Current projects funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) (selection)
Geography
The Design of Debt Relief Support for Financially Weak, Small Municipalities in Germany: A Comparative Analysis with Special Consideration of Federal Structures.
Applicant:
Dr. Andreas Kallert, Dr. Simon Dudek (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Human Geography)
Collaboration partner:
Dr. Simon Dudek
Abstract:
In the course of the global financial and economic crisis, the municipal budget situation in Germany, which had already been characterized by declining tax revenues since the 1990s, deteriorated. Since then, the federal states have been confronted, albeit with varying degrees of intensity, with the problem of over-indebted and thus severely hampered municipalities. In response to this challenge, the states each formulated their own support programs for over-indebted municipalities. The effects of such conditional assistance for over-indebted municipalities are, on the one hand, a declining debt level of the municipalities affected, but, on the other hand, also falling investments and thus an expectable loss of competitiveness. In this regard, the existing literature shows two research gaps: Firstly, the current state of knowledge on conditional debt assistance refers almost exclusively to cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants and thus leaves out most municipalities in rural areas. Secondly, previous studies on the effects of support programs focus on the analysis of financial strength and growth indicators and neglect the qualitative dimension of the effects of municipal debt relief support on social welfare and thus on the quality of life of the local population. The motivation of this research project is to add a spatial and qualitative perspective to the existing research on municipal debt support, which is mainly based on political and financial science. Building on the conceptual approaches of austere federalism and austerity management, the proposed project aims to analyse both the local effects of conditional debt support on small municipalities in a federal comparison and the influence on spatial disparities. In a comparative study, all municipalities participating in debt relief programs between 2011 and 2018 in the federal states of Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland will be examined. This is done on the basis of three objectives: First, a qualitative content analysis of the consolidation contracts between the states and municipalities, second, an econometric analysis of the consolidation programs for socio-structural characteristics of the municipalities, and third, based on this, an expert-based field analysis of the effects and strategies in dealing with austerity programs in selected consolidation municipalities. In a broader context, the proposed project aims to contribute to the international scientific debate on spatial disparities and equivalent living conditions. Particularly in view of renewed municipal budget shortfalls in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the project also addresses a virulent sociopolitical field of conflict within and beyond the academic discourse.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2022 - 2026
Project website:
https://www.ku.de/konsolidierungsatlas
Spatial and Temporal Variability of Pollen in Urban Areas – From Pollen Production to Emission and Concentration Prediction (PECurban)
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Susanne Jochner-Oette (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Professorship of Physical Geography/Landscape Ecology and Sustainable Ecosystem Development)
Abstract:
In the course of climate change, numerous factors are changing that might favor the development of allergies and could lead to more severe allergic diseases. At the same time, more and more people are living in cities and it is therefore necessary to intensify basic research on aerobiological processes in urban areas. There are usually two approaches to describe the intensity of the pollen season: the measurement of pollen concentration of a specific species during the flowering period, or the determination of pollen production, in which the analysis of closed flowers can provide information on the expected pollen flight intensity. However, airborne pollen concentrations are controlled by aerobiological processes such as emission, dispersion, transport and deposition, which are subject to the influence of atmospheric dynamics. Seasonal totals of daily pollen concentrations can therefore deviate substantially from the expected effective pollen production and release. It is therefore essential to focus on all relevant aerobiological processes involved.In this study, we will quantify the pollen content of flowers of selected birch trees in the city of Ingolstadt during the pollen season in order to determine daily emission values and relate them to meteorology and measured pollen concentration. A regionalization of the collected data of e.g., phenology, pollen production and pollen emission is realized by statistical relationships to influencing variables such as temperature or projections based on allometric data and existing land registers. This provides extensive information that is suitable as input for pollen transport models. For this purpose, the three-dimensional urban climate model ENVImet is used, whereby the simulation of the birch pollen concentration is carried out for the entire city of Ingolstadt for different periods within the pollen season. Using a comprehensive aerobiological measurement network, the simulated pollen concentrations can be compared with measured values. The simultaneous consideration of pollutant data and thermal stress values (PET; determined by ENVImet) enables a more comprehensive risk assessment for allergy sufferers. With the help of land use regression models, spatial information on the pollutants NO2/NOx and O3 is derived. A combined risk index for risk assessment, which is validated using symptom data, has the advantage of describing the health hazards of the urban population more comprehensively.Important impulses and strategies for the selection of suitable adaptation measures, which are even more urgently needed in the course of climate change, will result from this project and the knowledge gained with it..
Förderer:
German Research Foundation (DFG) (Research grant
Project duration:
2022 - 2026
Sensitivity of High Alpine Geosystems to Climate Change Since 1850 (SEHAG)
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Michael Becht (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Physical Geography)
Project members:
Apl. Prof. Dr. Tobias Heckmann and PD. Dr. Florian Haas (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Physical Geography)
Collaboration partners:
University of Bremen; TU Munich; TU Vienna, Austria; University of Innsbruck, Austria. Further collaboration partners are listed on the websites linked below.
Abstract:
The research unit investigates the influence of past and ongoing climate change on the activity of and interactions between different processes in alpine geosystems since the Little Ice Age (LIA). We differentiate the investigation of changes into four time slices: Time Slice I (1850-1920), Time Slice II (1920-1980), Time Slice III (1980-present/end of project phase I) and the future Time Slice IV (present-2050). The latter represents the main, though not the exclusive, focus of the second project phase. Based on the central research hypothesis that the effects of climatic changes since 1850 are already detectable in reactions of the alpine geosystem, the research unit investigates these systems exemplarily in three catchments south and north of the main Alpine ridge, which were selected due to extensive preliminary work, high morphodynamics with low anthropogenic influence and good data situation.The investigations in the first project phase focused on the changes in the geosystems and their causes from 1850 until today and will be continued in the second application phase (project years 4-6) to further improve the data situation. The focus of the work in the second phase is on the model-based analysis of the future development of the geosystems until 2050, based on the data of the dynamically downscaled climate model projections and the models for subsystems in complex alpine catchments calibrated in the first project phase. The project period of three decades in the second project phase was chosen because the expected forecast uncertainties (climate scenarios) and the internal variabilities of the processes in the geosystems are still low, but irreversible changes that have already begun and are continuing, e.g. in the cryosphere, will have consequences especially in the forecast period. The research unit's investigations are oriented towards three main research questions:I. Is it possible to identify significant responses in alpine geosystems in the context of climate change, also taking into account spatial and temporal uncertainties in data and model analyses? II. How do climatically induced changes in system compartments influence geosystem properties in terms of process dynamics? Do interactions amplify or weaken the effects of climate change? III. How do changes in processes and process interactions propagate through the system (connectivity, sediment delivery)? Will there be increasing or decreasing morphodynamics?The complex interplay of atmospheric forcing, hydro- and cryospheric changes and the determination of their consequences for different geomorphological processes in alpine geosystems requires a concerted approach, resulting in a multidisciplinary structure of the research unit..
Funding bodies:
German Research Foundation (DFG),
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)
Project duration:
2019 - 2027
Project website:
https://sehag.ku.de/
Touristification of residential property markets in rural areas
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Christian Steiner (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Human Geography) and Prof. Dr. Gerhard Rainer (University of Passau)
Abstract:
Research in the fields of tourism geography and urban geography intensively investigated the consequences of the fundamental changes in the relationship between tourism and leisure-oriented mobility of people and capital that have taken place in recent decades. Recent studies have focused primarily on the touristification, i.e. the tourism- and leisure-oriented socio-spatial transformation, of urban residential areas and its consequences for the housing market in large cities. While a broad international debate on the dynamics in large cities has been established, there is a lack of in-depth analysis of touristification and financialization of the residential real estate market in rural tourism regions. Due to the still insufficient research (e.g. importance of short-term tourist rentals via platforms; expansion and professionalization of vacation rental agencies; importance of buy-to-let investment, new work and lifestyle migration to rural areas), the consequences of these dynamics for sustainable development are therefore also barely understood. The project is therefore dedicated to investigating the touristification and financialization of residential real estate markets in rural regions with strong tourism influx, examining both their driving forces and their socio-economic effects in the regions. Building on previous research in Germany, the research project expands the literature, which has so far been strongly anchored in large cities, by means of a comparative case study investigation of the interdependencies of tourism and real estate market development in important Alpine tourism regions in Italy, Austria, and Switzerland. The results are relevant for socially sustainable settlement development insofar as the comparison of the effects of the different regulatory framework conditions in the case study countries allows conclusions to be drawn about the significance and effectiveness of political scope for action.
Funding body: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration: 2025 - 2028
Fordoc: fordoc.ku.de/id/eprint/3654/
History
Geographi Latini Online. A digital open access corpus edition of the Roman geographical writers with translation, critical apparatus, commentary and animated maps.
Applicants: Prof. Dr. Michael Rathmann (Faculty of History and Social Sciences; Chair of Ancient History)
Project partner: University of Cologne
Abstract:
A textual corpus of Latin Roman geographical writings and fragments from the beginnings to Isidore of Seville is a desideratum of research. The present project aims to make available those geographical texts with critical apparatus, commentaries, translations, introductions and continuously updated bibliographies combined with an innovative cartographic presentation. This Open Access tool will provide a scientifically sound research basis, which will benefit not only Classical Studies and its neighboring disciplines, but also all the interdisciplinary and transcultural comparative research done in cultural, literary and media studies - any field, which, in the wake of the Topological Turn, takes an interest in historical concept of space, including cartography, toponomastics, cultural anthropology and migration studies. In order to create a reliable basis for this work and to provide impulses for new approaches, this project combines traditional philology with a completely new digital media format, developed by the Cologne Center for e-Humantities (CCeH), which offers innovative methods of presentation and visualization. This media concept, which has only now become possible thanks to recent developments by the CCeH, equips the ancient texts with animated maps of individual regions and the entire oikoumene. Access to a synoptic presentation of texts, maps and comments, as well as cross-links to the online commentary on the Tabula Peutingeriana, enables an easy understanding of the complex spatial images of Roman authors and their readers within their traditions and their processes of change. Further features include full-text searchability of texts and maps for toponyms, in all their different spellings. The option to combine various search parameters (e.g., space, place, time, type of text, purpose, addressees) with AND/OR operators makes it possible to locate the geographical items in their textual contexts and to compare textual sources and map illustrations with one another. Thus, for example, it becomes easy to understand how a geographem (e.g., the location of Thule) changes through various epochs, literary genres, etc.: the texts illuminate each other and the linked comments lead to further source texts. A single piece of information thus becomes a relational "cosmos". As a synthesis, the first monograph on the history of Roman geography, including a first glossary of Latin geographical terms, is to be created. The aim of this project is to develop a new approach for the understanding of the geographical world-view of the Roman elites, who conquered a world empire and imprinted their political, administrative, logistic, religious and cultural order on this vast area.
Funding body: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration: 2024 - 2027
Child Labour Opponents and their Campaigns in the Americas in Global Perspective, 1888-1938
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Nina Schneider (Faculty of History and Social Sciences; Professorship of Latin American History)
Abstract:
The project’s main objective is to investigate and compare a diverse sample of locally grounded yet nationally and/or often globally entangled child labour opponents, their motivations, and campaigns between 1888 and 1938, when anti child-labour activism was at its peak. While contemporary child labour has received scholarly attention, we lack comprehensive histories of child labour that extend beyond the nation framework and include the “Global South”. Only recently have a few studies contrasted regional and historical contexts or investigated transnational entanglements. In particular, knowledge on the global child labour abolition movement is scarce. Drawing on material gathered from 13 archives worldwide and focusing on Brazil and the United States as globally contextualised yet distinctive case studies, this project asks: Who were the protagonists, and how and why did they oppose child labour in different regions and moments in time? How does anti-child labour activism compare between regions and to what extent was it globally entangled? How did protagonists impact (or were impacted by) international conferences and organisations (e.g. the IACP and ILO), and the globalising anti-child labour discourses and practices they developed? The project aims to address three research gaps: 1) anti-child labour activism in historical context rather than the present; 2) opponents from the “South” rather than just the “West”; and 3) the understudied diverse opponents (from elite philanthropists to the labour movement, from civil society to transnational organisations), their motivations and campaigns (including the role of media and transnational organisations as exchange platforms). Innovatively combining the method of qualitative comparison and entangled history with a biographical and media-focused approach, the project’s main outcome (monograph) will be a first history of early twentieth century anti-child labour activism in the Americas in global perspective narrated through the biographies of 10 diverse localised, yet nationally and globally entangled, protagonists from Rio/São Paulo and New York City. Like a camera, it zooms out from their biographies (private) and local context (city) to the national and global level (child labour abolition as a global movement), making the project workable. Rather than merely accumulating knowledge about two national cases, these exemplar activists are set in a broader context. While the project will advance the history of child labour opposition regionally (in global rather than “Western” terms) and thematically (opponents, motivations, campaigns), it also constructively engages with criticism levelled against global history approaches (including the subfields of labour and social movements) that it risks silencing local or social specificities (diversity). Focusing on global child labour opponents, this project will contribute to a broader history of global child labour abolition.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2020 - 2027
GEPRIS:
gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/439894427
German studies
Boner, 'Der Edelstein' – Digital Edition and Documentation
Applicant: Professor Dr. Gerd Dicke (Faculty of Languages and Literatures; Chair of Early German Literature)
Abstract:
‘Edelstein’ by the Bernese Dominican (Ulrich?) Boner, written around 1350, is the first collection of Aesopian fables and small epics conceived as a complete ‘buoch’ in the German language. Its success is evidenced by 36 known, mostly illustrated codices, its distribution by Diebold Lauber’s manuscript manufactory and two incunabula with which the Bamberg printer-publisher Albrecht Pfister took the investment risk of the first combination of type and woodcut printing in 1461/62. Earliest ‘Edelstein’ studies (Gellert, Gottsched, Lessing) were followed by three early complete editions, which were used by the emerging German studies community to train and debate their editorial tools. In 1844, F. Pfeiffer presented a text-critical reconstructive fourth edition, which was primarily based on two now lost and barely half of the surviving witnesses. Although A. Schönbach pointed out its considerable shortcomings in 1875 and a new edition has been a unanimous desideratum ever since, Pfeiffer's editio citanda has been retained until now. The main crux of a new edition was the unclear reasons for an unstable tradition, which fluctuates in the inventory between 84 nos. in just under half of the textual witnesses and the numerus perfectus of 100 texts together with the prologue and epilogue in only one codex (burnt in 1870). It remained controversial whether a new edition should be based on the gradual authorial growth to a hundred texts or on the successive decay of the collection through eclectic reception. Only an elaborate stemmatology proved that the heterogeneous state of the collection was caused by a variance in tradition rather than in authorship and crystallised, in addition to individual mixed editions, three effective forms that set the goal of the edition: a leading manuscript edition of the author-intended archetypal full form as a reference text for two effective forms that are reduced in number and modified in terms of text, which are to be synoptically comparable. The edited full form appears in three view modes (moderate and forced normalised as well as transcribed according to their respective guide manuscript), to which transcripts of representative textual witnesses of their versions can be added in parallel columns. Like the textual witnesses relevant to the edition, the 30 others can be displayed synoptically or independently in full views of their digital facsimiles. Heidelberg Univ. Library accompanied the project in advance by setting up the virtual manuscript library. It will provide technical support for all phases of the digital edition within the framework of its heiEDITIONS infrastructure, from data management, TEI modelling and authoring aspects to XML processing, visualisation and long-term data publication. A special focus will be on the development of an input tool integrated in the Oxygen XML Editor for a genuinely digitally modelled variant apparatus and on expanding the possibilities of synoptic text and image display.
Project partner: Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg (University Library)
Funding body: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration: 2023 - 2025
Maria Aurora von Königsmarck (1662-1728): The Literary Works and a Selection from her Correspondences. An Annotated and Contextualized Hybrid Edition
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Isabelle Stauffer (Faculty of Languages and Literatures; Professorship of Modern German Literature)
Abstract:
The aim of the project is to produce an annotated edition of the literary works of the gallant poet Maria Aurora von Königsmarck (1662-1728), together with a selection from her correspondence, and to publish it in hybrid book form and as an open access PDF. In addition, the transcribed letters will be delivered to the DFG-funded project “PDB18” where they will be made searchable together with the other texts in the systems of the ULB Darmstadt, and simultaneously presented with the commentaries and introductory texts and, where possible, the digital copies. During her lifetime, Aurora von Königsmarck was regarded as a paragon of gallant behavior and poetry and was active in all major genres and several languages. There are also numerous gallant letters written by and to her. To this day, this multifaceted oeuvre is hardly recognizable due to its highly disparate presence. None of the older printed collections contains more than about a quarter of the material scattered in contemporary manuscripts and prints – and even this in a rather random compilation and by no means in a representative selection. Since gallant texts are to a large extent written in communicative contexts, the edition is not primarily organized according to genre, but rather follows the author’s working phases and the spatial and temporal focus of her life in a series of larger blocks. For this reason, the texts or groups of texts will also be accompanied by classifications in the continuous text in addition to the selective commentaries on individual passages, so that the project as a whole comprises both editorial and content-related elements. The publication is scheduled for February 16, 2028, the 300th anniversary of Aurora von Königsmarck’s death.
Funding body: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration: 2025 - 2028
Journalism
Understanding the Diversity of Digital News Flows in the Platform Ecosystem
Applicant: Prof. Dr. Karin Boczek (Faculty of Languages and Literatures; Digital Journalism)
Abstract:
As digital infrastructures that enable and shape communication, platforms have disrupted journalism. They influence how journalists produce and how citizens engage with news. In Germany, citizens continue to trust traditional journalistic brands but often use them via intra-media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram. The proliferation of platforms owned by Google or Meta has raised concerns about how big tech companies and high-choice media environments challenge democracies. Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter/X underlines the importance of this discussion. Normative understandings of journalism include its mission to facilitate shared understandings of relevant societal information for public opinion formation while providing maximum topic and viewpoint diversity. However, whether platforms threaten democratic pillars has yet to be agreed upon. As debates about fragmentation into filter bubbles exemplify, we need more nuance in understanding news across different platforms within a platform ecosystem and the role of dynamic feedback loops. This project addresses this gap by advancing theories, methods, and empirical studies on the diversity of digital news flows. The project focuses on digital news flows as the prevalence of news and how citizens are exposed to, consume, and experience news across digital platforms. Theoretically, we draw on complexity science and network theory to advance concepts of digital news flows, which we define through actors (e.g., news outlets, audiences) and content as nodes and their interactions via dynamic feedback loops as ties. Methodologically, we advance platform-agnostic methods and mixed-method approaches to blend computational social science (CSS), quantitative, and qualitative methods. Empirically, we focus on the German media system, which includes a range of news brands, such as public service and commercial outlets. While news flows take center stage as our core concept of interest, we study these related to diversity by focusing on supply, exposure, consumption, and experienced diversity in digital news flows. The work program includes six work packages (WPs). In addition to advancing textual and visual cross-platform methods (WP1-2), the project combines computational and manual content analysis with network analysis and longitudinal modeling to map how trusted German news brands share news across platforms, including feedback loops (WP3-4). Using agent-based testing and walk-through interviews for data donations, the project also analyzes how German citizens are exposed to, consume, and experience news across platforms and the role of feedback loops (WP5–6). More broadly, we contribute to theory-building, methods, and empirical findings on dynamic communication processes across platforms.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2026 - 2029
GEPRIS:
gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/569348630
Mathematics
Quantifying dynamical regimes in the ocean and the atmosphere
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Marcel Oliver (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Applied Mathematics)
Abstract:
This project works on methods for decomposing flows into vortical, balanced motions and inertia gravity waves. Some of our techniques are based on linear, global modes, others use fully nonlinear, high-order techniques in idealized settings. We will now close the methodological gaps between the two approaches, advance practical implementations, and use these tools to quantify non-hydrostatic effects in km-scale atmospheric models, quantify wave emission in the ocean, and advance our understanding of spontaneous loss of balance. Further, we will research the use of machine learning for some of these tasks.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG) (Transregio)
Project duration:
2022 - 2024
Exponential bases with integer frequencies
Applicants:
Dr. Andrei Caragea; Prof. Dr. Götz Pfander (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Mathematics – Scientific Calculus)
Abstract:
The foundational result in Fourier analysis states that the set of complex exponentials with integer frequencies forms an orthonormal basis for the space of square integrable functions on the unit interval, in short, the unit interval and the integers form an orthonormal spectral pair. Finding frequency sets that lead to bases for other domains is a key task in applied mathematics, engineering and the natural sciences. Aside of trivial extensions, for example using rescaling or a tensor argument for domains in higher dimensions, the task generally requires dropping the pairwise orthogonality of basis elements and, therefore, considering Riesz bases and frames as relaxations. In the past two decades, landmark results have been obtained in this area. For example, it was shown that for every finite union of intervals there exists a Riesz basis of exponentials, and a first set was constructed for which there exist no Riesz spectra. In addition, both directions of Fuglede's conjecture were shown to be wrong. The task of finding orthogonal or Riesz bases for a given domain becomes even more challenging if not all frequencies can be chosen for the task. This can arise for, example, due to to hardware limitations in electrical engineering and telecommunications applications or due to restrictions when modeling physical phenomena. Such tasks are generally equivalent to finding orthogonal or Riesz bases consisting of only integer frequencies for rescaled domains. Consequently, this project addresses the question of which subset of the unit interval, respectively of the d-dimensional unit cube, possess orthonormal bases, Riesz bases, or frames with frequencies contained in the integers. Central to our discussion are so-called hierarchical exponential bases for partitions of the unit interval or of the d-dimensional unit cube. That is, given a partition with sets indexed by a set K, does there exist a family of corresponding frequency sets so that for any subset J of K, the union of the frequency sets indexed by J forms a Riesz basis for the respective union of partitioning sets. One of the main technical tools that we plan to develop towards this goal is an extension of the classical result of Chebotarev that states that square submatrices of Fourier matrices of prime size are always invertible. Establishing analogues of this result in the case of Fourier matrices with non-prime size is a research direction of stand-alone interest, with applications in algebra and number theory.
