Research projects and special funding

Below is a selection of currently active research projects at University of Passau. If you have any further questions, please contact the Communication and Marketing Division

German funding sources

German Research Foundation (DFG)

DFG Research Training Group "Digital Platform Ecosystems (DPE)"

From October 2022, the Research Training Group "Digital Platform Ecosystems" will be the University’s pivotal hub for leading-edge, international, and interdisciplinary research and advanced academic qualifications around a central phenomenon of the digital economy.

Emmy Noether research group: the power of the Internet in Russia

How has the rapid growth in the importance of Internet communication in the past two decades affected political communication, politics and political systems in the post-Soviet region? This question is being pursued at the University of Passau by the research group "On the mediatisation of (semi-)authoritarian rule: the power of the Internet in the post-Soviet region", headed by Professor Florian Töpfl.

Narrative, expectation, experience: disability in contemporary European theatre and film

More and more often, characters with a disability are cast with individuals who have a genuine impairment. Having said that, the roles played in particular by people with a cognitive impairment in theatre and film is a topic that has hardly been researched much at all so far.

DFG project ResiServD – resilient infrastructure for the energy revolution

Renewable energies are central to the energy revolution, but the power supply network needs to be adapted to suit the altered conditions. A research team from the universities of Passau and Kassel, already in the second funding phase, are investigating how failures in the new energy infrastructure can be averted.

DFG project "Blackstart" – new strategies against blackouts II

Natural disasters, cyber attacks, weak points in the system: the DFG project "Blackstart" at the universities in Passau and Oldenburg, devoted to the causes of blackouts and strategies for black starts, is now going into its second funding phase.

Why Do People Act and How Does It Work?

A DFG research group is examining this question from various perspectives of psychology. Professor Susanne Mayr, psychologist at the University of Passau with a focus on human-machine interaction, is participating in the research.

Services versus data: DFG project investigates market mechanisms and their regulation in the digital platform economy

Major online platforms such as Amazon, Facebook or Google offer companies improved placement in exchange for data. As part of a DFG project, a team from the University of Passau is researching the consequences for competition and how this can be intelligently regulated.

Collaborative Research Centre CROSSING - Cryptography as the Basis for Trust in the Internet of Things

Cryptography is an essential prerequisite for ensuring that complex services and applications in new and future IT systems are trustworthy. Computer scientist Professor Stefan Katzenbeisser from the University of Passau leads a subproject in the DFG Collaborative Research Centre CROSSING at the TU Darmstadt.

DFG project SINIR – with simulated usage data for the library of the future

In the DFG project SINIR, a research team from the University of Passau is working on concepts for the digital library of the future in conjunction with the world's largest specialist library for economics literature – and that with the help of simulated use data.

Web archives – archiving the internet for future generations

What could interest historians in 2058 about the 2018 online election campaign in Bavaria? In the Web Archives project of the German Research Foundation (DFG), a team from the University of Passau is developing methods to systematically archive websites, online reports, social-media discussions and comments.

Passau researchers investigate the secret of long-term successful founders

How do founder-inventors manage to keep their companies on a growth trajectory? A research team led by Prof. Dr. Carolin Häussler, Chair of Business Administration with a focus on Organization, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Passau, searches for answers to this question in a project funded by the German Research Association (DFG).

The German Research Foundation (DFG) network SONA – the voice of sociology in the sustainability debate

Sustainability is not just an ecological issue, but also a social one. The DFG-funded ‘SONA – The Sociology of Sustainability’ Academic Network brings a sociological perspective to the debate. Sustainability – where does this term come from?

DFG project: mathematical theories to counteract turbulences

With his work, Passau-based researcher Dr Andrii Mironchenko may be able to fundamentally improve our understanding of complex systems. In a DFG-funded project, he is analysing feedback effects between infinitely dimensional systems and creating theories that may be able to provide greater stability in various situations, such as flying.

Geographical NetWorkshop: GEOcite – a scientometric monitoring instrument for the longitudinal observation of scientific communication

This project is mainly concerned with the development of the software solution GEOcite, a monitoring tool for continuous scientific observation within geography in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. GEOcite makes a contribution to the automatic large-scale gathering, processing and evaluation of citation data both recent and historical, thus making it possible to process a wide range of questions designed to analyse the discipline.

Research Training Group: Privacy and Digitalisation

How do Social Media, Big Data and digital tracking change the definition of privacy? The Research Training Group 1681 "Privacy" of the University of Passau - funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) - financed early career researchers working on fields related to privacy and digitalisation.

German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)

BMBF project DEEP WRITE: Better writing and arguing in Law and Economics through AI

Can artificial intelligence (AI) help students of Law and Economics develop their writing and argumentation skills? Under the supervision of legal expert Professor Urs Kramer, researchers at the University of Passau are looking into this question and receiving funds worth around two million euros from Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to do so.

BMBF Research Hub 6G-RIC – A security architecture for future mobile telephony

The University Passau is a participant in the research hub "6G Research and Innovation Cluster (6G-RIC)", which is coordinated by Fraunhofer HHI and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

Strategies for Skills Acquisition: Innovative Teaching Concepts in Teacher Training, digitally enhanced (SKILL.de)

Since 2016, in the project 'Strategies for Skills Acquisition: Innovative Teaching and Consultation Concepts in Teacher Training' (SKILL), scientists at the University of Passau have been working to close the gaps between scientific discipline, teaching methodology and educational sciences.

EXIST project PATEC – on the way to a founders' university

With the project "Passau – The Entrepreneurial Campus" (PATEC), the University of Passau is pursuing the aim of boosting the spirit of foundation on its campus and developing to become a genuine founders' university.

Junior research group CAROLL: algorithms trained in rhetoric to combat hatred on the Web

Algorithms that Aristotle would have liked: a team at the University of Passau is developing an Artificial Intelligence system based on the ancient art of rhetoric. This AI system could be able to detect implicit insults on the Web, but also to recognize which of two legal arguments is the better.

University consortium for a combined knowledge transfer strategy in the region (TRIO)

From ad hoc collaboration towards a comprehensive transfer consortium: The Transfer and Innovation in Eastern Bavaria (TRIO) programme, which is co-ordinated by OTH Regensburg, seeks to strengthen the knowledge and technology transfer activities of universities in the administrative districts of Upper Palatinate and Lower Bavaria.

PACE – Passau Centre for eHumanities

The Passau Centre for eHumanities (PACE) investigates new computer-based approaches to determine the needs of the humanities and cultural studies fields for research and teaching. The Centre The Passau Centre for eHumanities (German) is an important component of the eHumanities field at the University of Passau.

BMBF ‘Dictatorship and Conscience’ subproject examines persecution in East Germany

The BMBF-funded research project ‘Landscapes of Persecution' is developing a database modelled on the Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names at the Yad Vashem memorial. For the first time, this enables accurate statements to be made regarding the total number of political detainees and people killed, deported or injured for political reasons in the Soviet Occupation Zone and East Germany.

UNICARagil - Research Collaboration on the Mobility of the Future

Leading German universities have joined forces in the BMBF's UNICARagil research network to redevelop the automobile and its development processes. A research team from the University of Passau is also involved.

Nuremberg’s cathedrals – best practice for the digital capture of complex architectural monuments

An interdisciplinary team from the Universities of Passau and Bamberg and other contributors are creating a comprehensive digital model of Nuremberg's St. Lorenz church, highlighting the property's information content and incorporating the spatial dimension of constructed architecture.

IndORGANIC: Passau Researchers prepare real Green Transformation Indonesia

Turning Indonesia organic: Can the agriculture of the world’s largest island country be transformed into a bioeconomy? A research team at the University of Passau explores the potential of organic farming in Indonesia - the German Federal Ministry for Research and Education (BMBF) supports the project with a budget of EUR 882.

Genome editing in plant biotechnology - a science based legal analysis of regulatory problems

Researchers from the University of Passau reconsider from scratch the EU’s regulatory framework for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in view of the latest biological insights into genome editing techniques, for example CRISPR/Cas9.

