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The University of Bremen and thirteen federal and state financed non-university research institutes cooperate within the U Bremen Research Alliance. The Alliance includes research institutes of the four major German science organizations, i.e. Fraunhofer Society, Helmholtz Association, Leibniz Association and Max Planck Society, as well as the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence.

Find out more about the U Bremen Research Alliance.

Conference Recap: IJCAI-ECAI 2026 in Bremen

With several thousand participants from more than 40 countries, Bremen became a meeting place for the international AI research community for one week. IJCAI-ECAI 2026 combined cutting-edge research on agentic AI, robotics, and machine learning with debates on regulation, application, and societal responsibility. The 35th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, held jointly this year with the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, brought together academia, business, policymakers, and the broader urban community from August 15 to 21. The main program, held from August 18 to 21 at Congress Centrum Bremen, was accompanied by preceding workshops and tutorials as well as public events.

Read the IJCAI conference summary

Daily Recaps of IJCAI-ECAI 2026

Daily Recap: Friday, August 21, 2026

Friday, 21 August, marked the final day of IJCAI-ECAI 2026 at Congress Centrum Bremen. Bringing the joint conference to a memorable close, the final day’s program featured keynotes on robot reinforcement learning and IJCAI in the world, an engaging panel on robotics, exhibits, last poster session, and the official closing and awards ceremony. Highlights included Jan Peters’ opening keynote on motor skill acquisition in autonomous systems, Georgina Curto’s update on the ‘IJCAI in the World’ initiative, and the passing of the torch to future conference host cities.

Daily Recap: Thursday, August 20, 2026

Thursday, 20 August, marked the penultimate day of IJCAI-ECAI 2026. The programme featured an impressive lineup of Early Career Spotlight Talks, major invited presentations, scientific award ceremonies, interactive challenges, live demos and public outreach events across the city.

Daily Recap: Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Highlights of the day included keynote speeches by Prof. Dr. Barbara Plank and Prof. David C. Parkes, a discussion on the practical implementation of the EU AI Act, Industry Day, Guided Tours of the exhibition, and the AI Lounge, which focused on AI in public administration.

Daily recap: Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Tuesday, 18 August, marked the official opening of the IJCAI-ECAI 2026 main conference.

After three days of workshops, tutorials and outreach events on the University of Bremen campus, the community moved into the Congress Centrum Bremen (CCB) for the start of the four-day technical programme, running through 21 August with 858 accepted papers out of 6342 full submission across the main track, special tracks, journal track, survey track and demonstrations track.

IJCAI-ECAI: Daily Recap of Monday, Aug. 17, 2026

On Monday, the workshop and tutorial program of IJCAI-ECAI 2026 came to a close, while the transition to the main conference began. As workshop participants said goodbye to their respective research communities, many more international guests were already arriving in Bremen. The program featured 13 workshops and ten tutorials, as well as the diversity event “Global South AI.” Another focus of the day was the Doctoral Consortium for early-career researchers.

Kick-off for IJCAI-ECAI 2026

IJCAI-ECAI 2026 brings world-class artificial intelligence research to Bremen. Following three days of workshops, exchange, and networking at the University of Bremen, the main conference program will begin on August 18 at Messe Bremen. The focus will be on the latest developments in AI, new perspectives, and dialogue across different generations of researchers.

Current News from the U Bremen Research Alliance

© Derk Schönfeld / U Bremen Research Alliance

Excellence Strategy: Northwest Alliance Not Selected in This Round

U Bremen Research Alliance thanks everyone who contributed to the Excellence Strategy proposal and builds on strengthened ties in the Northwest.

The Northwest Alliance (NWA), formed by the University of Bremen and the University of Oldenburg, was not selected as a University Excellence Consortium in the current round of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments. On October 2 in Bonn, the German Science and Humanities Council announced which institutions will receive funding going forward.

© Aylin Krieger / U Bremen Research Alliance

Joint Declaration: Bremen’s Academic Institutions Condemn Anti-Queer Incident at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences

In mid-September 2026, a Pride flag was torn down and burned on the campus of the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences. The institutions of the State Rectors’ Conference and the UBRA stand in full solidarity with the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences and the queer community.

IJCAI-ECAI 2026 brings together cutting-edge research, real-world application and public dialogue in Bremen

With several thousand participants from more than 40 countries, Bremen became a meeting point for international AI research for one week. IJCAI-ECAI 2026 brought together cutting-edge research on agentic AI, robotics and machine learning with debates on regulation, real-world application and societal responsibility.

Our High-Profile Areas

Marine, Polar and Climate Research

Material Sciences and Production Engineering

Minds, Media, Machines

Health Sciences

Current Impressions of our Work

All Impressions

© Merle El-Khatib / U Bremen Research Alliance

Another place for exchange: UBRA Meeting Point opens at the Leibniz Institute BIPS

© Greta Witt / U Bremen Research Alliance

Welcome Center Welcomes New Researchers to Bremen

© Senatskanzlei | Landesvertretung Bremen

UBRA, Northwest Alliance and The Martian Mindset at the summer reception Bremen State Representation in Berlin

Welcome Center

The Welcome Center of the U Bremen Research Alliance supports researchers and their families before and during their stay in Bremen, regardless of the length of their stay or how the stay is financed.

Learn more about the Welcome Center.

Jobs and Career

Job vacancies

Scientists looking for new career opportunities will find excellent infrastructure and creative competence within the U Bremen Research Alliance. By bundling strengths and utilizing flat hierarchies, the members of the Alliance nurture an interdisciplinary culture that offers maximum freedom of scope.

Here you will find an up-to-date overview of all job vacancies in the member institutions.

Member Institutions of the U Bremen Research Alliance in the Federal State of Bremen

Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research

German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence

Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials

Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems and Energy System Technology

Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing

Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research

Leibniz Institute for Material-Oriented Technologies

Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology