People-centred – cosmopolitan – high performance

Dear readers,

Welcome to the International Edition of the RUB magazine RUBIN. Sit back and enjoy a glimpse into the many facets of our cutting-edge research!

The Ruhr-Universität Bochum is one of the world’s leading young research universities, placed at 26 in the Times Higher Education world ranking of young universities, THE 100 Under 50. With student numbers approaching 40,000 and the number of staff exceeding 5,600, more than 3,500 of whom are academics, the Ruhr-Universität Bochum is also one of Germany’s largest universities, offering over 150 degree courses. The RUB Research School that spans all doctoral research fields is considered the pioneering place in Germany for advanced doctoral training and has been funded by the German Excellence Initiative since 2006. You will find a facts sheet on page 62 of this issue, which provides an overview over the particular features of our university.

Our mission is that of “universitas”, which translates into “a community of learning”: a place with flat hierarchies, characterised by a strong team spirit and many strongholds of collaborative research, including: material sciences, IT security, protein research, neurosciences, plasma science and technologies, product service systems, underground engineering, religious sciences, Mediterranean studies, East Asian studies, and solvation science, to name but a few.
Our motto “people-centred – cosmopolitan – high-performance” means: we offer people from all over the world a cosmopolitan research place to help them achieve their very best. Accordingly, our students and scientists come from over 125 countries, we cooperate with partners around the globe, and we follow a holistic international strategy. Funded by the Excellence Initiative, we are currently building the world’s leading research hub for solva­tion science. All this is part of our RUB Research Campus concept which took us into the finals of the institutional line of the Excellence Initiative as one of only 16 German universities.

The articles in this magazine will give you an impression of some of our current research projects. But this can only be an appetiser. So, should we have elicited your interest, please visit our homepage (www.rub.de) to learn more about us. The Ruhr-Universität is a place for people, a place of endeavour in the quest for excellence in research and study.
Our International Office will be happy to support you: as an international researcher through our Welcome Center, as an international Ph.D. applicant through our Research School, as an international student through RUBiss, our International Student Services.

Now, delve into the journal and enjoy. Did we stir your interest? If so: why not join our universitas? We would be happy to receive your request.

Elmar W. Weiler,
Rector of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum