Profile text
The University
Universität Hamburg is the largest institution for research and education in northern Germany. As one of the country’s largest universities, we offer a diverse range of degree programs and excellent research opportunities. The University boasts numerous interdisciplinary projects in a broad range of fields and an extensive partner network of leading regional, national, and international higher education and research institutions.
Sustainable science and scholarship
Since 2010, Universität Hamburg has been one of the first Germany’s universities to focus on sustainability in every aspect and to combine the quest for excellence with the aim to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN in 2015.
Prof. Dr. Laura Marie Edinger-Schons has been the University’s Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). The new chief sustainability officer is also a professor for Business Administration, with a focus on Sustainability Economics. The professorship and the Sustainability Office are funded from the budget of the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments.
Excellent research
As part of the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments, Universität Hamburg has been granted clusters of excellence for 4 core research areas: Advanced Imaging of Matter (photon and nanosciences), Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CLICCS) (climate research), Understanding Written Artefacts (manuscript research) and Quantum Universe (mathematics, particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology).
An equally important core research area is Infection Research, in which researchers investigate the structure, dynamics, and mechanisms of infection processes to promote the development of new treatment methods and therapies.
Excellent University
Furthermore, alongside 10 universities and 1 university alliance, Universität Hamburg was named a University of Excellence and was deemed a "flagship university."
Outstanding variety: over 180 degree programs
Universität Hamburg offers approximately 180 degree programs within its eight faculties:
- Faculty of Law
- Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences
- Faculty of Medicine
- Faculty of Education
- Faculty of Humanities
- Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences
- Faculty of Psychology and Human Movement
- Faculty of Business Administration (Hamburg Business School).
Scientific collections and exhibitions
Furthermore, Universität Hamburg has about 30 scientific collections which provide invaluable research resources. Several of its museums hold public exhibitions such as the Geological-Paleontological Museum, the Mineralogical Museum, and the Museum of Nature—Zoology. In July 2021, the latter—together with the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (ZFMK)—became a Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change.
History
Universität Hamburg was founded in 1919 by local citizens. Important founding figures include Senator Werner von Melle and the merchant Edmund Siemers. Nobel Prize winners such as the physicists Otto Stern, Wolfgang Pauli, and Isidor Rabi taught and researched at the University. Many other distinguished scholars, such as Ernst Cassirer, Erwin Panofsky, Aby Warburg, William Stern, Agathe Lasch, Magdalene Schoch, Emil Artin, Ralf Dahrendorf, and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, also worked here.