Press releases

The collaboration with the Université Paris Dauphine-PSL is one of the oldest and most intensive cooperations of Goethe University's Faculty of Economics and Business. Its distinguishing feature: two double-degree programs allowing participants to study for a degree of both countries. To mark the partnership's 30th anniversary, a large delegation visited Goethe University on Friday, December 9. 

FRANKFURT. The two partner universities' contribution to the Franco-German friendship has at least 344 faces: that's how many students participated in the double-degree programs of the economics departments at Goethe University and Université Paris Dauphine-PSL over the past 30 years. Not included in this tally are the numerous students who have moved between the partner universities via Erasmus semesters abroad. What started in 1992 as a "trial balloon" for a double degree, says Lars Pilz, Deputy Dean for Study Matters at Goethe University's Faculty of Economics and Business, over the years has taken the form of a joint double bachelor's degree and, more recently, a double master's degree – making the partnership with Université Dauphine-PSL unique. In total, Goethe University's Economics and Business Faculty more than 140 international partnerships. 

Nothing better represents this intensive and close cooperation with Dauphine-PSL than the visit from the Paris delegation to mark the anniversary: PSL University President Prof. El-Mouhoub Mouhoud and Vice-President Prof. Sophie Meritet were joined not only by all those responsible for the program. The cohort also included those students who will be starting the double bachelor's program next year. Additional goals of the cooperation were addressed in the exchange with Goethe University President Prof. Enrico Schleiff and those responsible for the partnership here. 

"I am pleased about the great appreciation our economists enjoy among our partners. The commitment with which all those responsible have nurtured and developed this international partnership over the past 30 years is not something to be taken for granted. I would like to explicitly thank everyone involved for these efforts," said Prof. Enrico Schleiff. "In times like these, with accumulating crises, it is more important than ever to have more projects like this – which not only provide young people with intercultural knowledge and prepare them for entering an international job market. They also create an awareness for a Europe whose future viability can only be developed on the basis of knowledge and trust." 

"Our students are taking part in the historical, political and economic continuity of the Franco-German cooperation", said Prof. El-Mouhoub Mouhoud. “They interpret a more modern and non-exclusive version of it, adapted to globalization and more generally open to Europe and the world. This is thanks to trilingual teaching and courses that increasingly include the major contemporary issues and the multipolar dimension of the contemporary world. The Franco-German cooperation remains alive thanks to concrete projects at the individual, academic and business levels. The cooperation between Dauphine and Frankfurt is all the more important for this reason." 

To deepen the partnership, the two universities plan to intensify their cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence and with the Frankfurt House of Finance, whose scientific director and head of the double programs, Prof. Rainer Klump, accompanied the visit. With a branch in Tunisia, in the long term, the Université Paris Dauphine also opens up the possibility for Goethe University's German partners to extend the study programs to the African continent, too. 

The double bachelor's program was included in the Franco-German University (Deutsch-Französische Hochschule, Université franco-allemande), an association of 208 universities, in 2019. With the seal of this association, students who spend two semesters in two countries and one joint semester in Frankfurt can receive an additional 300 euros for their stay abroad, in addition to their Erasmus funding. Starting this winter semester, students in the double master's program in economics and finance, first introduced in 2019, will receive scholarships from the BHF Bank Stiftung and the Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation Bad Nauheim, which also supports language programs. In addition, the two degree programs also include the possibility to complete professional internships in both countries, and to receive targeted language training in French, German and English. 

The regular feedback from students and the "creativity" of everyone involved have been crucial to overcoming one or two administrative hurdles and developing a common understanding of the degree programs, Lars Pilz and his colleague Bianka Jäckel agree. The students describe their studies as quite demanding: "I have to admit that due to the workload and the organization, studying at Dauphine was anything but a walk in the park," one student says about his experience in Paris. "Nevertheless, it ... opened the doors to a cool internship abroad for me." At the same time, students point to the "wonderful challenge of developing both personally and academically," as double bachelor student Victor Schäfer from Goethe University writes. By contrast, students from Paris, such as Anita Poulou, who just completed her double master's degree, offer lots of praise for Frankfurt as a location: "Frankfurt is a wonderful city as it offers a wide range of professional opportunities that students can easily combine with their studies." The good reputation of the master's program among employers in the financial services sector also opened doors for her professional development, she adds. 

Image for download: www.uni-frankfurt.de/129570622 

Caption: Celebrating 30 years of partnership between the economics faculties at the Université Paris Dauphine-PSL and Goethe University: Visit by a delegation from Paris (including presidents Prof. El-Mouhoub Mouhoud and Prof. Enrico Schleiff, fifth and sixth from right) (Photo: Jürgen Lecher/Goethe University) 

Further information
Lars O. Pilz
Deputy Dean for Study Matters
Goethe University
Tel.: +49 (0) 69-798-34608
e-Mail: lpilz@wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de
www.wiwi.uni-frankfurt.de

Editor: Pia Barth, Public Relations Officer, PR & Communications Office, Tel. + 49 (0)69 798 12481, Fax + 49 (0)69 798 763 12531, p.barth@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Protecting the cybersecurity of society, business and the state, and fending off threats: That is the goal of ATHENE, the National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity. Through its research and development, Goethe University now is contributing to Europe's largest cybersecurity research center. 

FRANKFURT. Almost every company at one point or another falls victim to IT-based attacks. In addition, online attackers are becoming increasingly professional, Germany's digital association Bitkom, which represents more than 2,000 companies of the digital economy, has found. The ATHENE National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity already bundles the cybersecurity activities of several top research institutions. Goethe University recently joined these ranks and is now doing its part to strengthen and complement ATHENE's cybersecurity research. 

The main topics of cybersecurity research at Goethe University are system and network security, secure identities, privacy-friendly technologies as well as legal issues surrounding IT security and data protection. 

“The number of cyberattacks is rising significantly worldwide. Bitkom data show that German companies alone will suffer damages of more than 200 billion euros in 2022 due to data theft, espionage or sabotage. At the state level, too, we are increasingly confronted with new threats, and not just since the war in Ukraine," explains Prof. Reimund Neugebauer, President of Germany's Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft applied research organization. "The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity ATHENE addresses current and future challenges through application-oriented, innovative and cutting-edge research, with a view to improving cybersecurity and privacy protection across all areas of life and critical infrastructures. By joining ATHENE, Goethe University Frankfurt not only contributes its complementary expertise in the fields of law, medicine and finance. It will also further expedite the advisory competence and innovative power of this unique cooperation model." 

Goethe University President Prof. Enrico Schleiff adds: "ATHENE's innovative cooperation model offers us unique opportunities to research the challenges of an increasingly digital world and to develop solutions and answers for society, business and politics. Goethe University's contribution is particularly focused on system and network security, high-performance computing security, as well as data protection and legal aspects of cybersecurity. We also view ATHENE as a significant component in further strengthening the Rhine-Main location, which already is an international leader in IT security." 

Goethe University is represented on the ATHENE board by Prof. Haya Shulman, who was appointed to a top LOEWE professorship in cybersecurity at Goethe University's Department of Computer Science in February of this year. She heads the Cybersecurity Analytics and Defenses department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (Fraunhofer-Institut SIT) in Darmstadt and coordinates the Analytics Based Cybersecurity research area at the ATHENE National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity. Director of ATHENE is Prof. Michael Waidner, head of the Fraunhofer-Institut SIT and professor at the Technical University of Darmstadt, a Goethe University partner in the Strategic Alliance of Rhine-Main Universities (RMU). 

The ATHENE National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity is a Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft research center that brings together the Fraunhofer Institutes for Secure Information Technology (SIT) and for Computer Graphics Research (IGD), the Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences and now also Goethe University. With more than 600 participating scientists, including 50 professors, ATHENE is the largest cybersecurity research center in Europe and Germany's leading scientific research institution. ATHENE's roughly 100 research projects in currently 13 research areas are dedicated to the important challenges cyber security poses for society, the economy and the state. ATHENE works with leading research institutions from around the world; a special relationship exists with Israel, where ATHENE operates the Fraunhofer Cybersecurity Innovation Platform together with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

ATHENE is a permanent Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft research center funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts (HMWK). In 2022, ATHENE's funding amounted to around 23 million euros. 

