DFG | 2016-2028 | 34.3Mio€
Lead: UoC with Tony Reimann as speaker | many PIs from UoC, e.g. Bareth, Crewell, Dunai, Heim, Grunert, Löhnert, Melles, Münker, Riedesel, Staubwasser
Water is the defining feature of the habitable Earth; it is essential for all life as we know it. Evolution of life in extremely water limited environments, which cover significant portions on of the Earth, is not well understood. Akin to life, water-driven processes leave unique marks on the Earth’s surface.

DFG | 2016-2027 | 8.5Mio€
Lead: Universität Leipzig | PIs: Susanne Crewell, Kerstin Ebell, Vera Schemann, Nikki Vercauteren
The CRC/TRR ‘Climate-relevant atmospheric and near-surface processes and feedback mechanisms’ (AC)³ offers a unique research environment in which to investigate the rise in Arctic surface temperature over recent decades – commonly referred to as Arctic amplification – from complementary perspectives, whilst combining various observational and modelling approaches.

DFG | 2019-2026 | 322k€
Lead: University Bayreuth | PIs: Christina Bogner, Anke Nölscher
The CRC1357 "Microplastics - Laws of formation, transport, physico-chemical behavior and biological effects: From Model to Complex Systems as a Basis for New Approaches" explores the formation, migration, and effects of microplastics and develops new approaches to solving this immense environmental problem. 

DFG | 2018-2029 | 30.4Mio€
Lead: University Bonn | PIs: Christina Bogner, Georg Bareth, Peter Dannenberg, Javier Revilla Diez
Future Rural Africa (Future-making and social-ecological transformation) is an interdisciplinary CRC involving geographers, anthropologists, political scientists, agroeconomists, soil scientists and ecologists from the Universities of Bonn and Cologne as well as external partners to address large-scale land use change and related social-ecological transformations along growth corridors in Eastern and Southern Africa.

DFG | 2014-2030 | 3.1Mio€
Current PI: Alexander Grayver (since 2024)
Antarctic research with comparative studies in arctic ice regions. Since 1981 there has been coordinated funding of polar research in Germany by the DFG. (...) The projects funded in the programme phases 2003-2007 and since 2008 and the scientific results achieved are presented in detail on the web pages of the Priority Programme www.spp-antarktisforschung.de. These show that there is a broad-based, highly qualified and motivated group of scientists in Germany who, with the help of SPP 1158, are making a clearly visible contribution to the pressing issues of international polar research.

DFG | 2016-2026 | 778k€
PIs: Susanne Crewell, Julian Quinting, Vera Schemann
The “High Altitude and long Range Aircraft” (HALO) is a platform for atmospheric and Earth System research. It is in operation since 2010, conducting a multitude of research missions and thus providing valuable insights into several scientific fields. Numerous in-situ and remote sensing instruments are certified for the operation on HALO. Hence, a flexible, modular scientific payload can be integrated on HALO, allowing for a custom-tailored instrumentation for each research mission.

DFG | 2024-2028 | 335k€
PI: Aleksandar Bojchevski
The main goal of this priority program is to develop a comprehensive theoretical foundation of deep learning. Aleksandar Bojchevski’s project focuses on “Uncertainty Guarantees for Graph Neural Networks.”

DFG | 2022-2028 |736k€
PIs: Martin Melles, Carsten Münker
One of the most striking properties of the geodynamo are complete reversals of the dipole field. The reversal frequency changes over geologic time scales typical of mantle convection. Neither the long-term evolution of the lower mantle and the dynamo, nor the coupling between the two are well understood, which forms the basis of PP 2404 “Reconstructing the Deep Dynamics of Planet Earth over Geologic Time (DeepDyn)”.

DFG | 2022-2026 | 342k€
Lead: University Bonn | PI: Christian Sohler
The Research Unit 5361 “Algorithmic data analysis for the Geodesy (AlgoForGe)” is dedicated to the algorithmic challenges of fundamental AI problems focused on two central areas of geodesy, both dealing with geometric abstractions of the real world: cartography and physical geodesy. 

DWD | 2022-2027 | 1.1Mio€
Lead: UoC: Claudia Acquistapace, Susanne Crewell
EXPATS (EXploiting sPAtioTemporal cloud patterns to advance severe Storms process understanding and detection) is a junior research group aiming to improve our understanding and ability to forecast severe storms in the Alps. To this end, it employs artificial intelligence methods and utilises satellite observations, ground-based radar data and lightning datasets. 

The project is part of the IDEA-S4S network, a bilateral initiative between Germany and Italy to foster scientific research and promote the formation of new researchers on ECMWF topics.

BMFTR | 2024-2027 | 45k€
Lead: University Bonn | PI: Susanne Crewell
The Klima OER (Open Educational Resources) project focuses on developing, expanding, and strengthening the OER community in meteorology and other fields related to the climate system. The goal is to create an accessible Climate OER landscape tailored to different skill levels. To this end, workshops will be offered, and relevant guidelines and OER materials will be developed.

NRW | 2023-2026 | 2.9Mio€
Lead: UoC | PIs: Yaping Shao, Nikki Vercauteren, Susanne Crewell
In the framework of the Profile Building 2022 of the Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, a new project on “Cultural Evolution in Changing Climate: Human and Earth System Coupled Research (HESCOR)” is established at the University of Cologne. 

HESCOR aims to develop a new science field of Human and Earth system coupled research through a cross-faculty multi-disciplinary structure and to investigate how the constellation of and interaction between the Human and Earth systems influenced human cultural evolution during the main phases of human expansion.

BMFTR | 2023-2026 | 1.1Mio€
Lead: University Hamburg | PI: Vera Schemann
WarmWorld is restructuring Earth system modelling to harness modern IT advances for climate calculations on a kilometre scale. Using an advanced, storm- and eddy-resolving ICON-based Earth system model (SR-ESM), the project is creating new workflows that make climate trajectories understandable for users – whilst also helping to coordinate national and international efforts to produce high-quality climate information.

DWD | 2024-2027 
PIs: Ulrich Löhnert, Susanne Crewell
The project HIRES-APP of the Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research (HErZ) is a joint research group of the Universities of Bonn, Cologne and Tübingen. The research aims to provide basic research for the German Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, DWD) and to initiate and support new developments within DWD. Specifically, we aim to derive and apply novel vertical profiling methods for temperature, humidity, winds and turbulence within the troposphere and evaluate their impact on high-resolution regional (re)analysis and short-term weather forecasts.
 

BMFTR | 2021-2029 | 4.5Mio€
PIs: Ulrich Löhnert, Susanne Crewell
JOYCE operates ground-based active and passive remote sensing instruments for cloud and precipitation observations. Central goals of JOYCE are:

• High-resolution and state-of-the-art cloud and precipitation observations using instrument synergy
• Standardized and documented operation procedures for cloud and precipitation research
• Centralized access for external users to instruments, operation and observation platforms
• Easy and open access to database and observations of all instruments

DFG | 2026-2031 1.25Mio€
Lead: UoC: Christian Sohler, Susanne Crewell
The Reinhart Koselleck project at the University of Cologne, with the title “Sublinear algorithms for meteorology”, aims to explore how advanced algorithmic methods from computer science can be further developed to analyse large-scale meteorological datasets and improve cloud modelling. 
The resulting innovative approaches are designed to combine research in computer science and meteorology to advance our long-term understanding of climate change.