Funding Body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project period:
2024-2027
GEPRIS:
Kernel interpolation on Riemannian manifolds
Applicant:
Dr. Janin Jäger (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Applied Mathematics)
Abstract:
The approximation with positive definite kernels is used in many fields of science and engineering. Furthermore, these kernels play an important role in machine learning, for the solution of partial differential equations and in geostatistics. Especially the approximation of data given on Riemannian manifolds has gained enormous importance in recent years, for example for global weather models. Strictly positive definite kernels allow the construction of approximations from arbitrarily distributed measurement data on the surface of the manifold. However, the theoretical basis of these kernels has not yet been sufficiently studied. This project aims to characterise the strictly positive definite kernels on Riemannian manifolds and to investigate their approximation properties. In later parts of the project, conditionally positive definite kernels will be characterised and investigated. Then the approximant is not only formed by linear combinations of the kernels but the addition of certain functions from finite-dimensional spaces is allowed. Another very promising goal is the study of kernels that are invariant with respect to certain subgroups of the isometry group of the Riemannian manifold, for example, reflections or rotations. Together, the results should allow users to identify or construct more suitable kernels and furthermore existing theories on specific manifolds are unified and extended.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2021 - 2026
Multiscale modeling with evolving microstructure: An approach to emergence in the rhizosphere via effective soil functions
Applicants: Prof. Dr. Nadja Ray, Dr. Raphael Schulz (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Geomatics and Geomathematics)
Project partner: Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
Abstract:
To couple three interwoven areas of rhizosphere research “Processes, Methods and Applications”, we utilize and improve mechanistic, mathematical models in forms of combined cellular automata and PDE/ODE systems on the microscale, offering the opportunity to bridge scales by homogenization techniques.The systematic study of the interaction of transformation processes in the rhizosphere focussing on mucilage and root hairs, and its couplings to soil structure, geochemistry, microbiology, and to upscaled soil functions will contribute to the focal question of the PP, how resilience emerges from self-organised spatiotemporal pattern formation in the rhizosphere. In more detail: H1: The development of the self-organization in the rhizosphere in connection with the spatiotemporal patterns of nutrients, water and biomass can be studied with the realized extension of the existing model and simulation tool now in relation to the data of phase 1.H2: The connection between soil structure formation, habitat conditions - also influenced by the production and degradation of mucilage - and the microbial communities.H3: The size of the rhizosphere is determined by the radial extent of pattern formation controlled by root activity/morphology.We want to study in particular the interaction of soil structure (in particular porosity), root exudates and transport properties relevant for the plant. Thus we address the focal topics aggregate formation / soil structure with pore scale modeling and water flux / mucilage.We refer in particular to the following research questions of phase 2:III. How do carbon flow and structure interact (with P19, P22)?V. What is the relevance of mucilage for the soil-plant system regarding drought resilience, but also mechanistic understanding for mucilage at the microscale - evidence for relevance at system scale, plant-soil system is still lacking (with P4,P5,P23,P24)VI. What is the mechanistic function of root hairs - quantify the maintenance of hydraulic continuity, the effect on nutrients uptake, and extension of depletion zones (with P7,P4)In close cooperation with the experimental partners we evaluate the interplay of the mechanisms in concrete PP rhizosphere settings, and will also refer to the spatiotemporal patterns identified by P21 from high resolution correlative imaging. The necessary basis for 3D simulations will be the parallelized, efficient algorithms, and machine learning techniques to systematically explore the upscaling of soil functions. The simulation tool delivers its value through the capability to illustrate, compare, and reveal influencing factors and mechanisms by abstracting relevant processes. It is not intended to ’redraw’ data curves of the experiments but to gain new insights through the ability to analyze separately, but also to study the interplay of several processes in an integrative simulation. Thus it intends to bridge a knowledge gap that laboratory experiments can currently not fill alone.
Funding body: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Project duration: 2019 - 2026
Nonlocal gradients in variational analysis and materials modelling: limits, kernels, boundaries
Applicant: Prof. Dr. Carolin Kreisbeck (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Mathematics - Analysis)
Project pertner: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Abstract:
Traditionally, many phenomena in nature, science and engineering are modelled with differential equations and local variational principles. Locality in this context means that the behaviour of an object depends only on its immediate neighbourhood. However, there are situations where the usual local modelling falls short because longer-range interactions and global effects have to be taken into account. This gives rise to nonlocal models, whose benefits are very prominent in many application areas, partly because they provide effective ways to bridge between different length scales and have shown to lead to refined predictions. Some of those areas are materials science, which is the focus of this proposal, as well as imaging and machine learning. This project will contribute to a better understanding of nonlocality by addressing a new relevant class of variational problems, where the functionals are integrals depending on nonlocal gradients. These problems differ from standard hyperelasticity, which involves usual gradients, and from peridynamics, where the nonlocality is not expressed with a gradient. Problems with nonlocal gradients are not yet well explored, despite their advantageous properties. In starting from functionals that involve a specific nonlocal gradient, the overall goal of our research programme is twofold: (A) We aim to provide the theoretical foundations to establish these functionals as suitable energies in a refined nonlocal model for hyper elasticity. Potential benefits refer to accuracy and the possibility of going beyond purely elastic behaviour by accounting for singular effects. Our justification of the new model comprises several facets, including relations with local and linear models, a discussion of suitable local boundary values, and non-interpenetration of matter. (B) We propose to develop a variational theory in a broad framework of nonlocal gradients, considering also different types of boundary conditions. This involves the introduction of new function spaces and requires a careful investigation of fundamental structural properties of nonlocal gradients that differ from those of their local counterparts. Despite impressive developments in the last years, many conceptual questions still remain open and new techniques need to be established to address relevant types of nonlocal structures. Apart from the foundations already laid by the applicants and others in recent works, we will borrow and adapt some tools from other classical areas of mathematical analysis.