Further information
Prof. Dr. Haya Shulman
Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics
Cybersecurity
Goethe University
Robert-Mayer-Str. 10
60486 Frankfurt am Main
shulman@em.uni-frankfurt.de
https://www.athene-center.de

Editor: Pia Barth, Public Relations Officer, PR & Communications Office, Tel. + 49 (0)69 798 12481, Fax + 49 (0)69 798 763 12531, p.barth@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Joint research connects: The commitment to sustainability, biodiversity and planetary health brought individual researchers from the University of Saskatchewan and Goethe University together years ago. Now, the two universities have entered into a comprehensive international partnership. During the inaugural visit of a Canadian delegation made up of representatives from science and politics, which took place on December 4, 2022, the focus lay on plans for a sustainable cooperation. 

FRANKFURT. Sometimes it is interest in a student exchange, more often than not a joint research project that provides the impetus for an international university partnership. In the case of the new partnership between the University of Saskatchewan and Goethe University, it was a shared interest in water research: biologist Prof. Henner Hollert from Goethe University's Institute of Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, and his Canadian colleagues Prof. Markus Brinkmann and Prof. Markus Hecker, both at the Toxicology Centre within the University of Saskatchewan's School of Environment and Sustainability, have been conducting research together for many years. Fast forward to today, and the natural scientists are planning a transnational college for young scientists to focus on water safety and the health of an aquatic ecosystem. A few months ago, the three scientists' universities agreed on a comprehensive partnership that will tie the two institutions together in areas above and beyond sustainability research. 

Continuing this comprehensive cooperation was the main topic at the inaugural visit by University of Saskatchewan's Vice President for Research Prof. Baljit Singh and biologist Prof. Markus Brinkmann, who also serves as his university's special advisor for German university partnerships. The scientists were accompanied by Gordon Wyant, Minister of Education in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, as well as other members of his ministry. 

"We are very much looking forward to this new transatlantic partnership," said Goethe University President Prof. Enrico Schleiff. "Our connection with the research-intensive University of Saskatchewan is not limited to the joint research excellent scientists from both universities have been conducting in the fields of ecotoxicology and biodiversity for many years. We are also united by the conviction that as universities, we are called upon to develop creative interdisciplinary solutions for the world's societal challenges. We want to strengthen and inspire each other in the long term!" 

Dr. Baljit Singh, University of Saskatchewan's Vice President for Research, emphasized: “The University of Saskatchewan is excited to formalize our longstanding partnership with Goethe University, with whom we share common values and a commitment to academic and research excellence. We look forward to the collaboration between University of Saskatchewan and Goethe University researchers to develop solutions to complex global challenges." 

Further collaboration will include student, faculty and staff exchanges and internships, as well as the expansion of research projects and the development of joint academic programs. The agreement focuses on additional projects in water research, especially water security and water health, projects on the interactions between chemical pollution and biodiversity loss, as well as further inter- and transdisciplinary research in sustainability, biodiversity and planetary health. 

The Canadian guests also showed particular interest in Goethe University's new Sustainability Office, whose team informed the visitors about current and planned projects. 

Located in Saskatoon, the province's largest city, the University of Saskatchewan is one of Canada's leading research universities and, with about 25,000 students, one of the country's largest. It is a member of the U15 group of Canadian research universities and offers bachelor's and master's programs in more than 150 fields of study. It is also a member of the University of the Arctic (UArctic), a network of universities and institutes in the North Polar region. The University of Saskatchewan is one of the world's leading universities in the field of interdisciplinary water research, and is supported by the Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS) and the Global Water Futures (GWF) program. 

Goethe University is the third German partner university of the University of Saskatchewan, along with Greifswald and TU Darmstadt. 

