The university in the media

06/16/2026

The university and its researchers are always well represented in the media. Here are some recent examples.

UFO research: What lies behind UFOs? That is what science wants to investigate. The Franco-German TV channel arte is presenting a programme on the subject, in which JMU aerospace engineer Professor Hakan Kayal also has his say.

Sport and politics: The 2026 Football World Cup kicked off on 11 June. One host nation is particularly in the spotlight: the USA. Its president, Donald Trump, has previously attempted to use sporting events and successes for self-promotion. Würzburg-based sports scientist Tobias Thune Jacobsen discusses the topic of ‘sportswashing’ in the context of the World Cup in an interview with the Würzburg newspaper Main-Post.

Animal welfare in research: For the 2025/26 winter semester, the University of Würzburg has established a new Chair of Animal Welfare and Laboratory Animal Science. In June, Bayerischer Rundfunk reported on the work of the chair’s holder, Professor Jan Baumgart.

Collectivisation of housing: A dispute is raging in Berlin over the possible transfer of property into communal ownership. Bavaria intends to take action against this: among other things, with a Bundesrat initiative “that prohibits such expropriations”, as Minister-President Dr Markus Söder says. Isabel Feichtner, JMU Professor of Public Law, takes a critical view: in her opinion, a nationwide legal ban on socialisation would be “inconsistent with the Constitution”, according to the legal experts on Bayerischer Rundfunk.

You can find the latest media coverage of JMU in the daily press review.