Other Federal Ministries

BMDV project OMEI: Sustainable electromobility for Europe

Together with nine partners, Landshut University of Applied Sciences has set out to develop a data-based scheme for the expansion of e-mobility charging infrastructure. The German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMDV) is backing the project with funds worth a total of nearly 4.

The BMDV project KIMoNo: How can artificial intelligence improve our mobility?

The University of Passau will be researching how mobility can be improved in rural regions with the help of artificial intelligence. 'KIMoNo' (KI-based, multi-type optimisation of mobility in non-urban regions [1]) is the name of the project, which is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport to the tune of approximately 1.

unIT-e²: Elektromobilität intelligent vernetzen

In vier deutschlandweiten Feldversuchen testen Projektpartner aus Wissenschaft und Praxis die markt- und netzdienliche Integration der Elektromobilität. Von der Universität Passau erforschen der Lehrstuhl für Marketing und Innovation und das Institut CENTOURIS, wie Nutzerinnen und Nutzer besser mit der komplexen Infrastruktur zurecht kommen können.

Funding from Bavarian state ministries

The FORDaySec research cluster – Security in everyday digitalisation

Coordinated by the University of Passau, the interdisciplinary research cluster "ForDaySec – Security in everyday digitalisation" is investigating new types of technical procedures that provide cybersecurity to private households, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the public administration.

bidt-project "Vectors of Data Disclosure"

To what extent does our cultural background and the legal environment affect how willing we are to disclose our personal data? Does it for example make a difference if the data is transferred to another country—a common feature of many transactions?

'Big Picture': measuring data giants

Digitising three-dimensional objects to high levels of precision produces image files in sizes that have never been seen before. Conventional digital image processing is no longer enough to handle these huge, highly complex volumes of data.

East-Bavarian Centre of Internet Competence

The East-Bavarian Centre of Internet Competence aims to consolidate East-Bavarian universities' research competence on the subject of the Internet and make this extensive body of research available to businesses in the region as a catalyst for innovation.

ForInter: Bavarian research network 'Interaction of Brain Cells'

What is science allowed to do? What is medicine allowed to do? Researchers from Passau are creating a legal framework for research and therapies with genome-edited brain cells. The Passau project is part of the Bavarian research network 'Interaction of Human Brain Cells' (ForInter).

IRIXYS: Tri-national Centre for Big Data Research

Researchers from Passau, Lyon and Milan have established a virtual institute and present their results on the jointly-maintained online portal IRIXYS.org. Their research focuses on Big Data and data security.

‘ViDe(m)o’ research project examines (rule-based) images of democracy

How is democracy depicted in the media, and what mental images are conjured up when we think about democracy and democratic rule? These questions are being tackled by a research project undertaken by the professor of Methods of Empirical Social Research at the University of Passau.

Other national funding bodies

ISA:Dig: Internal Degree Programme Audits Before the Background of Digitalisation

The project ISA:Dig "Internal Degree Programme Audits Before the Background of Digitalisation – Didactics in Higher Education as a Stakeholder in Programme Development and Evaluation" aims to develop and evaluate an audit procedure for degree programmes using an iterative approach.

European funding sources

European Research Council (ERC)

ERC Consolidator Grant RUSINFORM 2019 - 2024

ERC Consolidator Grant „The Consequences of the Internet for Russia's Informational Influence Abroad“ 2019 – 2024: The research group analyses how political elites in Moscow can influence media audiences in Germany, Belarus or Estonia via new internet-based technologies.

ERC Advanced Grant 'ReConFort' – Europe’s constitution needs communication

As part of the “ReConFort” EU project, Passau’s legal historian Professor Ulrike Müßig worked together with an international research team to analyse constitutional debates in five European countries during the 18th and 19th centuries.

ERC Starting Grant 'iHEARu': Computer-based human speech analysis

One speaks with smartphones or call services on a daily basis. Researchers at the University of Passau decisively promote a technology of enhancing automatic speech and speaker recognition by adding social factors.

