In recent years, Kiel University has experienced profound and wide-reaching changes and, in the process, become transformed into what it would describe as a “Universität verbundener Wissenschaftskulturen“ (i.e a university of interactive and interconnecting academic cultures). We build on our strength and proven excellence in interdisciplinary research within four dynamically evolving research foci of great international relevance, namely “Marine and Geosciences”, “Life Sciences”, “Nano and Surface Science”, and “Societal, Environmental, Cultural Change (SECC)”.
Both “Nano and Surface Science” and “Societal, Environmental, Cultural Change (SECC)” have developed over the last few years to join the two traditionally strong fields of “Marine and Geosciences” and “Applied Life Sciences”. Each focus pools research taking place across various CAU faculties, and moreover greatly benefits from strong partnerships with non-university research institutions in Kiel and the Schleswig-Holstein region. All four research foci concentrate around our Excellence projects, three of which were granted funding in the first round of the Excellence Initiative, while a fourth, the cluster ‘Materials for Life’, is to be proposed in 2010. The resulting university profile is unique, the scientific exchange across disciplinary and faculty borders invigorating and stimulating.