Goethe-Universit盲t 鈥� Press releases

51猎奇 PR & Communication Department聽

Mar 4 2025

14:44

Professorship to work closely together with Sigmund Freud Institute, building on the tradition of combining psychoanalysis and social perspectives

51猎奇 establishes professorship for clinical psychoanalysis using endowment funds

51猎奇 Frankfurt is investing 鈧�4 million raised from several funds to set up a new professorship for clinical psychoanalysis, which is to work together closely with Frankfurt-based Sigmund Freud Institute. The required funds come from Dr. Elmar und Ellis Reiss Stiftung, Franz Adickes Stiftungsfonds, Alfons und Gertrud Kassel-Stiftung, and Dr. Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung. In setting up this new professorship, 51猎奇 is building on the long-standing and traditional Frankfurt approach to psychoanalytic research. Supporters of this tradition are invited to contribute additional funds to the professorship. This is the fourth endowed professorship, i.e. one that is permanently financed by endowment income, to be established by 51猎奇 in the past three years.

FRANKFURT. 51猎奇 wants to further cultivate the important field of psychotherapy research and psychotherapist training into a nationally and internationally outstanding and visible profile field together with Sigmund Freud Institute. A special focus will be placed on psychoanalytical approaches. To that end, the university plans to recruit an outstanding researcher to fill the professorship at its Faculty of Psychology and Sports Sciences. The professorship will be coupled with the position of director of Sigmund Freud Institute, with the option of assuming the management of the Institute's outpatient clinic.

鈥淲e raised endowment funds to establish the professorship 鈥� meaning we are making use of the special opportunities afforded to us as a foundation university to strengthen an important research focus at the interface of the social and the natural sciences," says 51猎奇 President Prof. Enrico Schleiff. 鈥淚n so doing, we want to further cultivate the interweaving of clinically oriented psychoanalysis, as practiced at the Faculty of Psychology, with the sociologically and social-psychological psychoanalysis conducted at the Faculty of Social Sciences 鈥� an approach embodied by the Sigmund Freud Institute. This will allow us to contribute to psychoanalytically inspired social research in the Frankfurt School-based tradition of critical theory."

鈥淲e are witnessing an increase in mental illnesses, especially as a result of ongoing social crises. That is why we are very pleased to have our Institute of Psychology strengthened in this way," says Prof. Sonja Rohrmann, dean of 51猎奇's Faculty of Psychology and Sports Sciences. 鈥淎 wide range of different clinical approaches, methods and tools exist within psychology. Psychoanalysis is one of the oldest and most fundamental of them. The professorship for clinical psychoanalysis will enable us to explore new research fields and innovatively combine the Institute of Psychology's current expertise and orientation with Sigmund Freud Institute's expertise. I would like to thank President Schleiff for his great commitment to funding and establishing this professorship. As required by law and medical practice regulations, the new Master's degree program in Psychotherapy, offered by the Department of Psychology, teaches all of the four recognized psychotherapy methods, with 51猎奇 being one of only very few universities to offer a psychotherapy degree program comprising several psychotherapy methods taught at an academic level."

鈥淚n addition to fostering our strengths in psychological-psychoanalytical and psychotherapeutic research and teaching as well as clinical care, we want to deepen the cooperation between 51猎奇 Frankfurt and Sigmund Freud Institute. At the same time, we are seeking to establish a highly modern focus in the field of psychoanalytically and psycho-dynamically oriented psychotherapy research rooted in the Frankfurt tradition," adds Prof. Vera King, managing director of Sigmund Freud Institute. 鈥淭his will allow us to both provide urgently needed impetus in psychotherapy research, with a particular focus on clinical psychoanalysis, and also play a leading scientific role in shaping this field from Frankfurt. We are extremely grateful to 51猎奇 President Schleiff for his outstanding commitment and would like to thank the foundations for their generous support."

