Research

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.

Sina Martin is carrying out research at the Institute for Factory Automation and Production Systems (FAPS) into developing iris implants made of smart materials that work in a similar fashion to their natural counterpart in our eyes.

Glaciers are often an accurate indicator for climate change. Whilst it is comparatively easy to measure and quantify changes in regions such as the Alps, there is often only very little information available for the majority of the 215,000 glaciers worldwide. A new doctorate programme hopes to obtain more comprehensive and accurate data.

Fighting obesity with the cold: Experienced Humboldt fellow Dr. Mahendra Bishnoi is researching a pharmacological possibility at FAU to literally "melt" brown adipose tissue, which plays an important role in overweight and obesity, by means of a cold stimulus. Find out what else moves the passionate football fan in the interview.

A research group at FAU and the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy have come up with a design aimed at significantly increasing the operational stability and life span of perovskite solar cells. The researchers’ findings have been published in the journal ‘Nature Energy’.