New DFG research groups get underway

07/07/2026

A strong showing for the University of Würzburg: it is involved in three out of ten research groups whose establishment or renewal has now been approved by the German Research Foundation.

A success for researchers in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and computer science at JMU: the German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved their applications for new research groups or extended the funding for existing ones. In total, the DFG is establishing five new research groups and providing them with funding totalling 27 million euros; five further groups have had their funding extended.

Research groups enable researchers to address current and pressing issues in their fields and to establish innovative lines of research. They receive funding for up to eight years. The DFG currently funds 186 research groups, seven clinical research groups and 16 ‘Kolleg’ research groups.

Semantic shifts in low-resource domains

A new research group, ‘Semantic shifts in low-resource domains’ (SILD), is being established at the University of Würzburg within the CAIDAS (Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science) and ZPD (Centre for Philology and Digitality). The group’s co-chairs are Professors Fotis Jannidis, Chair of Digital Humanities and Modern German Literature at the University of Würzburg, and Andreas Hotho, Chair of Computer Science X (Data Science).

What this interdisciplinary group is investigating: How does language change over the course of history – in historical texts, literary works and academic discourses? Can these changes be automatically detected using AI? The team is developing new language models (Large Language Models) to identify shifts in linguistic meaning in collaboration with the humanities disciplines, where only limited amounts of data are available, thereby enabling new insights within the field.

A key focus is on the shift in meaning of expressions consisting of one or more words that together form a distinct meaning. The AI must learn to recognise these ‘word puzzles’ within the context of contemporary texts. To this end, the project utilises state-of-the-art AI methods from large language models, such as the Transformer architecture and knowledge graphs, as well as transfer learning methods – and, last but not least, innovative forms of visualising this data.

Three humanities research teams are working within SILD to investigate linguistic change:

Using 800 German-language plays from the period between 1650 and 1830, the study examines changes in moral language;
using Latin translations from Arabic, the project is investigating how Medieval Latin changed;
using newspapers from Hong Kong, the development of a specific form of English in that region is being analysed.

In addition to the teams led by the two principal investigators, the following are also involved in the group:

Professor Carolin Biewer, English Linguistics, University of Würzburg,
Dr Katrin Dennerlein, German Literature, University of Würzburg,
Professor Stephanie Evert, Computational Linguistics, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg,
Professor Goran Glavaš, Natural Language Processing, University of Würzburg
Professor Dag-Nikolaus Hasse, History of Philosophy, University of Würzburg
Professor Daniel Keim, Visual Analytics, University of Konstanz.

Contact

Prof. Dr Andreas Hotho, University of Würzburg, Chair of Computer Science X (Data Science)
T +49 931 31-88453, andreas.hotho@uni-wuerzburg.de

Prof. Dr Fotis Jannidis, University of Würzburg, Chair of Digital Humanities and Modern German Literature,
T +49 931 31-80078, fotis.jannidis@uni-wuerzburg.de

Sustainable Learning: Cognitive Mechanisms and Effective Implementation in the Classroom

The DFG research group ‘Sustainable Learning: Cognitive Mechanisms and Effective Implementation in the Classroom’, which began its work in 2022, is to continue for a further four years. The group is led by Professor Tobias Richter, the Chair of Psychology IV at the University of Würzburg; research teams from a total of eleven universities are involved.

“We understand sustainable learning as learning in which knowledge is not only available in the short term, but is retained in the long term and can be applied in new situations,” says Tobias Richter, describing the background to the project.

‘Desirable difficulties’ in learning

The first funding phase focused on three “desirable challenges” in learning: spaced learning (learning phases spread over a longer period rather than intensive cramming), interleaved learning (alternating rather than block-based study of similar content), and retrieval exercises to test what has been learnt.

These learning strategies initially make the learning process more challenging, but in the long term they promote the retention and flexible application of knowledge. The researchers were able to demonstrate that they are particularly effective when combined with comprehension-oriented, generative learning strategies.

Experimental studies in schools planned

In the second funding phase, the research group is building on these findings. The focus is now on the question of which cognitive processes underlie the positive effects of these desirable learning challenges in a school context, and whether and how learners can utilise these strategies in self-regulated learning.

To this end, the researchers are conducting experimental studies in seven sub-projects at primary and secondary schools in the subjects of biology, mathematics, German and physics. The aim is to develop a scientifically sound theory of sustainable learning in educational contexts.

“Despite the broad consensus that sustainable learning is one of the central themes of teaching and learning research, empirical research has so far focused on examining learning outcomes over relatively short periods,” says Richter. Consequently, there is too little systematic research and hardly any theories from which recommendations can be derived on how learning and teaching in schools should be structured to create sustainable knowledge. The research group is helping to close this knowledge gap.

This continued funding enables the research group to build on the highly successful scientific work carried out during the first funding phase and to continue this work.

Research group website

Contact

Prof. Dr Tobias Richter, University of Würzburg, Chair of Psychology IV
T +49 931 31-83755, tobias.richter@uni-wuerzburg.de

Dr Marina Klimovich, University of Würzburg, Chair of Psychology IV
T +49 931 31-84230, marina.klimovich@uni-wuerzburg.de

Dr Lea Nemeth, University of Würzburg, Chair of Psychology IV
T +49 931 31-82482, lea.nemeth@uni-wuerzburg.de

Molecular machines at the heart of gene expression

A research group investigating the fundamental mechanisms of gene transcription has also been newly approved. It is led by the Bayreuth-based biochemist Professor Claus-D. Kuhn and his colleague Lydia Herzel, a professor at the Free University of Berlin. Professor Utz Fischer, Chair of Biochemistry I at the University of Würzburg, is a co-initiator of the group and is involved as the leader of a sub-project.

“Over the next four years, we will be taking a detailed look at the molecular machines that control transcription in cells – the first and most important step in gene expression,” explains Utz Fischer. These are RNA polymerases with their numerous subunits, or msRNAPs for short. They translate the information from DNA into RNA and control the entire process.

The research group aims to investigate RNA polymerases across all domains of life for the first time – from simple bacteria and specialised ancient microorganisms, through complex cells such as those found in animals and plants and components of plant cells, right through to viruses.

Würzburg project focuses on poxviruses

In his sub-project, Utz Fischer will focus on the polymerase of specific viruses – the so-called poxviruses. These include, amongst others, variola viruses, the pathogens responsible for the deadly smallpox. As a recognised expert in this field, Fischer has, in recent years, succeeded in elucidating the three-dimensional structure of the unique smallpox viral polymerase, thereby gaining unexpected new insights into gene expression in this important group of viruses.

The group is pursuing three scientific objectives:

To elucidate the molecular principles of RNA synthesis by msRNAPs across all domains of life.
To identify the regulatory mechanisms that influence transcriptional dynamics and output.
To synthesise the findings into overarching principles that determine transcriptional output and its regulation.

The research group brings together early-career and established scientists from across Germany, including from the University of Bayreuth, the Free University of Berlin, the University of Göttingen, Leibniz University Hannover, the University of Regensburg, the University of Würzburg, the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Natural Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry.