
Help of all kinds
Welcome to Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz! – The sentence is easy to say. Foreign scientists and researchers often have to clear a lot of hurdles before they can feel at home in Germany. The Welcome Center at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) helps them – in every way.

From the Holy Water of Horus to Akhenaten’s pot belly
Some 30 exhibits are witness to 3,000 years of history. They tell of gods and pharaohs, of raising poultry, of magic water, and of unusual fashions. The Egyptology Study Collection at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) may be small, but it offers a lot of material for learning and teaching, for discovery and discussion.

No talk of elitism
Mareike Hachemer has been nominated for the Global Teacher Prize, an annual one million dollar award from the Varkey Foundation to be given to a super-special teacher. The Gutenberg alumna has already made it into the top 50 and is about to enter the final round. Here the 31-year-old discusses her time at the university, the teaching profession, and her students.

Not everything in the universe is symmetrical
Research into fundamental symmetries and a unique nationwide cooperation between Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Helmholtz Association have brought Professor Dmitry Budker to Mainz. He will be heading up the Matter Antimatter Symmetry section at the JGU-based Helmholtz Institute Mainz, which collaborates with the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt.

More than just a temporary solution
Looking for a daycare facility for your child? Pregnancy getting in the way of your studies? You have a relative who needs care? In situations like these the Family Services Center at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is there to help. Stefanie Schmidberger provides advice to students and university employees who, for example, are having problems dealing with the authorities or finding the support services they need. She knows the sort of difficulties people can encounter, knows a way through the tangle of regulations, and can provide valuable aid and assistance.

"The aim is to have everybody find their own voice"
The Mainz Academy of Fine Arts of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) welcomes an acclaimed artist as a professor in the person of Tamara Grcic. The idea is that the versatility of her work will be reflected in her teaching. In her sculpture class, for instance, Grcic does not plan to lay down hard and fast rules but to allow students sufficient space in which to find their own personal form of artistic expression.

"What we are doing is 'reading' violence"
What can literature and film, what can the various media do to help uncover the structures underlying violence? This is the focus of research being undertaken by a network of German Studies scholars, among whom is Professor Dagmar von Hoff of the German Department at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). She believes that German Studies as a discipline needs to take a more international, intercultural, and intermedial approach.

What happens in cells
In the person of Krishnaraj Rajalingam, the Research Center for Immunotherapy of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has been very lucky to acquire one of the world's foremost cell biologists. The newly appointed Heisenberg Professor focuses on the molecular signal pathways that regulate a wide variety of different processes within cells. He investigates not only the causes of cell growth and cell differentiation but also the pathogenesis of tumors and cancer and thus supplies concepts for new treatment approaches.

"We have to keep a lot of balls in the air all at once"
The newly created JUGGLE – The network of Junior Group Leaders in Life Sciences at JGU provides researchers with a platform to discuss aspects of their subject but also acts as forum through which the difficult situations facing junior group leaders in the German educational landscape can be examined. In December 2014, JUGGLE invited participants to its first Mainz symposium to discuss future prospects for young researchers.

What holds matter together?
Subatomic particles, muons, quarks, gluons, and their cousins: Physicists working with the MAMI electron accelerator at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) are also playing an important role in the BESIII Experiment in Beijing in China. They are on the trail of the basic building blocks of matter and are thus hoping to pave the way for a New Physics.