Funding body: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration: 2024 - 2027
Spatially explicit modeling of energy and matter fluxes in soils (MicroMod)
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Nadja Ray (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Geomatics and Geomathematics)
Project partner:
University of Bayreuth; Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg; Stockholm University
Abstract:
The stabilization of carbon in soils is controlled by the balance between the input of organic matter and its decomposition towards mineralization. It strongly depends on the boundary condition such as soil properties or substrate quality. In this project, we supplement the SPP’s experimental investigations by mathematical modeling and numerical simulations. We simultaneously address soil structural rearrangement, carbon and energy fluxes in a spatially and temporally explicit way, i.e. going down to the micrometer scale at which processes occur. As such we can account for soil heterogeneity, physicochemical protection and thermodynamic stabilization. The results of our simulation studies allow to quantify and localize hot and cold spots and moments of matter and energy turnover. In addition, we can blend these insights with regions of high structural dynamics. We contribute to a mechanistic understanding of the underlying processes and give insights into the priming effect, i.e. the preferred decomposition of native carbon sources after the addition of fresh carbon sources, and the entombing effect, i.e. the built-up and subsequent stabilization of necromass-derived matter. Finally, we transfer knowledge from the microscale to larger scale and investigate the role of soil heterogeneity and connectivity of pore space for nutrient and water transport and the release of carbon dioxide and heat. We also contribute to the understanding of the Birch effect, i.e the burst of carbon mineralization and release of carbon dioxide as a consequence of rewetting, and its influencing factors.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Subproject of SPP 2322: Systems ecology of soils – Energy Discharge Modulated by Microbiome and Boundary Conditions (SoilSystems)
Project duration:
2025 -
GEPRIS:
gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/554738361
Stability and Solvability in Deep Learning
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Felix Voigtlaender (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Reliable Machine Learning)
Collaboration partner:
Utrecht University; University of Cambridge; University of Vienna
Abstract:
One of the challenges of the current digital era is automated decision making, which is often based on classification. For example, in image classification the task of the computer is to identify which objects are shown in a given image. This is too complicated of a task to solve by explicitly writing a program. Therefore, one uses artificial intelligence approaches that learn to solve the given task based on a set of training samples. In the last decade, the cutting edge technique for this in fields like imagine classification and game intelligence has been Deep Learning, the heuristic adaptation of weights of large neural networks based on training samples. These weights determine the strength of the connection between the different neurons of the network. The standard procedure for training the network weights is to initialize the weights randomly and then iteratively adapt them by minimizing (via the method of steepest descent, more formally called gradient descent) the error made by the network on the given training samples.Empirically, this approach outperforms all classical classification methods. Formally though, the mathematical understanding of Deep Learning is far from complete. An example of a not fully understood phenomenon with significant practical impact is the instability of neural networks with respect to very small changes in the inputs. For instance, a network might correctly classify an image of a cat as depicting a cat but when a small perturbation (imperceptible to a human) is applied to the picture, the same network will classify it as depicting a dog.The goal of this project is to investigate and formalize this phenomenon, focusing on the following three points:1. Mathematically prove that the current state of the art training methods necessarily induce this instability as a side effect and mathematically study the most widely used algorithms for generating perturbations that lead to misclassification.2. Examine partially successful existing ideas to mitigate this instability. Propose a new training dogma with stability guarantees that do not affect the classification accuracy.3. Analyze the computability of this and other training methods. In full generality, the problem of minimizing the error on the training sample is not computable, however empirical evidence suggests that neural networks can be trained successfully using computers. This warrants a more precise investigation regarding what conditions guarantee computability.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG) (Emmy Noether Independent Junior Research Groups)
Project period:
2025 - 2028
Transregional Collaborative Research Center TRR 181 "Energy Transfer in Atmosphere and Ocean", including subprojects M3 "Towards consistent subgrid momentum closures" and L2 "Quantifying dynamical regimes in the Ocean and in the Atmosphere."
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Marcel Oliver (Faculty of Mathematics and Geography; Chair of Mathematics - Applied Mathematics)
Abstract:
Energy-consistent parameterisation of ocean eddies remains a major challenge. Previously, we developed a toolbox of momentum closures, test cases, and diagnostics. These new closures considerably improved energetics and hydrography at eddy-permitting resolutions. Now, we will extend the closures across scales, reduce errors in numerical momentum advection, and analyse the transfer of energy between scales and between kinetic and potential energy in the model. Ultimately, we will make the schemes usable across a wide range of resolutions and provide clear recommendations regarding which scheme is best for which purpose.
Funding body: German Research Foundation (DFG; Transregio)
Project duration: 2024 - 2028
Education
Developmental Dynamics of University Students’ Motivation
Applicants:
Prof. Dr. Julia Dietrich (Faculty of Philosophy and Education; Professorship of Empirial Educational Research) and Prof. Dr. Julia Moeller (University of Leipzig)
Projects partners:
University of California, Irvine (UCI); University of Essex
Abstract:
This project studies the development of study motivation in university students, one of the most important determinants of study success. It examines short-term developmental dynamics of situational motivation from one learning moment to the next, and more long-term development over one, respectively two, semesters. The project focuses on situation-specific dynamics of the influential expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation according to Eccles and Wigfield (2002), which have not received much attention previously, despite of the assumptions about situation-specific motivation and task choices of this theory. The goal of this joint project is to empirically test the dynamic expectancy-value model developed by the applicants, which integrates the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation with the control-value model of academic emotions (e.g., Pekrun, 2018) with dynamic systems theories. The subproject in Jena tests assumptions about intra-individual developmental processes: In line with dynamic systems theories of development we examine (1) recursive, steadily repeating processes (e.g., the assumed stable correlation between situational task value and situational effort), (2) changing processes (e.g.,the assumed increasing stability of intrinsic interest) and (3) the interplay between momentary motivation and stable person characteristics. The subproject Leipzig studies the replicability of the findings and their area of validity by trying to replicate (4) findings about the structure (factors, profiles) of situational values and expectancies, and (5) findings about the recursive, steadily repeating processes mentioned above. This subproject also examines whether the findings are found across all participants or differ between individuals or subsamples. Finally, we apply and further develop recently proposed intra-individual methods. While the previous research mostly assessed stable expectancies and values with inter-individual approaches, we use situation-specific measures (intensive longitudinal data / experience sampling method) and intra-individual analyses. Freshmen students are surveyed about their learning motivation (e.g., expectancies, values) and their predictors and outcomes. In a mixed-methods approach, these situational measures are combined with interviews and trait measures. The data analyses include intra-individual dynamic structural equation models and network models, among other approaches. The applied assessment design, the analyses and theoretical integration are unique in the research on learning motivation in terms of the expectancy-value theory and the control-value model, which is why we expect substantial contributions to the further development of these theories.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2021 -2026
GEPRIS:
Systemic Indoctrination and Its Ideological Foundations in Russian Education after 2022
Applicant: Prof. Dr. Krassimir Stojanov
Collaboration partner: University of British Columbia
Abstract:
