U Bremen Research Alliance Conferences

In order to stimulate cooperative research projects between the institutions, up to three "U Bremen Research Alliance Conferences" per year are financially supported with a maximum of 10,000 euros each.

Past Conferences

© Prof. Dr. Ruth Schilling / Deutsches Schifffahrtsmuseum Bremerhaven

UBRA-Symposium „Ocean Literacies – Literatures of Oceans“

From 18 to 20 June 2026, the research symposium “Ocean Literacies – Literatures of Oceans” brought together around 50 participants, both in person and online, to strengthen international cooperation in the emerging field of the Blue Humanities. Supported by the U Bremen Research Alliance and the University’s Central Research Development Fund, the symposium served as an inaugural network meeting with a clear goal: to lay the groundwork for a future EU-funded COST Action network. Read more.

UBRA Conference on „Maritime Kreislaufwirtschaft“

On July 9, 2025, the U Bremen Research Alliance Conference on “Maritime Circular Economy” took place at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), a member institution of UBRA. The event focused on key research questions related to the Leibniz Science Campus funding application jointly submitted by Leibniz-ZMT and the University of Bremen. Among other things, discussions focused on how maritime material cycles can be closed, how ships, ports, and coastal regions can be designed to be resource-efficient and sustainable, and how sustainable economic prospects and innovative business models can be developed.

© Nele Diekmann / U Bremen Research Alliance

UBRA Conference on „Oceanic Nitrogen Cycling“

On June 23, 2025, the U Bremen Research Alliance Conference on “Oceanic Nitrogen Cycling” took place at the ATLANTIC Hotel Universum in Bremen, applied for by the member institutions University of Bremen through MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (MPIMM), and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). The participating experts presented current research findings on the oceanic nitrogen cycle in order to to develop new ideas and approaches to address the nitrogen and climate crises.

© Shanice Allerheiligen / U Bremen Research Alliance

UBRA Conference on „MRI for Cultural Heritage Objects"

Building on the potential for a unique transdisciplinary and regional alliance within the UBRA between the German Maritime Museum (DSM), Fraunhofer MEVIS, and the MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes at the University of Bremen, the U Bremen Research Alliance Conference on "Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Cultural Heritage Objects," held from Thursday, December 7 to Friday, December 8, 2023, focused on evaluating the current state of research in the field of complementary methods and technologies for the exploration and preservation of historical and archaeological objects.

Funding Objectives

The Alliance aims to create new collaborative research on topics located at the interfaces of two or more member institutions. The purpose of the research conferences is to promote the visibility of Bremen as a science location, present opportunities for reviewing new ideas and lay the foundations for pursuing new lines of research. The overall goal is to sustainably anchor such new approaches with the support of member institutions or external funding bodies as well as the long-term establishment of stable research cooperation – resulting, among others, in joint publications.