Science is applied when good results can be presented. Why Fachhochschule Dortmund is a university of applied sciences became clear at the "Precious Networks" event.
Almost 200 researchers from Fachhochschule Dortmund and their project partners gathered in the "kostBar" on the Emil-Figge-Straße campus on January 29, 2025 to showcase their achievements and exchange ideas. "The challenges we face as a society are diverse and can only be overcome by working together," said Prof. Dr. Tamara Appel, Rector of Fachhochschule Dortmund. This cooperation is the core of teaching and research at the UAS. The university has a wide range of expertise to help shape the social transformation - with courage, a vision and a strategy.
NRW Science Minister Ina Brandes also emphasized in her welcoming address: "The exchange between science, economy and society is of central importance." Only together can innovative solutions be developed.
Strong knowledge transfer
"We need your expertise," added Heike Marzen, Managing Director of the Dortmund Economic Development Agency, referring to the researchers in attendance. Cooperation with Fachhochschule Dortmund and the universities as a whole is a strength of the business location. "We now have 17,000 more employees with university degrees who are subject to social insurance contributions than in 2016. That shows how strong the transfer of knowledge is here." According to Marzen, the current 50,000 students in Dortmund, a good quarter of whom are enrolled at Fachhochschule Dortmund, are the most important potential for Dortmund and the region as a business location.
Prof. Dr. Jörg Thiem, Vice-Rector for Research and Transfer, also focused on the idea of networking in his outlook. "Expertise must complement each other," he said. At Fachhochschule Dortmund, research is carried out on many different topics, such as healthcare, sustainable energy, mobility and social action. He also emphasized the unity of research and teaching and referred to the numerous doctoral studies completed at the FH's own Graduate Center.
The researchers themselves then offered insights into individual research projects. They introduced their projects, presented results and answered interested questions.
From research
The "Establishment of the German Rescue Robotics Center (DRZ)" is the follow-up project to the research project "Establishment of the German Rescue Robotics Center (A-DRZ)", which was successfully completed at the end of 2022. Fachhochschule Dortmund is part of an independent non-profit association (DRZ e.V.) with staff, premises, test areas and its own robotic systems. With the Institute for the Digital Transformation of Application and Living Domains (IDiAL) and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the focus is on the development of robotic systems to support the rescue and protection of people and property.
"SUPA-Wheel" is aimed at the sustainable and cost-efficient production of aluminum wheels from secondary cast alloys. The research team is not only focusing on production, but also on the entire wheel life cycle - from aluminum mining to recycling - and the impact on fuel consumption.
The development of innovative battery storage systems for a sustainable energy supply is the focus of the "KV-BATT" project. The team is significantly increasing the voltage in the storage systems, which leads to significantly lower losses. Can the technology cope with this?
In a world that is increasingly characterized by ever more complex crises, resilient networking in social spaces is required. How well are the actors in the municipalities prepared for this? This is the focus of the "Crisis-proof structures" research project.
Researchers from the Faculty of Information Technology at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts are working on a mobile magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device for medical diagnoses. The low-field MRI is not only smaller, lighter and therefore more mobile, it also costs only a fraction of the large MRI tubes.