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, and since then hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian men and women have died in the bloody war, which has also caused immense material and mental costs. Nevertheless, a vast majority of the Russian people continue to approve of the invasion and Putin’s regime in general. We believe that one important reason for this is the massive indoctrination that has taken place in the Russian education system for about one and a half decades. In this project, we aim to find a theoretically and empirically well-grounded answer to the question of how and on the basis of which ideological constructs this indoctrination functions. The traditional studies on indoctrination are primarily focused on individual forms of classroom brainwashing. However, we argue that indoctrination can no longer be seen solely as a matter of teaching. As Cristopher Martin shows, a broader concept of institutional indoctrination is needed for the cases, in which indoctrination extends beyond the individual teacher-student interaction and is carried out by educational institutions that indoctrinate, even if the teachers at these institutions do not intend to do so or are not aware of the indoctrinative character of their teaching. In this project, we go even one step further by trying to explore how not only single educational institutions, but also an entire national education system can indoctrinate. The central research question of the project – how does systemic indoctrination operate within contemporary Russian education, and on the basis of which ideological constructs – is operationalized in the following sub-questions: 1. What content is being inculcated through education? 2. Which indoctrinative methods are used in teaching and to what extent? 3. What are the intentions behind the actions of the regime, educational institutions, and teachers? 4. Consequences: What are the actual manifestations of closed-mindedness in Russian education? What are the collective outcomes of these practices? How apparently critical thinking, when operating within a closed mindset, could lead to ideologically 'correct' outcomes? 5. Which values are being promoted through education, educational policy, and through institutional management? 6. How the indoctrinative practices are enforced? In order to answer these questions, we will study textbooks, curricula, and institutionalized practices in the current Russian education system by applying the approaches of the conceptual analysis, the normative analysis and the critical discourse analysis.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2025 - 2028
GEPRIS:
Philosophy
Critical Emotion Theory
Applicant: Prof. Dr. Imke von Maur (Faculty of Philosophy and Education; Professorship of Philology)
Abstract:
Emotions have become a key focus of social contestation, particularly in public disputes over pressing societal issues like migration and climate change, thus harboring explosive potential. Such disputes often center empathy, compassion, mercy, or a lack thereof and so reveal the extent to which emotions and their assessment as (in)appropriate are intertwined with implicit normative criteria. These disputes may even be harmful when anger and fear, e.g., are instrumentalized in media and politics, resulting in affective polarization that potentially undermines constructive dialogue, possibly increasing fragmentation and antagonism. The illustrated need for a critical engagement with emotions is beginning to be recognized in academic discourse. Situated and constructivist approaches both consider the social context, body, and environment in their influence of emotions, yet do not critically assess how emotions contribute to shaping socio-political realities, nor do they explicate the normative standpoints from which emotions are evaluated. A focused exchange and collaborative research on what a genuinely critical emotion theory looks like is duly needed. We propose that CET has to fulfill three tasks: a) make explicit the historical and socio-cultural context in which emotions and emotion theory exist; b) explore the normative assumptions and implications behind theorizing and disputing emotions; c) investigate the social, ethical and political consequences of emotions, the realities they generate, and the disputes around these, including possible harms. Instead of offering new criteria for assessing emotions, we aim at explicating the normatively structured discourse on emotions and discussing the methodological and content-related conditions for having a critical inquiry into emotions. On a systematic level, the network seeks to (1) explore the notion of the critical and of a genuine "critical emotion theory", including an analysis of the normativity of assessing emotions, their realities, and disputes about them, as well as the harms these generate, (2) explicate the methods of CET by integrating insights of critical epistemology (esp. feminist standpoint theory), critical phenomenology, and critical social theory (esp. immanent critique) into emotion theory, and (3) apply CET to specific phenomena, such as the role of emotions in polarization, in order to test the possibility of a CET and refine the CET framework. On an operational level, the network aims to expand collaboration between emotion theorists from different critical perspectives and career stages, fostering transdisciplinary inquiry and international collaboration and, thus, research excellence. Establishing this research network will allow us to provide a space where the foundations of a research field CET are built through the organization of conferences, workshops and panels, a special issue, and an edited volume.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2025 - 2028
GEPRIS:
Psychology
Attention biases for loss-related stimuli in prolonged grief disorder: A cognitive assessment of mechanisms using eye tracking
Applicants: Prof. Dr. Christina Pfeuffer (Faculty of Philosophy and Education; Human Technology Interaction) and Prof. Dr. Hanna Comteße (Fernuniversität Hagen, Klinische und Gesundheitspsychologie)
Abstract:
Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) is an impairing and persistent grief reaction that has been included as a new diagnosis in ICD-11. Cognitive models of PGD propose that loss-related attention biases contribute to the occurrence and maintenance of the disorder. Furthermore, different patterns of attention allocation with regard to stimuli related to the deceased person (e.g., photo albums) and stimuli associated with the death or its circumstances (e.g., cemeteries) are assumed. Previous studies showed selective attention allocation with regard to the two types of loss-related stimuli. However, existing research has several limitations. Reaction time tasks were used almost exclusively, which cannot fully elucidate underlying mechanisms of attentional control. Different types of loss-related stimuli have not been contrasted directly, leaving differential effects and corresponding mechanisms unexplored, and studies so far have rarely used idiosyncratic stimulus material, although relevant stimuli are highly individual. Prior studies were based mostly on individuals with subclinical PGD and lacked appropriate control groups. To overcome these limitations and systematically investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying PGD, the present project combines basic cognitive research with clinical research by using innovative cognitive paradigms and eye tracking. The project aims at investigating processes of reactive (pro-/antisaccades) and proactive attentional control (anticipatory saccades) by contrasting stimuli related to the death and the deceased person with stimuli related to a living attachment figure, the participants themselves, and neutral content. A group of persons with PGD will be compared with bereaved persons without PGD and non-bereaved healthy controls (total N = 144) in order to examine the specificity of attention allocation patterns. Eye tracking data will allow to examine underlying attentional mechanisms. The results of this project will improve the fundamental understanding of attention allocation in PGD and thus help to improve disorder models and to detect potential targets for tailored interventions. The systematic, translational combination of clinical and cognitive research methods further has the potential to stimulate comparable studies focusing on other mental disorders.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2025 - 2028
The temporal dynamics and adaptive nature of attentional post-error adjustments
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Marco Steinhauser (Faculty of Philosophy and Education)
Collaboration partner:
University of Southern Denmark
Abstract:
Detecting own errors is a crucial precondition for adaptive behavior. It has long been known that the human brain is equipped with an error monitoring system that registers errors which then leads to adjustments of attention and behavior. However, the mechanisms behind these adjustments and their functional significance are still under debate. Particularly the role of post-error adjustments of attention is rather unclear. Whereas traditional accounts assume that errors lead to adaptive adjustments of attention that improve future performance, others suggested that errors elicit a maladaptive orienting response that even increases the probability of further errors. A recently proposed theory integrates these findings by assuming that adaptive and maladaptive adjustments occur at different time points after the error, but a direct test of this idea is still pending. In the present project, we will utilize steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in the electroencephalogram to directly measure attentional adjustments after errors. This allows us to address several open questions: First, by tracking the time course of post-error attentional adjustments, we will ask whether adaptive and maladaptive adjustments occur at different time points after an error. Second, by manipulating temporal aspects of stimulus presentation, we will test the idea that maladaptive attentional adjustments are a consequence of discrete laboratory tasks to which our brain is not optimally adapted. Third, we will investigate whether attentional adjustments are reactive or proactive by asking whether they take previous or future task demands into account. And finally, we will determine whether attentional adjustments depend on the source of an error and hence occur particularly when errors are due to failures of selective attention. In all studies, we will further investigate how attentional adjustments relate to component processes of error monitoring by correlating changes in the SSVEP with error-related brain activity in event-related potentials (Ne/ERN, Pe) and oscillations (theta) using single-trial analyses. The results of this project will advance our knowledge about the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying post-error adjustments of attention and behavior.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project period:
2025 -
GEPRIS:
Cognitive modelling: Blessing or curse for replicability in Psychology?