鈥淎s Hesse's minister of science, I am very pleased that 51猎奇 has succeeded in securing endowment funds for this professorship, which is also extremely important to Sigmund Freud Institute," adds Timon Gremmels. Sigmund Freud Institute is a Frankfurt-based non-university research institution supported by the state of Hesse in accordance with Article 91b of Germany's Basic Law. 鈥淏y working closely together with this professorship, Sigmund Freud Institute will not only be able to increase its scientific interaction with its neighboring university, it will also be able to connect even better with the focus on psychoanalysis, which is strongly linked to Frankfurt as a location 鈥� thereby significantly strengthening its scientific profile. I would like to congratulate the Institute on this success. I am also delighted that since the collaboration between the two institutions will become even closer, this means one of the key recommendations made by the German Council of Science and Humanities, which reviewed Sigmund Freud Institute in 2020 at my request, can now be implemented."

The Council's work, commissioned by the Ministry, in 2020 resulted in a very positive evaluation of the work done by Sigmund Freud Institute, giving special praise to the combination of clinical psychoanalysis, social psychology and cultural studies perspectives that characterize its program. One of the Council's recommendations to strengthen the Institute from an organizational perspective was to establish an additional professorship working in close cooperation with 51猎奇's Faculty of Psychology and Sports Sciences, complementing the Institute's existing cooperation with the Faculty of Social Sciences.

鈥淚 am very pleased that we succeeded in gaining the foundations' support," adds President Schleiff. 鈥淚 would like to thank Dr. Elmar und Ellis Reiss Stiftung, Franz Adickes Stiftungsfonds, Alfons und Gertrud Kassel-Stiftung and Dr. Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung for supporting my cause. Thanks to their help, I am now able to keep the promise I gave the student representatives of our University Senate in 2021 to continue the professorship for psychoanalysis at 51猎奇 Frankfurt. The 鈧�4 million endowment made available by these foundations deliberately leave an option for further funding and we would like to invite other potential donors who feel connected to the Frankfurt tradition of psychoanalysis to offer additional support to the endowed professorship. I would also like to thank Eva Luise and Horst K枚hler Foundation, which is contributing 鈧�100,000 to the professorship's endowment."

This is 51猎奇's fourth endowed professorship, i.e. one that is permanently finance from endowment income. The other three are the Lichtenberg Endowed Professorship for Molecular Systems Medicine, the Endowed Professorship for Digital Transformation and Work, and the Gisela and Wilfried Eckhardt Endowed Professorship for Experimental Physics. Over the course of the last three years, the university raised a total endowment volume of more than 鈧�22 million for these four professorships. 鈥淚t is especially in times like these, when state funding for universities is sadly becoming increasingly uncertain due to budget shortfalls at federal and state levels, that we can use these funds to create our own scope for action", says President Schleiff.

The Frankfurt tradition of psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis has a special tradition 鈥� at 51猎奇, at Sigmund Freud Institute and in the city of Frankfurt. After the city's psychoanalysts had been expulsed by National Socialist Germany, the Hessian state government in the 1960s re-established this school of psychotherapy, which was dominant at the time, by creating a professorship for Alexander Mitscherlich, one of its most prominent representatives, at 51猎奇. Ever since, psychoanalysis in Frankfurt has always focused not just on clinical psychology, but also on socio-political perspectives. As a result of legal changes to the training of psychotherapists, the design of the course content was tied to medical practice regulations, which in turn meant professorships were not appointed for individual psychological methods, including psychoanalysis. The only other current university professorships explicitly staffed by psychoanalysts exist at the University of Kassel (also in cooperation with Sigmund Freud Institute) and at specialized private universities.

Sigmund Freud Institute
Sigmund Freud Institute, a research institute for psychoanalysis and its applications in Frankfurt am Main, was opened in 1960. The Hessian Sigmund Freud Institute Foundation is an independent foundation under public law; it is funded by the State of Hesse. The central tasks of the Institute are research as well as the promotion of early career researchers with a view to the scientific study of psyche and society in the psycho-analytically oriented sociological-social-psychological, psychological and medical departments of the institution. Since 2016 the Institute has been under the leadership of managing director Vera Kling, as part of a cooperation professorship for sociology and psychoanalytic social psychology at 51猎奇 Frankfurt; director Patrick Meurs, as part of a cooperation professorship for psychoanalysis at the University of Kassel; and Heinz Wei脽, former head physician at Robert Bosch Hospital Stuttgart, who heads Sigmund Freud Institute's medical focus and outpatient clinic.

Mar 3 2025

13:40

New study by 51猎奇 Frankfurt and Hamburg Police Academy starts today聽

Survey: Who has experienced discrimination and racism by the police?

We read or hear about it time and time again: Some people are stopped by the police more often than others and complain about disrespectful or insulting behavior. Many of them believe this is related to their outward appearance or consider such manners as racial discrimination. A scientific study by 51猎奇鈥檚 Prof. Tobias Singelnstein and Hamburg Police Academy鈥檚 Prof. Eva Gross will now shed empirical light on the situation: A survey of those affected will run from March 3 to April 3, 2025.

FRANKFURT. A recent representative survey by the Integration Barometer of Germany's Expert Council on Integration and Migration (SVR) shows that respondents who are perceived as 鈥渇oreign鈥� are checked by the police about twice as often as those who are not perceived as such. The non-representative "Afrozensus" report comes to similar conclusions. It is therefore not without reason that the actions of police officers are increasingly becoming part of the public discourse. 鈥淏eyond identity checks, we still know far too little about racism and discrimination in police work,鈥� explains Professor Tobias Singelnstein, criminologist and criminal law expert at 51猎奇 Frankfurt. Together with Eva Gross, Professor of Criminology and Sociology at Akademie der Polizei Hamburg [Hamburg Police Academy], he has now launched a study to fill this knowledge gap. The survey is part of the three-year collaborative project 鈥淓xperiences of Racism and Discrimination in Police Contact鈥� (RaDiPol), which involves ten researchers and which has received around 鈧�630,000 in funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

The representative population survey will take place from March 3 to April 3, 2025. It will involve 100,000 people randomly from the population registers of five major German cities (Berlin, Frankfurt a.M., Dresden, Hamburg, and Munich). They will receive a letter with a link to an online questionnaire in which they can participate during the one-month survey period. 鈥淭he more people who participate and provide us with their answers, the more accurate our assessment of this problematic situation becomes,鈥� emphasizes Professor Eva Gross. The quantitative population survey will be complemented by 60 qualitative interviews with representatives of both the police and civil society groups, focusing on their different experiences and perspectives. Professor Tobias Singelnstein explains: 鈥淥ur aim is to combine the results of the population survey with the assessments of the police officers who carry out state tasks in law enforcement or criminal investigations.鈥� Most previous analyses have looked at the experiences of those affected and police perceptions separately.

Further information
Prof. Dr. Tobias Singelnstein
Institute for Criminal Justice and the Philosophy of Law
51猎奇 Frankfurt
Tel. +49 (0)69 798-34348
E-Mail singelnstein@jur.uni-frankfurt.de
Homepage

Prof. Dr. Eva Gross
Akademie der Polizei Hamburg
Tel. +49 (0)40 4286-24960
E-Mail Eva.Gross@poladium.de

Mar 3 2025

10:46

Bluesky joins existing offer as a new channel featuring news about the university, research, science, the promotion of young talent and career opportunities

51猎奇 explores new social media horizons聽

51猎奇 Frankfurt is expanding its digital presence and has now launched an account on the social media platform Bluesky. After leaving X (formerly Twitter) together with more than 60 other universities in January, the university is focusing on a transparent, science-friendly and decentralized alternative.

