On Thursday, the German Research Foundation (DFG) in Bonn announced that under the German government's Excellence Strategy the University of Tübingen will receive funding for six Clusters of Excellence starting on January 1, 2026. This includes three existing clusters whose funding has been renewed. Under the Excellence Strategy guidelines, the University of Tübingen can now apply for the second funding line to renew its status as one of Germany's Universities of Excellence.
The President of the University of Tübingen, Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. (Dōshisha) Karla Pollmann, responded to the news from Bonn: "The decision to fund "GreenRobust", "HUMAN ORIGINS" and "TERRA" as new Clusters of Excellence in Tübingen in the future attests to the University of Tübingen's leading position in these fields of research and confirms the belief that there is enormous potential in each of these clusters. At the same time, renewed funding for the three existing clusters, "Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections" (CMFI), "Image-guided and Functionally Instructed Tumor Therapies" (iFIT) and "Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science", shows that outstanding research has been conducted at our University in recent years. I offer my congratulations and thanks to all the researchers and professional support staff who have contributed to today's success for their enormous commitment, perseverance, and solidarity on this long road to success."
She said the decision was also an honor for the partners included in these clusters without whom this success would not have been possible - including the University of Hohenheim and Heidelberg University which cooperate in the GreenRobust cluster together with the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen; the University of Hohenheim is a cooperation partner in the TERRA cluster together with the Senckenberg Nature Research Society, Frankfurt. The Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen continues to be involved in the Cluster CMFI, in HUMAN ORIGINS the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, Tübingen; iFIT collaborates with the German Cancer Research Center in the Helmholtz Association, the National Center for Tumor Diseases SouthWest (Tübingen/Stuttgart-Ulm), the German Cancer Consortium, the Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch Institute of Clinical Pharmacology and the Natural and Medical Science Institute (NMI); the partners of the cluster Machine Learning are the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, the ELLIS Institute Tübingen, the The Leibniz Institute for Knowledge Media (IWM), and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Kigali, Rwanda. The President also thanked the state Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts. "Many other areas in which research is conducted at the highest level will benefit from the high profile of the Clusters of Excellence at our University," said the President. "At the same time, this is also a mandate for the entire university to continue working hard on the development of the university and to bring strong results into society. Despite all the joy, today's decisions bring with them immense challenges for us to meet the many expectations."
The President also praised the efforts of those who worked on the further three applications - Bionic Intelligence for Health" (BI4H), "Critical Proximities," "The Fe|male Brain" -, who were not able to celebrate success today. "These fields - thanks to their success in the preliminary application phase - have proven in a long competition that they pursue innovative approaches. Because all cluster applications are aligned with the University's research priorities, we will examine the funding formats offered by the German Research Foundation, the EU, the German government or the state of Baden-Württemberg to see if they can provide follow-up funding to continue the valuable work in these areas to ensure their efforts were not in vain."
Following a highly successful first selection round in February 2024, the University of Tübingen was invited to submit full proposals for a total of six new Clusters of Excellence in the respective funding line as well as applications for extensions to the three existing clusters. Therefore, Tübingen was represented with nine research projects at the application stage. Universities that have got at least two Clusters of Excellence may apply for the "University of Excellence" status and extra funding within the Excellence Strategy funding line.
Building on this latest success, the University management and all University members are now focusing on this next stage of the Excellence Strategy. The University is currently compiling its report for reevaluation as a University of Excellence, in order to submit it by August 1. "The success of the clusters, which are thematically aligned with the university's main areas of research, is a mandate for us to further develop other areas of the university. Our aim is to further develop research, teaching and innovation university-wide," said President Pollmann. "Research is at the heart of the Excellence Strategy, yet at the same time, the University also plans to further develop teaching and learning as well as knowledge transfer at the highest level in the future." A DFG committee will decide in March 2026 whether the University of Tübingen will be able to maintain its status as a University of Excellence from 2027 onwards.
The following Clusters of Excellence will receive the German government's Excellence sponsorship from 2026:
Trillions of microorganisms live naturally in and on our bodies - in microbial communities known as microbiomes. These are essential for bodily functions and for our health. However, opportunistic, antibiotic-resistant pathogens (ARBPs) also originate from the microbiome. They cause millions of deaths every year - and that trend is rising. Antibiotic resistance has been increasing for years, yet there are hardly any commercial antibiotic development programs. The medical advances of the 20th century are under threat. We may be facing a post-antibiotic era in which antibiotics are no longer effective. The Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections (CMFI) Cluster of Excellence investigates mechanisms of microbiome dynamics and uses them to develop strategies for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections.
In the second funding phase, the cluster is pursuing an intensified, integrative research approach to microbiome control. Biological, medical, chemical and computer-aided research will record complex interactions of potentially dangerous bacteria with more beneficial microorganisms and the host, and seek ways of harnessing them for new approaches to treatment. The aim is to prevent and tackle difficult-to-treat infections with antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens using new methods and active agents.
During the first funding phase, CMFI researchers discovered novel antimicrobial substances naturally produced by the organisms in our microbiomes. In studies, one of the newly discovered substances was able to specifically eliminate the methicillin-resistant bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - a common hospital germ.
The Cluster's spokesperson is Professor Andreas Peschel of the Tübingen Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine. The two deputy spokeswomen are Professor Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt, also from the Tübingen Institute, and Professor Ruth Ley, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen, with the University Hospitals also playing an important role.
Information on the Cluster of Excellence can be found on the website of the University of Tübingen