Applicants:
Dr. Manuel Rausch, Prof. Dr. Michael Zehetleitner (Faculty of Philosophy and Education; Professorship of General Psychology II)
Collaboration partners:
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Overall head SPP); Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods; Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf
Abstract:
Psychological science is currently facing a crisis of credibility because researchers have realized that numerous influential psychological studies cannot be replicated. A potential explanation for replication failures is that psychological theories are often underspecified. As a countermeasure against weak theories, it has bees been recommended that psychological studies should make more wide-spread use of formal cognitive modelling to generate more precise predictions. However, it has never been empirically investigated if cognitive modelling analysis is in fact beneficial for replicability. Given the large number of arbitrary analysis decisions required for cognitive modelling analyses, there is the possibility that cognitive modelling is in fact counterproductive for replicability of psychological findings. In our proposal, we aim to investigate the replicability of cognitive models based on Bayesian Brain Theory in three exemplary studies. First, we will investigate the reproducibility of the analyses conducted by the authors of the original studies using the original data sets. Second, we will examine the robustness of cognitive modelling analyses by systematically assessing the impact of a variety of theoretically equivalent analysis decisions onto the results. Finally, we will test if we obtain equivalent results as reported in the original studies when we perform exact replication studies of the original experiments.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2021 - 2026
Cognitive and physiological determinants of error awareness
Applicant: Professor Dr. Marco Steinhauser (Faculty of Philosophy and Education; Chair of General Psychology)
Abstract:
When errors occur in speeded choice tasks, these errors can be reported with a high reliability and within the fraction of a second. This so-called error awareness presumably relies on an evidence accumulation process, in which evidence for an error is sampled from multiple sources. The error positivity, an event-related potential (ERP) peaking between 200 and 500 ms after errors, has been identified as a neural correlate of the accumulated evidence, as it predicts whether and how confidently participants become aware of an error. However, little is known which cognitive and physiological mechanisms provide the evidence for this process, and thus determine whether or not an error is explicitly detected. Early ideas assume that the error negativity, an early ERP correlate of error processing, reflects a brain signal that provides this evidence. However, correlative approaches did not reveal a robust relationship between the error negativity and error awareness, leaving its role for error awareness unclear. In the present project, we use a novel target-masking paradigm to uncover the contribution of the error negativity and other cognitive and physiological variables to error awareness. With this paradigm, we are able to elicit errors for which an error positivity but no error negativity can be observed. In a first part of the project, we utilize this paradigm to investigate whether an error negativity is a necessary precondition (1) for participants becoming aware of an error with high confidence, (2) for errors eliciting heart rate deceleration and pupil dilation, that is, autonomous reactions that have been discussed as being involved in error awareness, and (3) for the occurrence of a so-called early error sensation, which refers to the feeling of having detected an error already before its occurrence. In a second part, we use the target-masking paradigm to explore which metacognitive cues embedded in the task can influence error awareness. Here, we investigate the role of knowledge about error likelihood as well as stimulus contexts and action effects that are predictive of error occurrence. The results of this project will contribute to an understanding of the cognitive and neural architecture of error processing in the human brain.
Project duration: 2023 - 2026
Romance studies
Writing from the Margin: Indian Francophone writing and concepts of World Literature.
Applicant:
Dr. Khadija Benthami (Faculty of Languages and Literatures; Chair of Romance Literary Studies II)
Abstract:
My research aims to bring attention to a corpus of Indian Francophone literary texts, often overlooked in the literary landscape. This project will rethink concepts of World Literature through the prism of the Indian Francophone corpus composed by two contemporary Indian Francophone writers: Ari Gautier and Shumona Sinha. Their literary narratives provide a compelling lens for a critical reading of the concepts of World Literature, which often advocates a borderless circulation of literary works, which underline the persistent inequalities and geopolitical hierarchies conditioning literary circulation. My project explores the margin, or rather the metaphor of the margin in Indian Francophone literature, as a theoretical paradigm to reread and rethink the dynamics of power and identity in the global literary field. The selected Indian Francophone literary production, a crossroads of several languages, cultures, and mythologies, constitutes a hybrid intersection where linguistic and geographical borders are always in motion. However, it often retains the status of marginal literature, illustrating what Dehoux designates as a literature of the periphery, bringing forward this dichotomy and categorization of center/periphery (Dehoux, 2018). I examine, then, how this literature tries not only to find a place within the literary landscape founded on its socio-cultural and aesthetic criteria, such as linguistic hybridity, diasporic position, or postcolonial memory, as an alternative to what is imposed by discourses on World Literature. It enables a critical approach to read and rethink the main paradigms of World Literature grounded on the logic of circulation, translation, and visibility. My main objective therefore, is to interrogate World Literature theories by drawing attention to an understudied corpus within the literary field, which offers a unique perspective on its significance for the study and conceptualisation of this field.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project period:
2026 -
GEPRIS:
Space, Time and Gender in Venezuelan Female Migrant's Narrative Literature in Latin America in the 21st Century
Applicants:
Dr. Laura Febres de Ayala and Prof. Dr. Miriam Lay Brander (Faculty of Languages and Literatures, Chair of Romance Literary Studies II)
Abstract:
The project aims to shed light on the literary representation of migration in the context of one of the biggest current migration crises from a gender perspective. It examines narrative texts by Venezuelan women writers who have emigrated to other Latin American countries, including their personal, economic, cultural and literary networks. Through the representation of migration in novels and short stories from the 21st century, it aims to show what role the gender variable plays in the decision to migrate, the experience of crossing the border and integration into the host society, as well as in terms of migrant women's options for action. In addition, it explores the extent to which the works examined narratively expose and/or compensate for the experience of a spatio-temporal in-between characterized by a permanent provisionality. Although the focus is on migrant women (including transgender women where applicable), masculinities in the Venezuelan migration context will also be included. Methodologically, the project combines literary and narratological approaches with approaches from social science migration and gender research. While the focus of previous migration research has primarily been on the spatial dimensions of gender-specific mobilities, the project aims to expand the corresponding findings to include the variable of time and examine how the views of the past determine migrant women's visions of the future and how these relate to the (nation-state) time horizons of their host country. In this way, the project not only draws attention to a literary corpus of Venezuelan women writers that has had little visibility to date, but also to the diverse aspects of the migration experiences of Venezuelan women that can be expected to find expression in literary narrative texts and which would be ignored by purely social-scientific methods of investigation.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2024 - 2027
Sociology
The concept of the moral filter in situational analysis of criminal action
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Stefanie Eifler (Faculty of History and Social Sciences, Chair of Sociology and Empirical Social Research) and Prof. Dr. Mark Stemmler (Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg)
Project partner:
Universiteit Gent
Abstract:
In criminology, the critical examination of action-theoretical approaches has led to an early recognition of the importance of two closely related aspects, namely the analysis of the influences of morality in the context of a situational analysis of criminal behaviour. The current state of research leaves open questions regarding both aspects, which will be addressed in the planned project: With regard to the conceptual specification and operationalisation of morality, it remains unclear what is meant by morality in contrast to norm-commitment and how a theory-based measurement of morality can be carried out. With regard to the two-stage explanation of criminal behaviour, it remains unclear how both stages can be modelled theoretically and empirically and how moral actors can still act criminally. The proposed project builds on previous criminological research, in particular situational action theory, but also the frame selection model, and extends it beyond the points mentioned above. The aim of the project, which integrates sociological and psychological perspectives into an interdisciplinary criminological frame of reference, is to analyse how a moral filter works in the context of explaining different forms of criminal behaviour. To this end, the construct of morality must first be explained and operationalised. This will be done by drawing on moral philosophical discourse, sociological theories of agency, and psychological theories of moral development. Particular attention will be paid to how morality and normative orientations can be distinguished from each other. To achieve this, a factorial survey will be developed and used to assess moral situations. Subsequently, the mode of action of the moral filter will be modelled in a broad version that allows rational considerations and cognitive techniques of justification to be included in the filtering process. This will be done using techniques of neutralization (Sykes & Matza, 1957) and social disengagement (Bandura et al., 1996). By developing a rigorous theoretical and empirical modelling of the moral filter that includes the possibilities of bypassing it and is based on a well-founded conceptual specification of morality, the project can contribute new and significant insights to the explanation of criminal behaviour.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration:
2024 - 2027
GEPRIS:
Theology
Regional perceptions of religious transformation: The Reformation from the perspective of contemporary monastic chronicling in southern Germany
Applicant: Prof. Dr. Bernward Schmidt (Faculty of Theology; Chair of Medieval and Modern Church History)
Abstract:
This project focuses on the Reformation as a transformation process in southern Germany and from a southern German perspective. It aims at analyzing the perception and interpretation of the Reformation by Catholic contemporaries. To this end, works of monastic ‘contemporary historiography’ of the 16th century, which were written by educated members of religious orders and have so far received little attention in research on the Reformation, will be consulted and examined in greater detail. The aim of the project is to better understand and comprehend in which categories, with which intentions, with which persuasive strategies and for which readership(s) the historical transformations experienced in their own lifetime were written down, categorized and interpreted by certain contemporary chroniclers, such as Kilian Leib. As current research generally focuses on the Reformation side, the project will make a significant contribution by changing the perspective to the side of potential 'reform losers', by opening up previously unconsidered sources and by consistently locating the project within the history of the region.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project period:
2026 - 2029
GEPRIS:
Business & Economics
Taxation and firm productivity
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Dominika Langenmayr (Ingolstadt School of Management; Chair of Economics)
Collaboration partner:
Eberhard Karls University Tübingen
Abstract:
Productivity growth is a major determinant of long-run economic growth. How can politics provide suitable conditions to promote productivity growth? The aim of this research project is to investigate the role of tax policy in explaining productivity differences, and the potential it has to promote productivity growth. In the first project of the first funding period, we analyzed the effects of tax rules along the entire productivity distribution. This allowed us to take into account that taxes affect less productive firms in a different way than more productive firms. The tax burden can force unproductive firms to exit the market. Then, a higher tax burden results in higher productivity at the lower end of the productivity distribution. For highly productive firms, the negative effects of higher taxes on (productivity-enhancing) investments dominate. In the second funding period, we will extend this study by a) looking at alternative performance measures in addition to productivity; and b) analyzing how taxes affect the mobility of firms within the productivity distribution. In the second project of the first funding period, we analyzed the impact of the international tax system (i.e., worldwide vs. territorial tax system) on measured firm productivity. We used the introduction of a territorial tax system in the UK in 2009 as a natural experiment. By means of a difference-in-differences approach, we show that after the reform, UK corporations shifted more profits to countries with a lower tax rate than the UK. This profit shifting leads to a mismeasurement of productivity: UK corporations became seemingly more productive in low-tax countries and less productive in the UK. In the second funding period, we aim to develop methods for estimating total factor productivity that correct for this mismeasurement due to profit shifting. This will involve estimating the profit-shifting bias in the measurement of inputs in order to adjust the productivity measure accordingly. Finally, we would like to study the interaction between tax policy and research and development (R&D, one of the main determinants of productivity). To this end, we develop a model that captures firm-level R&D activities as well as the patenting decision. This decision has been little studied so far, although it has important implications for taxation: only a patented (or otherwise codified) innovation can be used to reduce the tax burden by moving the associated intangible assets to a tax haven and using royalty payments to shift profits there. The goal of this research project is to understand better how the current tax system (and possible alternatives) influence these decisions.
Förderer:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project Period:
2019 - 2027
Project website:
https://www.rsit-uni-tuebingen.de/for-2738/
Fordoc:
fordoc.ku.de/id/eprint/2834/
Artificial Intelligence in Asset Management: Perks and Perils
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. David Streich (Ingolstadt School of Management;Digital Finance)
Project partner:
Technical University of Dresden
Abstract:
Artificial intelligence in the form of large language models (LLMs) enables technically savvy laypeople to perform complex tasks in areas in which they are not experts. Due to the high demand for financial advice, retirement savings, and asset management, LLMs present a promising area of application. This potential is evident in the early adoption of LLMs by leading asset managers and advisors. The goal of this research project is to identify the potentials and risks for investors and financial advisor resulting from the use of AI-supported assistance systems, and to identify the possible need for regulation. To this end, the project will investigate the quality of the investment recommendations generated by LLMs, the determinants of user acceptance of such systems, and potential risks or impediments to the adoption in the investment context. To assess the potential of LLMs in investment advice, a distinction must be made between the performance of the recommendation itself (e.g., measured as risk-adjusted return) and the effectiveness in changing investor behavior (e.g., measured as weight of advice or the investor's adjustment towards the recommendation). Both aspects are important in evaluating the performance of LLMs. To improve individual investment behavior, an LLM must generate recommendations of sufficient quality, which in turn must be accepted and adopted to a sufficient degree by investors. The project will also investigate two central risks of LLM-based decision-support systems: algorithmic bias and data protection and data security risks. Algorithmic bias can potentially negatively affect the quality and acceptance of the investment recommendations generated by LLMs. In addition, the creation of investment recommendations requires the provision of sensitive data, which potentially negatively impacts user acceptance.
Funding body:
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration: 2025 - 2028
Resilience Strategies for City Logistics under Disruptions (ReSCueD)
Applicant:
Prof. Dr. Pirmin Fontaine (Ingolstadt School of Management; BA Logistics and Operations Analytics)
Abstract:
This research project investigates the impact of sudden disruptions in city logistics systems with several cooperating logistics service providers. To overcome from these disruptions, we develop and evaluate several recovery strategies and integrate them into a resilience strategy. For doing so, we consider a two-tier city logistics system where multiple logistics service providers are cooperating on the multi-modal first tier. On the first tier, the goods are transported to so-called satellites from where each logistics service provider transports its demand to its own customers using small environmental-friendly vehicles. On the first tierwhich uses, for example, cargo trams or larger transporter, disruption can occur. These disruptions interfere the further transportation and can therefore effect multiple logistics service providers. In a first step, we develop different recovery strategies and formulate them mathematically as mixed-integer linear programs. Then, we integrate those into a tactical planning problem. This decision support model aims to allocate resources and select first-tier services in the mid-term planning (e.g., a season). It is formulated as a two-stage stochastic program and solved using an exact decomposition technique (branch-and-repair), to generate the resilient tactical plan. The goal of branch-and-repair is to efficiently find feasible solutions such that the focus in this project lies on the development of the repair mechanism. Finally, we use machine learning (decision trees) to derive simple rules that allow immediate operative decisions in case of a disruption. To test the methods and resilience strategies, we will extend existing data sets and already developed an instance generator with disruption data. Within several case study, we will analyze the effects of the selection of services and modes, the composition of logistics service providers, and the vulnerability to disruptions on the resilience strategies.
Funding body: German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project duration: 2025 - 2028
(Last updated; April 2026)