Image for download: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/129306257 

Caption: A sustainable partnership: Representatives of Canada's University of Saskatchewan (including Vice President for Research Prof. Baljit Singh, fourth from right) and Goethe University, represented by President Prof. Enrico Schleiff (third from right). (Photo: Jürgen Lecher / Goethe University) 

Further information
Cathrin Rieger
International University Partnerships
Goethe University
Tel: +49 (0)69 798-18156
c.rieger@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Editor: Pia Barth, Public Relations Officer, PR & Communications Office, Tel. + 49 (0)69 798 12481, Fax + 49 (0)69 798 763 12531, p.barth@em.uni-frankfurt.de

The ALICE experiment at the CERN particle accelerator center in Geneva, Switzerland, investigates the state of matter shortly after the Big Bang, also known as the quark-gluon plasma. By causing lead ions to collide with each other, it is possible to create such a quark-gluon plasma for tiny fractions of a second. Now, for the first time, a test run at CERN for the ALICE experiment has generated collision energies of 5.36 teraelectronvolts per nucleon-nucleon collision – the highest collision energy ever achieved worldwide. Researchers led by Goethe University's Harald Appelshäuser prepared the central ALICE detector for these higher collision rates, which they hope will offer new insights into the origin of the universe. 

FRANKFURT. A few fractions of a second after the Big Bang, all matter in the universe constituted a kind of "elementary particle soup", known as quark-gluon plasma. By allowing heavy ions to collide in particle accelerators, it is possible to create such quark-gluon plasma for an extremely short time. Such lead ion collisions are central to the ALICE experiment at CERN's accelerator center, which aims to study the properties of matter as it existed shortly after the Big Bang. 

During a four-year renovation phase, lasting from 2018 to 2022, the world's most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, was once again improved and now is capable of accelerating significantly more lead ions than before. The ALICE detector was also upgraded during this time, enabling it to record the higher collision rates the LHC will deliver in the future. For this purpose, it was necessary to completely replace the readout detectors of the experiment's central detector, the so-called Time Projection Chamber (TPC). Prof. Harald Appelshäuser from Goethe University's Institute of Nuclear Physics is in charge of this project, which has been ten years in the making. Among other things, the new TPC will make it possible to determine the temperature of the quark-gluon plasma produced during the lead-lead collision. 

The tests now being carried out at CERN with lead ions will allow ALICE researchers to verify that the readout and signal handling work as expected. The enormous amounts of data generated during the measurements constitute a major challenge – for the TPC alone, the data volume comes to several terabytes per second. To sufficiently reduce the amount of data stored, this data stream must be processed in real time using effective pattern recognition methods. 

The EPN (Event Processing Nodes) computing cluster, which is based on both conventional processors (CPUs) as well as special graphics processors, was set up for this exact experiment. Leading the project is Prof. Volker Lindenstruth of the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) and Goethe University's Institute for Computer Science. 

The first measurements of the new energy constitute a great success for CERN's heavy ion program. Prof. Harald Appelshäuser: "We can hardly wait for the measurements to really start now." 

Images for download: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/129304631 

Caption: The ALICE detector is being opened for an upgrade. Photo: Sebastian Scheid, Goethe University 

Further information
Prof. Harald Appelshäuser
Institute of Nuclear Physics
Goethe University
Tel: +49 (0) 69 798-47034 or 47023
appels@ikf.uni-frankfurt.de
@ALICExperiment

Editor: Dr. Markus Bernards, Science Editor, PR & Communication Office, Tel: +49 (0) 69 798-12498, Fax: +49 (0) 69 798-763 12531, bernards@em.uni-frankfurt.de

What profession do graduates of the recently established academic degree on Islamic Theological Studies at German Universities take up after having completed their studies? Within the German context, that question has now been addressed in a study prepared by Goethe University's Academy for Islam in Research and Society (AIWG), in collaboration with the Universities of Giessen and Mainz. The results of the study, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, were recently published in the Academy's "WiFo paper" publication series. 

FRANKFURT Up to 2,500 young people study Islamic Theology or religious education at German universities. Where do they work once they have completed their studies: in schools, as imams, as social workers, in the media? An interdisciplinary team from the universities of Giessen, Mainz and Frankfurt took a closer look at precisely this question, and the AIWG just published the qualitative and quantitative results of the study "Berufsfeld Islam" (“Islam as an occupational field") in its publication format "WiFo paper". 

More than 200 graduates of Islamic Theological Studies at universities in five German states were interviewed for the study: What professions did they pursue after studying Islam? How well do they feel their studies prepared them for the working world? What are the factors that favor career entry? The results show for which professions the Islamic Theological Studies introduced at German universities in 2011 primarily qualify students. 