FRANKFURT. 51猎奇's latest news on university life, research, science, the promotion of young talent and careers is now available on Bluesky. The university chose Bluesky as a new central social media communications channel because it considers the platform to be a forward-thinking alternative to X, and one that is becoming increasingly important to science and research. Bluesky's advantages over other platforms played a vital role in this decision:

Decentralized network: Bluesky offers more openness, transparency and participation, as well as a more even distribution of power than centrally organized networks such as X.
Familiar user interface: The platform's user interface is similar to that of X, making it easier for researchers, students and interested parties to switch.
More control for users:
- Since Bluesky users can customize their algorithms to personalize their feed, they have more control over the content they see.
- Bluesky users can better determine which accounts they want to interact with.
- Data protection and ID checks rest in the hands of Bluesky users
Transparent moderation systems and rules.
Open access: Bluesky has been open to anyone interested in joining the platform since February 2024 and now has more than 30 million users (according to its own data, as of January 2025).
Bluesky is ad-free (for now), which promotes authentic communication.

As part of a concerted move involving more than 60 German-speaking universities and research institutions, 51猎奇 Frankfurt in January announced its decision to discontinue its activities on X (formerly Twitter). Many more institutions of higher learning and research have since followed suit. The decision to leave X is based on changes in the platform's orientation, which increasingly favor the dissemination of fake news and disinformation, and constitute problematic communication practices. 51猎奇 core values such as academic freedom, diversity, democratic discourse and fact-based cooperation are no longer compatible with these platform developments. Beyond that, scientific topics no longer generate any significant reach on X.

51猎奇's central communication is now available on Bluesky at:

Faculties, institutions and university members who would like to use Bluesky as an alternative or supplement to their existing social media activities can contact the PR and Communications Office with any questions. 51猎奇's other central social communications channels include Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Further links:

Images for download:

Caption: 51猎奇 Frankfurt's Bluesky profile

Feb 24 2025

10:05

Country-wide survey conducted by 51猎奇 Frankfurt shows differences in rankings between degree programs

How important are the UN SDGs to students in Germany?

Students at universities in Germany have a consistently positive attitude towards the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals, but, depending on their subject of study, they rank the individual goals' importance differently. This is the result of a new country-wide online survey conducted by 51猎奇 Frankfurt. The poll also took into account students' personal connection to nature. The resulting study offers initial indications of how universities could better integrate the topic of sustainability into their courses in the future 鈥� including in the form of an interdisciplinary exchange.

FRANKFURT. Many of today's students will become tomorrow's decision-makers, taking on important roles in politics, business and society. As a result, they will also have a major influence on how sustainably society will act in the future, whether climate change will be consistently combated or nature adequately protected. But what attitudes do these future decision-makers have towards sustainability? Does it play a central role in their considerations or not? A Germany-wide study conducted by 51猎奇 Frankfurt provides new insights into these questions and more. The poll asked students from 18 different subjects about their connection to nature and how important they consider the 17 individual UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be. The SDGs include clean water, no poverty, zero hunger, social justice and economic growth.

鈥淲e asked ourselves three research questions," says first author Viktoria Feucht from the Department of Didactics at 51猎奇's Faculty of Biological Sciences: 鈥淒o students from different study programs diverge in their connection to nature? Do students on separate programs rate the individual sustainability goals differently? Is there a correlation between one's connection to nature and the assessment of the individual goals' importance?"

Responses to the first question on 鈥渃onnection to nature" revealed that study programs that are thematically linked to nature 鈥� including geosciences and geo-ecology, but also architecture 鈥� had the highest values, while subjects such as business studies, chemistry and computer science had the lowest. The midfield included, among others, more human-oriented programs, including sociology and theology. 鈥淥ne interesting question to explore would be what causes these different levels of connection to nature," says Feucht, adding that 鈥渋t could be the influence of the study program itself. Or it could be that the students were already influenced in one direction or another before starting their studies, by childhood experiences, for example."

