Better as a team: Forschungszentrum Jülich believes in collaboration. The exchange between disciplines is in our DNA as a multithematic centre. It is the secret to our excellence.

Whether it’s climate change, pandemics, or the scarcity of resources – society is facing major challenges. How do we deal with them? By bringing together what needs to come together: different perspectives and disciplines. After all, to really get to the bottom of a problem, you have to look at it from all sides and keep changing your perspective. There’s a reason why the best innovations often emerge at the interfaces between scientific domains.

Interdisciplinarity is the key to successful research now and it will remain so in the future.

Great things are often created when many clever minds work together on a multithematic and interdisciplinary basis – and our work testifies to this day after day. When chemists measure the concentration of certain gases in the air? The significance of these results only becomes clear when informaticians and mathematicians analyse them using large computer models. Another example is neuromorphic computing, which aims to develop powerful computer chips modelled on the brain. This endeavour requires the specialist knowledge of brain researchers as well as that of experts in informatics, electronics, and materials research.

Excellence through diversity

At Forschungszentrum Jülich, the proverbial thinking outside the box is common practice. Scientists from a wide range of disciplines work here in an ecosystem that provides an ideal breeding ground for fruitful collaboration. We combine many different disciplines under one roof. These work together on the three main research priorities: energy, information, and bioeconomy. Basic research and application-oriented science have always gone hand in hand.

Our excellence, however, is not just rooted in cooperation between the various disciplines. Our collaboration with numerous partners is also crucial: stakeholders from science and industry, from Germany and abroad, support us in various projects – from setting up quantum computers to the development of medical research platforms. It is this interdisciplinary mix that makes Forschungszentrum Jülich a hotbed of innovation. What unites us in the diversity across all discipline and national borders: a fascination for world-class research. And the incentive to develop solutions for a better future.

Examples of interdisciplinary collaboration

Quantum Technology

Jülich scientists are working together with research institutions, enterprises, and start-ups in a large collaborative project. In this way, many different perspectives are incorporated.

Neuromorphic computing

In neuromorphic computing, brain research, informatics, electronics, chemistry, physics, and materials research work hand in hand to develop computer chips that work like the brain.

Climate research

Measurement data from atmospheric chemistry and physics are combined with large computer models by supercomputing specialists. The data are analysed using mathematics and informatics.

Cooperations and partnerships

At Jülich, we value collaboration with researchers who share our passion: the pursuit of new knowledge to master global societal challenges. This is why we not only work on an interdisciplinary basis within the research centre, but have also networked with universities and other research institutions. Through partnerships with industry, we successfully put our findings into practice.

More about the cooperations and partnerships