Social work and teaching as important fields of employment
The central findings of the "Berufsfeld Islam" study: Almost half the graduates are employed in social work or related professional fields. Another 40 percent work in educational professions. By contrast, hardly any participants in the study work full-time as imams. In retrospect, most respondents see the study of Islamic theology or religious education as a phase of intellectual and personal development. However, feedback also showed that many wished their studies would have better prepared them for their later activities. 

Two-thirds of those who have completed a teaching degree program would choose this path again. After completing their studies, they have a relatively clear career profile in mind and a regulated transition into the teaching profession. However, many report increased structural hurdles and burdens, since Islamic religious education is still in the process of being established. 

By contrast, less than half would choose the theological focus again. After completing their studies, these graduates have to explore their own careers, and, in the first few years, are usually only employed on a temporary basis. It is worth noting, however, that the employment rate here is at the same level as that for other humanities. 

In general, the study shows that graduates make an above-average contribution to society. More than half of them are involved in voluntary work. In particular, those with a theology major often take on responsibility in religious and social institutions. 

"With the follow-up study of graduates, we now have important, systematically collected information on students' career entry for the first time. In addition, the results of the study can help students and prospective students get a clearer picture of the opportunities the degree programs offer and what additional key competencies are important for a successful career entry, especially in the humanities," comments AIWG Director Prof. Bekim Agai on the study results. "The study suggests that practice-oriented study programs, such as part-time master's degrees, should also be offered. Internships, volunteer work or semesters abroad are also helpful for a successful career start," says Prof. Naime Çakir-Mattner from the University of Giessen, who led the research project together with Prof. Constantin Wagner from the University of Mainz. The survey was conducted among graduates who had obtained a bachelor's degree or a state examination in Islamic theology or religious education at universities in Frankfurt, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Giessen, Münster, Osnabrück or Tübingen between 2016 and 2019. More than 200 of the total of some 570 graduates from this period took part in the study. 

About the project leadership
Naime Çakir-Mattner is a professor of Islamic theology, with a focus on Muslim lifestyles, at Justus Liebig University Giessen. Her research interests include migration, gender and religion, islamophobia and racism, Islam and Muslims in the European context. 

Constantin Wagner is Professor of Educational Science, with a focus on heterogeneity, at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. His research interests include heterogeneity and social inequality in post-migrant society and Islam(understandings) in postcolonial Europe. He is the author of the AIWG expertise "Who Studies Islamic Theology? An Overview of the Subject and its Students". 

About the AIWG "WiFo paper"
The WiFo papers series publishes project reports, position papers, and exploratory contributions from AIWG's scientific project groups . They take up Islamic-theological topics from inter-university projects and thus contribute to specialist discourses and interdisciplinary exchange. 

The study (in German) can be downloaded from the AIWG website: https://aiwg.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/WiFo-paper-Berufsfeld-Islam.pdf 

The key findings of Prof. Constantin Wagner's expertise “Who Studies Islamic Theology? An Overview of the Subject and its Students" is available online and includes an English summary on pages 7-9: https://aiwg.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Wer-studiert-islamische-Theologie_Expertise.pdf 

Charts and book titles available for downloat at: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/129125771
The images and charts provided may be used editorially only in the context of reporting on the publication. 

Caption: A new study by the Academy for Islam in Research and Society (AIWG) looks at the career entry of graduates in Islamic Theological Studies and religious education. (Charts: Erkin Calisir/AIWG) 

Further information
Stefanie Golla
Coordinator Science Communication and PR
Academy for Islam in Research and Society Goethe University
Phone: +49 (0)69 798-22459
E-Mail: golla@aiwg.de
Homepage: https://aiwg.de/ 

About the AIWG
The Academy for Islam in Research and Society (AIWG) at the Goethe University in Frankfurt conducts interdisciplinary research and transfer activities with a focus on Islamic Theological Studies and Muslim life in Germany. It connects all faculties for Islamic Theological Studies or Islamic religious pedagogy located in a University in Germany. The academy addresses issues of social participation by including perspectives related to religion. The AIWG is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and by the Stiftung Mercator foundation.

Editor: Dr. Anke Sauter, Science Editor, PR & Communication Office, Tel: +49 (0) 69 798-13066, Fax: +49 (0) 69 798-763 12531, sauter@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de