Material Worlds and Sustainability
Fascinating topics from modern natural and life sciences, dealing with materials and the forces present in matter: Researchers at the University of Regensburg (UR) seek solutions to the key sustainability challenges facing current and future societies. DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centers/Transregios (CRC/TRR) and lighthouse projects, financed by the High-Tech Agenda Bavaria, conduct pioneering interdisciplinary research projects. Various early career research groups and doctoral programs provide training to the next generation of scientists.
Projects and programs are interlinking UR’s Faculties of Biology and Preclinical Medicine, Chemistry and Pharmacy (external link, opens in a new window), and Physics (external link, opens in a new window). Scholars dealing with the quantum world are looking forward to a dedicated large-scale research facility opening in 2024: Regensburg’s new interdisciplinary Center for Ultrafast Nanoscopy - RUN (external link, opens in a new window) is offering a complementary array of state-of-the-art ultrafast nanoscopy facilities: It will provide the researchers with insights into the incredibly fast motion of atoms, molecules, and electrons that yields the functions of new quantum materials, causes chemical reactions, and defines vital processes in cells.
The Center for Chiral Electronics (CCE) (external link, opens in a new window) aims to lay the foundations for next-generation electronic technologies by exploring the unique properties of chirality in solid-state and molecular systems. Through interdisciplinary research at the intersection of physics and chemistry, researchers from Halle, Regensburg, and Berlin intend to develop energy-efficient, high-performance materials that address the global demand for sustainable digital infrastructure.
Graphic: Astrid Riege Exceptional Research @UR
EXC3112: Center for Chiral Electronics (CCE)
The Center for Chiral Electronics (CCE), (external link, opens in a new window) funded by the German Research Association (DFG), is set to launch in January 2026. The CCE is a collaborative project between Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Freie Universit?t Berlin, the University of Regensburg, and the Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics in Halle.
This Cluster of Excellences aims to develop innovative concepts for energy-efficient, high-performance electronics based on the largely unexploited property of chirality.
CRC 1277: Emergent Relativistic Effects in Condensed Matter
The CRC 1277 "Emergent Relativistic Effects in Condensed Matter" (external link, opens in a new window) focuses on novel classes of materials which have been identified in the past few years and might enable a paradigm shift for future electronics. The CRC is investigating the fundamental properties of these special electronic systems and the emergent relativistic effects they entail.
Moreover, the researchers’ common aim is to explore if and how the Dirac-like band structures and strong spin-orbit coupling in novel material classes and nanostructures can be exploited for future electronic concepts and lead to new, yet unforeseen functionalities. The objective is to uncover electronic, transport, magnetic and optical properties of a variety of such materials and systems.
HTA Quantum Projects
Two lighthouse projects (external link, opens in a new window) within the Munich Quantum Valley (external link, opens in a new window) are
"Free-electron states as ultrafast probes for qubit dynamics in solid-state platforms": UR physicists aim at developing the prototype of an ultrafast transmission electron microscope that will be used to investigate the quantum dynamics of single qubits with highest spatial and temporal resolution.
"Quantum circuits with spin qubits and hybrid Josephson junctions": The project is carried out within the UR by four research groups of the Faculty of Physics and addresses cornerstones of possible future quantum computers: qubit processors and interfaces to hybrid quantum technologies.
CRC/TRR 325: Assembly Controlled Chemical Photocatalysis
The CRC/TRR 325 "Assembly Controlled Chemical Photocatalysis" (external link, opens in a new window) is exploring photo-electro chemistry and represents a consortium of 15 principal investigators who run a total number of 18 collaborative projects in the field of light-induced reactions. It’s declared goal is traversing new frontiers in photocatalysis for organic synthesis by designed control of catalyst-substrate interactions.
Results of this research will enable a broader application of light-initiated chemical transformations as an essential tool for the selective and efficient synthesis of complex molecules in academic research and industrial production.
RTG 2905: Ultrafast Nanoscopy
The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the Research Training Group (RTG) 2905 "Ultrafast Nanoscopy - from Single Particle Dynamics to Cooperative Processes" at the University of Regensburg (UR) (external link, opens in a new window) for five years from April 2024 with a total of six million euros.
