Osnabrück University, founded in 1974, is a young, vibrant university in northwest Germany that is renowned for its research and teaching in the areas of Humanities, Social Sciences, Science, Law and Business Administration/Economics. The University provides ideal conditions for about 13.500 students and PhD students to learn and conduct research. Both its structured PhD programs and modular degree programs feature high standards of quality; they are accredited, and lead to the conferral of internationally recognized degrees.

One feature of Osnabrück University is the extent to which it combines different scientific disciplines in research and teaching. Thinking beyond the borders of individual fields of expertise is fostered in the interdisciplinary institutes of Migration Research, Cognitive Science, Early Modern Intercultural Studies and Environmental Systems Research. Biology at Osnabrück is renowned both at home and abroad for its Collaborative Research Centre “Physiology and dynamics of cellular micro-compartments (CRC 944)”. The European Legal Studies Institute at Osnabrück University is one of Europe’s most important research facilities in the field of comparative law and the harmonization of law. 

Institute of Environmental Systems Research

The Institute of Environmental Systems Research (USF) is a multi-departmental institution of the Departments of Mathematics/Computer Science, Biology/Chemistry, Cultural Studies and Geosciences, Physics and Economics.  ESR develops interdisciplinary concepts and methods across traditional scientific disciplines and at the interface between the natural and social sciences to improve understanding of and find solutions for complex environmental problems. The main research areas undertaken at the Institute include analysis and modelling of socio-ecological systems, mathematical biology and ecology, environmental exposition and risk analysis, water resource management systems and societal transformation processes towards sustainability.