JOURNALISMProject MIMI builds connections with Jerusalem
MIMI – Migration, Media, and Integration – is a project at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) that helped to establish a cooperation between the the Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem and Mainz University in 2021. Headed by Anna Fabienne Makhoul, MIMI could be the springboard for a new lively academic exchange. The first two seminars were a great joint success.
POLITICAL ANTHROPOLOGYDisciplined empathy as an important tool in highly political times
For over a decade, Franziska Fay conducted research on the Zanzibar Archipelago. There she worked with child protection organizations, children in primary and Koranic schools, was a guest lecturer at Zanzibar University, and advised international aid organizations. After completing degrees in Frankfurt and London, she was appointed Junior Professor of Political Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology and African Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in 2021.
EU RESEARCH FUNDINGThe role of the Monastic Republic of Mount Athos in the Middle Ages
Dr. Zachary Chitwood, lecturer in Byzantine Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to fund his research project MAMEMS. This is despite the fact that research in the humanities and social sciences rarely seems to take advantage of this form of financial support although grants from the European Research Council are specifically designed to sponsor innovative research of all kinds.
LIFE SCIENCESThe search for causes of neurodegenerative diseases
In spring 2021, the Faculty of Biology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) was lucky to acquire a specialist in the field of neurodegenerative disorders – Professor Dorothee Dormann. A cell biologist and biochemist by training, she is an expert in identifying the molecular processes that underlie conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and has already won several awards for her research.
COMPUTER SCIENCEPowerful technologies may help overcome future challenges
How will the field of artificial intelligence (AI) develop in the coming years? What sort of risks, what chances will open up? Professor Stefan Kramer of the Institute of Computer Science at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is to find answers to these questions – in an interdisciplinary research project in which he and his colleagues will investigate core aspects of AI over the next six years.
BIOCHEMISTRYGiving more attention to neglected tropical diseases
More than one billion people worldwide suffer from devastating tropical illnesses that to date have been insufficiently researched. Biochemist Professor Ute Hellmich is exploring new ways in which these neglected diseases can be treated. Her research group employs a structural biological approach, concentrating on three closely-related parasites that causes Chagas disease, African sleeping sickness, and leishmaniasis.
GUTENBERG ALUMNIThe never-ending story of equal rights
She was the first State Commissioner for Women in Rhineland-Palatinate and the first politician of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to be appointed Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees, and Integration. She made important contributions as a Minister of State in the cabinet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and in the Federal Foreign Office, acted as National Chairwoman of the Frauenunion, the CDU's women's organization, and today is President of the German Commission for UNESCO. From her years at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), where she started studying in 1968, she has taken with her important impulses for her later public offices and tasks.
TURKIC STUDIESTurkic Studies – a minor subject with major themes
The division of Turkic Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is in a period of transition. A second professor is currently being recruited, and new, independent degree courses will soon be launched. Professor Julian Rentzsch, who was appointed to Mainz University in 2017, is structuring and supervising this process.
LITMUSSearching for effective ways to diagnose non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Around 20 million people in Germany suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). It can cause severe inflammation, cirrhosis of the liver, and even cancer. At present, there is no simple technique to detect NAFLD reliably at an early stage. But this is essential for the development of appropriate new drugs and therapies. The LITMUS research project seeks to make a major contribution in this field: Involving an international consortium, with the Mainz University Medical Center being a key player, the LITMUS network is developing biomarkers that open up new horizons.
NEUROBIOLOGYHow flies and humans see the world
Professor Marion Silies joined the Faculty of Biology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in early 2019. Here she has been investigating the organization and function of circuits in the visual system of the fruit fly. Her work has already earned her numerous awards.