The RTG is located in the unique interdisciplinary environment of RUN, the Regensburg Center for Ultrafast Nanoscopy (external link, opens in a new window).
Twelve scientists from the Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics (Isabella Gierz (external link, opens in a new window), Franz Giessibl (external link, opens in a new window), Rupert Huber (external link, opens in a new window), John Lupton (external link, opens in a new window), Jascha Repp (external link, opens in a new window), and Sascha Schaefer (external link, opens in a new window)), the Institute of Theoretical Physics (Ferdinand Evers (external link, opens in a new window), Milena Grifoni (external link, opens in a new window), Klaus Richter (external link, opens in a new window), and Jan Wilhelm (external link, opens in a new window)), the Institute of Biochemistry, Genetics, and Microbiology (Dina Grohmann (external link, opens in a new window)), as well as the Institute of Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry (Christine Ziegler) (external link, opens in a new window) lead the interdisciplinary RTG.
RTG 2620: Ion Pair Effects in Molecular Reactivity
The DFG-funded Research Training Group (RTG) 2620 "Ion Pair Effects in Molecular Reactivity" (external link, opens in a new window) strives to provide transferable concepts of ion pairs for the prediction and control of structures, reactivities and enantioselectivities.
At the same time, it focuses on excellent interdisciplinary graduate student education. So does the Doctoral Program 'Photo-Electro Catalysis' (external link, opens in a new window) , funded by the Elite Network of Bavaria.
#notabene
Grants
ERC Synergy Grants
ERC Synergy Grant Burkhard K?nig, INSIGHT, 2025
ERC Synergy Grant Christine Ziegler "HYDROSENSING", 2023
ERC Synergy Grant Rupert Huber/Ulrich Hoefer "Orbital Cinema" (external link, opens in a new window), 2022
ERC Synergy Grant Jascha Repp "MolDAM" (external link, opens in a new window), 2020
ERC Advanced Grant
ERC Advanced Grant Veronica Egger, COLUMNET, 2025
ERC Advanced Grant Dieter Weiss "ProMotion" (external link, opens in a new window), 2017
ERC Consolidator Grant
ERC Consolidator Grant Robert Wolf "FunctionalP4" (external link, opens in a new window), 2017
ERC Starting Grants
ERC Starting Grant Markus Jeschek "BiosenSAI", 2023
ERC Starting Grant Joshua Barham "HELIOS" (external link, opens in a new window), 2022
ERC Starting Grant Isabella Gierz "DANCE" (external link, opens in a new window), 2019
ERC Starting Grant Alexander Breder "ELDORADO" (external link, opens in a new window), 2018
Reinhart Koselleck Projects
Klaus Richter (external link, opens in a new window) "Many-Body Quantum Processes at the Edge of Chaos: From Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics towards Quantum Gravity", 2021-2026
Burkhard K?nig (external link, opens in a new window) "Carbanions for synthesis by photoinduced sequential multi-electron transfer", 2018-2024
#illustratedscience
Watching the Oscillations of an Electron Sea
Published in Simon Anglhuber, Martin Zizlsperger, Eva A. A. Pogna, Yaroslav A. Gerasimenko, Anastasios D. Koulouklidis, Imke Gronwald, Svenja Nerreter, Leonardo Viti, Miriam S. Vitiello, Rupert Huber & Markus A. Huber, Spacetime Imaging of Group and Phase Velocities of Terahertz Surface Plasmon Polaritons in Graphene. In: Nano Letters. DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c04615
Courtesy of Simon Anglhuber, @ Simon Anglhuber, 2025
Energy Surface
Complex energy surface created by Moiré effect in superimposed monoatomic layers, resulting in hexagonal rather than circular cyclotron motion of electrons in magnetic field. Courtesy of Klaus Richter and Ming-Hao Liu @ Ming-Hao Liu, Tainan, Taiwan
#sciencestories
Reaching a New Level of Diagnostics
Developing a Novel Nanomaterial-Based Biosensor @researchbavaria (external link, opens in a new window) @European Commission (external link, opens in a new window)
Foto: UR / Julia Dragan The Quantum World in Motion
Rupert Huber Strives for a New Level of Understanding of the Nanocosmos @researchinbavaria (external link, opens in a new window)
Foto: UR / Julia Dragan