Institutional Strategy
Realising the Potential of a Comprehensive University
The concept of the comprehensive university is a central component of Heidelberg University’s strategy. With its extraordinary breadth of preeminent subjects and disciplines, the university aims to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the complex material, biological, cultural and societal issues of our times. This requires not only strong research disciplines, but also the basic conditions that enable and foster work across disciplinary boundaries. The university’s institutional strategy, “Heidelberg: Realising the Potential of a Comprehensive University”, therefore emphasises interdisciplinary dialogue.
The University's Fields of Focus
In the first funding phase of the Excellence Initiative, four main areas of research, the Fields of Focus, have emerged on which interdisciplinary research cooperation would concentrate. These four interactive areas are to be further developed as the core of Heidelberg’s research strategy in the second funding phase.
FoF 1: Molecular and Cellular Basis of Life
FoF 2: Structure and Pattern Formation in the Material World
FoF 3: Cultural Dynamics in Globalised Worlds
FoF 4: Self-regulation and Regulation: Individuals and Organisations (Ger)
Collaboration and integration of effort between Fields of Focus
Heidelberg Center for the Environment
Networking with external partners
Heidelberg Research Centre for Molecular Medicine (HRCMM)
Heidelberg Karlsruhe Research Partnership (HEiKA)
Outreach connections: business, innovation and knowledge transfer
Strengthening international exchange
Optimising the general conditions
