Research

The Faculty of Engineering is one of the most research-intensive engineering faculties in Germany. Here, basic and applied research is conducted at the highest level. Research and teaching are closely linked.

Excellent research at three successful departments

Through exchange across department and faculty boundaries, innovative solutions are developed for current and future challenges in science, business and society.

Department
of Computer Science

Department
of Microsystems Engineering

Department
of Sustainable Systems Engineering

In addition, there are cooperations with the five Fraunhofer Institutes and the Hahn-Schickard Institutes as well as contacts to leading companies and scientific institutions in the region, in Europe and the world.

Research foci

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Biomedical Microsystems

Circularity Engineering
Networks and Resilience
Sustainable Materials and Energy Systems

Cyber Physical Systems
Information Systems
Intelligent Integrated Microsystems

Neurotechnology and Robotics
Photonics
Smart Materials and Bioinspired Systems

Clusters of Excellence

The Excellence Initiative of the German federal and State Governments promotes top-level research at German universities. Researchers at the Faculty of Engineering are helping to shape the following clusters of excellence.

The vision of the Cluster of Excellence Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS) is to combine the best of two worlds – nature and technology. livMatS develops life-like materials systems inspired by nature. The systems will adapt autonomously to their environment, harvest clean energy from it, and be insensitive to damage or recover from it.

Researchers in the Cluster of Excellence CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies seek to uncover how signals orchestrate multicellular life in humans, animals and plants. Biological signalling research addresses the communication processes that are fundamental to life and health. It explores how cells react to diverse conditions and cues, and how they communicate with one another to orchestrate the development and function of the organism – whether it be a human, animal or plant. To achieve a holistic understanding of cellular signalling processes across the full spectrum of biological scales, CIBSS is pioneering a new approach that will advance the frontiers of signalling research.

Centers

BrainLinks-BrainTools was founded as a Cluster of Excellence that was established in 2012 as part of the DFG’s German Excellence Initiative II (EXC 1086) and has been funded as a center by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts since 2019 as part of the sustainability funding of the Excellence Initiative II projects.

BIOSS Centre for Biological Signalling Studies (2007–2019) was founded in 2007 as a Cluster of Excellence within the Excellence Strategy of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and was successfully extended for another six years in 2012. Starting in 2019, BIOSS as a center of the University of Freiburg will continue the research and education program as well as the services for the life science community, which are sustainably funded by the University and the Ministry of Science and Education (MWK) of the State of Baden-Württemberg (Excellence Initiative 2005–2019).