administration, and research.
By taking into account the school and family contexts of learning, the language support program is intended to be individually adaptable to different learning settings and, at the end of the project, made available as an open resource to teachers, educational staff, and parents.
Funding body: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Project duration: 2023 - 2026
Project website: ifs.ep.tu-dortmund.de/forschung/projekte-am-ifs/speak/
Journalism
IKIP – Innovative Communication Strategies for Intervention and Prevention in Digital Disinformation Campaigns: A Conceptualization Based on Latent Narratives and Frames
Applicant: Prof. Dr. Friederike Herrmann (Faculty of Languages and Literatures; Professorship of Journalism and Communication Sciences)
Collaboration partners: Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences; Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main; MSH Medical School Hamburg - University of Applied Sciences and Medical University
Abstract: The IKIP project develops innovative communication strategies for intervention and prevention in the context of disinformation campaigns (DC) spread via the internet. This is based on the as-yet-unrealized integration of media content analysis with the identification of personal characteristics that make individuals susceptible to DC, thereby linking societal macro-level factors with individual micro-level factors.
Using a sample of 800 media reports on selected topics of current DC (such as migration, climate change, and measures against the COVID-19 pandemic), narrative patterns and stylistic devices are reconstructed using BOHNSACK’s documentary analysis as well as a text analysis program. Building on this, the latent narratives and frames underlying the DC are identified and analyzed using the method of scenic understanding with regard to their psychological and, in particular, unconscious functions.
In a questionnaire and interview study, the personality traits and psychological dispositions that make individuals susceptible to DC are investigated and evaluated both quantitatively and qualitatively using a mixed-methods approach. The results of the text analysis and survey form the basis for the development of intervention and prevention measures for various target groups who, as multipliers, influence social education.
Based on the findings regarding the psychological functions of the narratives and frames examined, strategies for intervening in DC are ultimately conceptualized in cooperation with practitioners from leading media outlets. To prevent susceptibility to DC, scientifically grounded training concepts are developed and implemented in the areas of teacher training and educational and academic staff development in higher education. In a pre-post control group design, these training programs are then finally examined and evaluated for their effectiveness.
Funding body: Federal Ministry of Education and Research
Project duration: 2023 - 2026
Project website: www.forschung-it-sicherheit-kommunikationssysteme.de/projekte/ikip
KU.fordoc: fordoc.ku.de/id/eprint/3504/
KOKO – Conflict and Communication
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Annika Sehl (Faculty of Languages and Literatures; Chair of Journalism with a focus on Media Structures and Society)
Project partner:
Universität der Bundeswehr (Lead)
Abstract:
Growing polarization, interpersonal conflicts, and a coarsening of the culture of debate are increasingly shaping our social life. This raises important questions: What are the causes of these developments? How can we counter them? And how can democratic values be strengthened and civil society discourse be made more constructive again? The interdisciplinary research project “KOKO. Conflict and Communication,” in which researchers from the fields of Psychology, Political Sociology, and Journalism Studies at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich (Uni Bw M) and the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) are collaborating, aims to provide answers to these questions.
Funding body: European Union – NextGenerationEU
Project duration: 2023 - 2026
M4P – Media for Peace – Peace-Promoting Journalism in the (Post-)Conflict Regions of Lebanon and Afghanistan
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Annika Sehl (Faculty of Languages and Literatures; Chair of Journalism with a focus on Media Structures and Society)
Project partner:
University of the Bundeswehr (Lead)
Abstract:
The media play a central role in times of conflict and have the potential to shape reconciliation and peace processes (and thus the future) in a significant and sustainable way. How can digitalization be used to promote peace, for example, to facilitate dialog among different groups within conflict regions, with the aim of outlining the first steps toward realizing a peaceful future? The interdisciplinary research project “Media for Peace” (M4P), in which researchers from journalism, political sociology, and computer science (Uni Bw M) at the Department of Communication Studies at Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin) and from Journalism Studies at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) are collaborating, aims to provide answers to this question. In addition, it seeks to promote, in a very practical way, peace-promoting, conflict-sensitive, and constructive reporting in the focus countries of Afghanistan and Lebanon through a dialog-based digital platform developed in cooperation with Media Lab Bavaria.
At the KU, Prof. Dr. Sehl and her team, in cooperation with Alfarabi (IABG, BIGS, Candid), have focused on the use of Twitter (now known as X) in Afghanistan and Lebanon and analyzed several million tweets to identify the most discussed topics on this platform as well as the networks among Twitter users. In collaboration with the Department of Computer Science at the UniBw and through the application of automated content analysis, Prof. Dr. Sehl’s team also aims to analyze news coverage in selected newspapers in Afghanistan and Lebanon.
Funding body: European Union – NextGenerationEU
Project duration: 2023 - 2026
Psychology
KOKO – Conflict and Communication
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Kals (Faculty of Philosophy and Education; Professorship of Social and Organizational Psychology)
Abstract:
The “KOKO. Conflict and Communication” project is a research collaboration between the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich and the KU. The overall project is led by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Maes and Dr. Mathias Jaudas. In addition to Psychology, colleagues from Sociology and Journalism are also partners in this project. The project is being carried out within the framework of the Center for Digitalization and Technology Research (dtec.bw), which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Defense from budgetary resources. The project aims to jointly develop and empirically test a research-based model for experiencing social conflicts. Associated with this is the goal of improving the understanding of the escalation and de-escalation dynamics of social conflicts and deriving intervention strategies for a cooperative approach to social conflicts. In addition, findings from conflict research are to be communicated to the public through a media transfer concept to be developed. In this regard, evaluation measures are intended to provide insight into the effectiveness and acceptance of the transfer concept.
Funding body:
Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg)
Project duration:
2021 - 2026
Project website:
https://dtecbw.de/home/forschung/unibw-m/projekt-koko
Social Work
DISPnet - Wireless Networking of Digital Assistive Sensor Technologies in Long-Term Care
Applicant: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zerth (Faculty of Social Work; Professorship of Management in Organizations in the Social and Health Care Sector)
Collaboration partners:
Ahead Care GmbH, Erlangen; Fraunhofer-Institut für Integrierte Schaltungen IIS, Erlangen: BRK Kreisverband Kronach, Kronach
Abstract:
The purpose of this funding is to conduct research and development on a networking infrastructure for nursing homes based on mioty technology, focusing on the application of sensor-based monitoring in nursing practice (e.g. patient positioning). The project aims to assess the practical applicability and implementability of the product-service concept in relation to a new transmission standard (mioty).
Funding body:
Bavarian State Ministry of Economics, Land development and Energy; Project sponsor: Bayern Innovativ
Project duration:
2023 - 2026
KU.fordoc:
ReduSys: Contact-Reduced Care in Clinical Settings Through Multimodal Systems and Robotics
Business & Economics
TransFairTarif
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Pirmin Fontaine (Ingolstadt School of Management; Professorship of Logistics and Operations Analytics)
Abstract:
Integrating various mobility services is central to the transport transition. A major challenge lies in designing integrated, user-friendly fare structures. These structures are often developed from the provider’s perspective and with limited methodological support, resulting in fare structures that lack transparency from the customer’s perspective. There is a lack of an integrative, automated approach that takes both perspectives and various mobility options into account.
The TransFairTarif project is developing a tool for data-driven and customer-focused optimization of fare structures in public transportation, taking multimodal mobility options into account. The feasibility study focuses on standardizing the fare structures of scheduled and on-demand transport based on the criterion of a fare (TARIF) that is TRANSparent and FAIR from the customer’s perspective, using the Ingolstadt Transport Association as an example. The customer perspective is to be taken into account by surveying real customer preferences, linked to mobility data (provider perspective), and incorporated into the optimization.
The KU is responsible for modeling and optimizing on-demand transportation. The goal is to identify and model customer-friendly and transparent pricing models. A particular challenge lies in determining to what extent it is possible to deviate from traditional dynamic pricing models (which are often viewed as complicated and opaque). Subsequently, the demand for scheduled services will be evaluated using the on-demand transportation pricing models to determine the extent to which such models are compatible. Finally, these models will be integrated into a tool to evaluate the various pricing models.
Funding body: Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Transformation (BMDV)
Project duration: 2024 - 2026
(Last updated April 2026)
