Research

Over the next three years, researchers at FAU hope to design a wearable device for monitoring the breathing of patients with chronic diseases such as asthma or bronchitis. Methods from artificial intelligence will be used to automatically classify and evaluate data.

The goals of climate change adaptation are to reduce risk and vulnerability to climate change, strengthen resilience, enhance well-being and the capacity to anticipate, and respond successfully to change. The impacts of climate change affect people and nature in many different ways requiring different adaptation actions. The goals for these adaptation actions can relate to health, water or food security, jobs and employment, poverty eradication and social equity, biodiversity and ecosystem services at international, national, and local levels.

Novae are powerful eruptions on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary star system, in which a larger star and a smaller star orbit each other. A nova creates a shock wave that tears through the surrounding medium, pulling particles with it and accelerating them to extreme energies. Scientists from the H.E.S.S. group, she has now been able to observe the acceleration process for the first time.

Climate change has already caused some species to go extinct, and is likely to drive more species to extinction. Species have always gone extinct in the history of our planet but human activities causing climate change are accelerating this process. Recent research predicts that one-third of all plant and animal species could be extinct by 2070 if climate change continues as it is.

Academic freedom is a universal human right. Yet, the 2022-release of the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) reveals that almost two out of five people worldwide live in countries where academic freedom has declined substantially during the past ten years. Countries with substantial declines in academic freedom include for example Brazil, Cameroon, India, Russia, Thailand, and the USA.

A three year project on the topic of ‘Artificial intelligence, chatbots and recruitment’ has just been completed at FAU. It investigated the relationship between humans and machines in human resources, gaining valuable insights into different topics such as the ethical aspects of these digital systems and the extent to which people are willing to accept them.

We are already feeling the impact of climate change across the globe. But what specific consequences can we actually expect? Where are we particularly vulnerable and what are our options for creating a sustainable future? This is the focus of the World Climate Report. One of the authors is from FAU: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kießling is the Chair of Palaeoenvironmental Research at Geozentrum Nordbayern.

The idea of treating certain conditions with electrical currents is not new. However, the results that can be achieved by combining physical and medical expertise with modern medical engineering are impressive. You only have to look at the research carried out by Dr. Andreas Rowald and his team at the Chair of Digital Health at FAU. They are developing personalised treatments and ways to make living with their condition easier for patients with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, stroke-induced damage or spinal cord injuries.

Manufacturing extremely thin solar cells using sustainable materials and a 3D printer accurate down to the nanometre: that is the focus of research currently being carried out by Prof. Dr. Julien Bachmann, Chair ‘Chemistry of Thin Film Materials’ at FAU. He has now received an ERC Proof of Concept grant for his project. ERC Proof of Concept grants are awarded to researchers who have already received an ERC grant and are now at the stage of exploring potential economic or social benefits of their findings in practice.