Jean Monnet network EUCON: Between Conflict and Competition, Convergence and Cooperation

Researchers at the University of Passau are taking part in the Jean Monnet network EUCON. Five universities from the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union will be analysing relations between their two regions in the next three years.

EU project RENergetic: IT solution from Passau for the energy revolution from the bottom up

A residential area in the Belgian city of Ghent, a university campus in Poznan, Poland, a hospital in Milan: at these three locations, the EU project RENergetic is investigating how citizen energy can be successful.

CONCORDIA: University of Passau strengthens European cyber-strategy

The EU network CONCORDIA is developing a European cyber-security schedule. A team headed by computer scientist Professor Stefan Katzenbeisser from the University of Passau is contributing its expertise in the field of critical infrastructures.

EU-project SUNI-SEA: Fight against 'silent killers' in Southeast Asia

High blood pressure and diabetes have also developed into widespread diseases in Southeast Asia. A team from the University of Passau is participating in the EU project SUNI-SEA, which aims to massively increase effective prevention.

denk.mal digital - Media-supported historical-political education in the Bavarian-Bohemian border region

The project „denk.mal digital. Media-supported historical-political education in the Ba-varian-Bohemian border region” intends to teach the local Bavarian-Bohemian history in an innovative way with digital media.

EU Project HELIOS: The European Response to Facebook & Co.

A Horizon 2020 project is planning a social media revolution: researchers across Europe are developing a decentralised structure for a social network that adapts to the needs of users while giving them control over their data.

European network "WEGO: Wellbeing, Ecology, Gender and cOmmunity"

Masculinised mining industry meets equal indigenous society: How does this affect gender and the power relations within the local community? The sociologist Professor Martina Padmanabhan and the Development Economist Professor Michael Grimm found a European network of excellence on Feminist Political Ecology that carefully examines gender relations in the responses to environmental challenges.

EASY-RES: Enable Ancillary Services by Renewable Energy Sources

The stability and security of the traditional electrical power systems is largely based on the inherent properties of synchronous generators (SGs). Such properties are: the grid-forming capability, the inertia, the damping of transients, andthe provision of large currents during faults.

EU project EcoVeloTour: fostering bicycle tourism in the Danube region

EcoVeloTour facilitates the development of sustainable tourism in the Danube region along EuroVelo routes via an elaborate and ecologically sound framework of tourism destination management; it also opens up bicycle tourism to neighbouring regions adjacent to the EuroVelo route.

EUTIP: Interdisciplinary network analyses impacts of TTIP

The objective of the Innovative Training Network EUTIP (EU Trade & Investment Policy) is to foster interdisciplinary research into the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with a view to create a significantly increased European knowledge base and research capacity on TTIP, thus helping Europe reap the benefits of TTIP, such as wealth, or jobs, while addressing its challenges, such as democracy, accountability, environmental- and labour standards.

Funding programmes for early career researchers

Data Neutrality and Open Access: Access to user data in the digital economy

Google, Apple, Facebook or Amazon – one thing the most valuable companies in the world have in common is that they have exclusive access to their users’ data. What does this spell out for competition in digital markets?

PICCARD – Collaborative behaviour among software developers

Can vulnerabilities like the Heartbleed Bug be avoided? They can, says Dr. Janet Siegmund, a computer scientist at the University of Passau, but only if the communication is right. Dr. Siegmund and her team are working on a model that predicts the chances of success of a project based on the communication of the involved software developers.

European network "WEGO: Wellbeing, Ecology, Gender and cOmmunity"

EUTIP: Interdisciplinary network analyses impacts of TTIP

Fraunhofer research groups

'Big Picture': measuring data giants

Fraunhofer research group 'Science Communication'

The Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence 'Integrated Energy Systems' CINES is establishing a research group relating to science communication: the group led by Professor Hannah Schmid-Petri is extending the research performance of the excellence cluster by the central dimension of science and technology communication.

More about information on the research foci

Projects and researcher profiles associated with the interdisciplinary themes of the University can be found on the following pages: