“Transforming Human Rights”: New Cluster of Excellence

22 May 2025

FAU project “Transforming Human Rights” becomes Cluster of Excellence

FAU Press release| 22.05.2025 | 

Celebrations at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU): The “Transforming Human Rights” research project is to become a Cluster of Excellence. Late on Thursday afternoon, the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Council of Science and Humanities announced which research projects are to receive funding from the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments. FAU’s application convinced the Excellence Commission with its project to identify the challenges faced by human rights against the backdrop of global megatrends such as autocratization, digitalization, and planetary environmental crises and to investigate the transformation of human rights standards, institutions and practices. The decision means that FAU will receive funding running into tens of millions of euros, strengthening the interdisciplinary FAU Research Center for Human Rights Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU CHREN) as an institution.

“We are incredibly proud to be part of the Excellence Strategy at FAU with our human rights research. It is a great honor that the federal and state governments have now recognized the ground-breaking research our team has been carrying out in this crucial field for several years,” explains FAU President Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger. “I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my colleagues who worked on this application and to our project partners, the International Nuremberg Principles Academy, the German Institute for Human Rights, the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights. Thanks to our untiring commitment throughout the various stages of the application procedure and our passion for research, FAU can justifiably claim to be in a position of excellence in the field of human rights. I am convinced that this is exactly the right time, the right place and, above all, the right team of researchers for this accolade. Last but not least, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Free State of Bavaria. Without its funding, the establishment of the Human Rights Research Center and thus human rights research in Nuremberg as we know it today would not have been possible.”

Bavarian Science Minister, Markus Blume, congratulates: “Excellence for FAU: Hats off and heartfelt congratulations to the researchers for the outstanding success in Germany’s most important research competition. This is an important recognition for the entire university. FAU shines especially today – and Bavaria is also a big winner: All Bavarian cluster applications were successful. We have doubled the number of clusters to twelve. No other state has gained more. It goes to show that perseverance pays off. With the High-Tech Agenda Bavaria, we have consistently invested in science and research and have substantially strengthened Bavaria as a science location – the HTA is a true excellence booster.”

Far-reaching research in the face of global megatrends

The Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments is one of the most important initiatives for the promotion of outstanding research in Germany. The funding over a period of several years will allow interdisciplinary teams to pursue a joint research agenda, supporting early-career researchers on a large scale and collaborating on an international level.

The Cluster of Excellence at FAU addresses the potential and the limits of human rights against the backdrop of the fundamental changes that are shaping our times. It focuses on five megatrends: autocratization, the fragmentation of economic globalization, international migration, environmental crises across the planet and digitalization. These megatrends are changing human rights standards, institutions and practices. At the same time, human rights themselves have the potential to provide answers to these five megatrends.

Political scientist Prof. Dr. Katrin Kinzelbach, who is co-speaker of the cluster, explains: “Human rights are under pressure globally, but they are still being demanded, defended and developed worldwide. We will investigate these transformation processes in an interdisciplinary manner in the Cluster of Excellence. We are looking forward to working on this great challenge in conjunction with our partners in Germany, as well as collaborating closely with fifteen research institutions all across the world.”

Co-speaker and legal expert Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski stresses: “After several years of development at the FAU Research Center CHREN, this unique and generous funding as part of the Excellence Strategy will now allow us to take the next step and push forward our important topic. FAU and the city of Nuremberg – now a city of human rights and of peace – provide the perfect conditions for rethinking and strengthening human rights research in a critical time.”

Success in a multi-stage application

The first hurdle was passed by Transforming Human Rights in February 2024, along with a further 40 cluster projects, with the invitation to submit a full proposal by the international committee of experts appointed by the Joint Scientific Conference of the German Federal and National Governments (GWK). FAU submitted the full proposal in August 2024 and can now enjoy its success. A total of 687 million euros of funding per year is available for the seven-year funding phase, which begins in 2026. The total will be divided between up to 70 Clusters of Excellence. Funding running into tens of millions of euros spread across several years will be awarded to FAU for the Transforming Human Rights project.

Weiterführende Informationen:

Prof. Dr. Katrin Kinzelbach
katrin.kinzelbach@fau.de 

Prof. Dr. Markus Krajewski
markus.krajewski@fau.de 

Stabsstelle Presse und Kommunikation der FAU
Tel.: 09131/85-70229
presse@fau.de 

DFG Exzellenzstrategie des Bundes und der Länder

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Press review| 23.05.2025 | Cluster of Excellence “Transforming Human Rights”