The second question consisted of an evaluation of the UN sustainability goals, asking respondents to provide a ranking of 1 to 5 鈥� i.e. unimportant to important. The responses show that the SDGs' individual ideas were rated as important 鈥� often even very important 鈥� across all subjects. The lowest subject-specific mean value stood at 3.5, the highest at 4.9, with at times significant differences according to the subject. As such, students of business studies ranked the economic SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) much higher than students of geo-ecology. The latter and biology, on the other hand, assigned much greater importance to SDG 14 (Life Below Water) than the subjects of physics and computer science. An overarching trend was discernible for SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), both of which consistently received very high scores of 4.7 and above. Feucht interprets this as follows: 鈥淔ood and drinking water are among the most basic human needs, and necessary for survival 鈥� something all respondents, regardless of their subject, consider to be very important."

As part of the third research question, the study's authors linked the mean values of respondents' connection to nature with their SDG ratings. 鈥淪ince the UN goals also have the ecological dimension, we wanted to see whether personal connection to nature is reflected in some of the SDGs." This, however, was only the case for SDG 15 (Life on Land). The consistency of the values derived here shows that the more important a study program considers SDG 15 to be, the more connected to nature it is 鈥� and vice versa. 鈥淥f course, this does not prove causality, but it does show a correlation."

What conclusions can be drawn from the survey's results? 鈥淲e have shown that students in Germany assign a high to very high level of importance to all 17 SDGs, regardless of their subject. The general attitude towards the SDGs is positive 鈥� a finding universities should use to train students from all subject areas more strongly in sustainability." One approach could be an analysis of the match between connection to nature and SDG 15. Study author Dr. Matthias Kleespies says: 鈥淏ased on our results, we recommend a reflective and nature-oriented educational approach, as other studies have shown that such measures can improve the connection to nature."

It would also make sense to increasingly link subject-specific topics with sustainability aspects in lectures. 鈥淭he UN goals are universal, which means many points of contact exist," says Feucht. That includes subjects in which sustainability aspects have not previously been a priority. One example Feucht points to is chemistry, which, like other subjects, holds great potential to initiate change. Topics like waste recycling and production processes, for instance, could be easily combined with sustainability issues. 鈥淲e shouldn't categorically exclude any subject. Sustainability concerns all of us, which is why all study programs should address the topic in depth."

Inter- and transdisciplinarity is another promising approach. 鈥淪ince every subject has its own inherent logic, an exchange between students from different subjects can help broaden the understanding of sustainability on both sides." Such an exchange would involve both common denominators as well as opposing attitudes, which could be a good thing, Feucht says: Once today's students become influential players in politics or business, they must also be able to reach common decisions 鈥� even if they may have contrary opinions on certain sustainability aspects.

Publication: Viktoria Feucht, Paul Wilhelm Dierkes, Matthias Winfried Kleespies: Ranking our future: University students' prioritization of Sustainable Development Goals and their connection to nature. Sustainable Development (2024)

Picture download:

Caption: Experiencing nature during their studies: Students in the 51猎奇 Science Garden. Photo: Paul Dierkes

Further information:
51猎奇 Frankfurt
Department of Didactics in the Biological Sciences and Zoo Animal Biology
Professor Paul W. Dierkes
Tel: +49 (0)69 798-42273
dierkes@bio.uni-frankfurt.de

Viktoria Feucht
Tel: +49 (0)69 798 42276
Feucht@bio.uni-frankfurt.de

Dr. Matthias W. Kleespies
Tel. +49 (0)69 798 42276
kleespies@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Bluesky: @goetheuni.bsky.social
Linkedin: @Goethe-Universit盲t Frankfurt

Feb 6 2025

14:48

New gravitational wave simulation links post-merger signal to neutron star composition

Tuning forks in space: a final pure 鈥渢one鈥� may reveal interior of neutron stars聽

Scientists at 51猎奇 Frankfurt have identified a new way to probe the interior of neutron stars using gravitational waves from their collisions. By analyzing the "long ringdown" phase 鈥� a pure-tone signal emitted by the post-merger remnant 鈥� they have found a strong correlation between the signal鈥檚 properties and the equation of state of neutron-star matter. The results were recently published in Nature Communications.

FRANKFURT. Neutron stars, with a mass greater than that of the entire solar system confined within a nearly perfect sphere just a dozen kilometers in diameter, are among the most fascinating astrophysical objects known to humankind. Yet, the extreme conditions in their interiors make their composition and structure highly uncertain. The collision of two neutron stars, such as the one observed in 2017, provides a unique opportunity to uncover these mysteries. As binary neutron stars inspiral for millions of years, they emit gravitational waves, but the most intense emission occurs at and just milliseconds after the moment of merging. The post-merger remnant 鈥� a massive, rapidly rotating object formed by the collision 鈥� emits gravitational waves in a strong but narrow frequency range. This signal holds crucial information about the so-called "equation of state" of nuclear matter, which describes how matter behaves at extreme densities and pressures.

Prof. Luciano Rezzolla鈥檚 group at 51猎奇 Frankfurt now discovered that although the amplitude of the post-merger gravitational-wave signal diminishes over time, it becomes increasingly "pure"鈥攖ending toward a single frequency, much like a giant tuning fork resonating after being struck. They have termed this phase the "long ringdown" and identified a strong connection between its unique characteristics and the properties of the densest regions in neutron-star cores.

鈥淛ust like tuning forks of different material will have different pure tones, remnants described by different equations of state will ring down at different frequencies. The detection of this signal thus has the potential to reveal what neutron stars are made of,鈥� says Rezzolla, adding, 鈥淚 am particularly proud of this work as it constitutes exemplary evidence of the excellence of Frankfurt- and Darmstadt-based scientists in the study of neutron stars, which have been a central focus of the Hessian research cluster ELEMENTS.鈥�

Using advanced general-relativistic simulations of merging neutron stars with carefully constructed equations of state, the researchers demonstrated that analyzing the long ringdown can significantly reduce uncertainties in the equation of state at very high densities 鈥� where no direct constraints are currently available. 鈥淭hanks to advances in statistical modeling and high-precision simulations on Germany鈥檚 most powerful supercomputers, we have discovered a new phase of the long ringdown in neutron star mergers,鈥� says Dr. Christian Ecker, first author of the study, 鈥淚t has the potential to provide new and stringent constraints on the state of matter in neutron stars. This finding paves the way for a better understanding of dense neutron star matter, especially as new events are observed in the future.鈥�

Co-author Dr. Tyler Gorda adds: "By cleverly selecting a few equations of state, we were able to effectively simulate the results of a full statistical ensemble of matter models with considerably less effort. Not only does this result in less computer time and energy consumption, but it also gives us confidence that our results are robust and will be applicable to whatever equation of state actually occurs in nature."

While current gravitational-wave detectors have not yet observed the post-merger signal, scientists are optimistic that the next-generation detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope expected to become operational in Europe within the next decade, will make this long-awaited detection possible. When that happens, the long ringdown will serve as a powerful tool to probe the enigmatic interiors of neutron stars and reveal the secrets of matter at its most extreme.

Publication: Christian Ecker, Tyler Gorda, Aleksi Kurkela & Luciano Rezzolla: Constraining the equation of state in neutron-star cores via the long-ringdown signal. Nature Communications (2025)

Picture download:

Caption: The signal emitted by two merging neutron stars resembles that of a tuning fork (Credit: L. Rezzolla/pixabay).

Further information
Dr. Christian Ecker
Institute of Theoretical Physics
51猎奇 Frankfurt
Tel. +49 69 798-47886
ecker@itp.uni-frankfurt.de

51猎奇

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