International Collaborations and Research Networks

The chairs and research groups of the Faculty of Computer Science actively collaborate with universities, institutes, and companies abroad in their respective fields of research. Information on this can be found on the websites of the chairs and is evident, for example, in joint publications. In addition, our scientists in Bochum are connected with local institutes that are internationally active (see Local Research Institutes with International Activities). Ruhr University Bochum also has a strong international network and is a member of various university networks.

Topics on this webpage:

Local Research Institutes with International Activities

Scientists at the Faculty of Computer Science are well connected locally and nationally and are integrated into research networks. The latter are usually involved in international research themselves and are often known worldwide as renowned centers of excellence in their respective fields of research. This page provides a brief overview of local research networks that are active internationally – detailed information can be found on the websites of the respective institutions.

  • CASA: The Cluster of Excellence “Cyber Security in the Age of Large-Scale Adversaries” brings together scientists from various disciplines with the aim of making the digital world more secure against powerful cyber attackers in the long term.
  • HGI: „Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security“ is an interdisciplinary research department at RUB and one of the largest and oldest institutes for IT security in Europe.
  • Humaine: The “Human Centred AI Network” is the competence center for the working world of the future with artificial intelligence in the Ruhr region, bringing together expertise from various industrial partners and other institutions, as well as from various research fields at the RUB.
  • INI: The “Institut für Neuroinformatik” aims to understand how natural organisms generate behavior and cognition and to apply this knowledge to modern information processing in artificial neural networks.
  • MPI-SP: The “Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy” researches and develops technical foundations and interdisciplinary aspects of IT security and data protection.

International Awards and Funding Programs

The excellence of research at our faculty is not only evident in our research projects and collaborations, but is also reflected in the international prizes, awards, and grants received by our researchers. In recent years, our scientists have received the following international awards from the EU, among others.

  • 2022: Michael Walter for the Project „Symmetries and Optimisation at the Frontiers of Computation“ (SYMOPTIC)
  • 2023: Nils Jansen for the Project „Data-Driven Verification and Learning Under Uncertainty“ (DEUCE)
  • 2024: Lorenzo Grassi for the Project „Getting SYMmetric CryPtography Out of its Comfort ZONe“ (SYMPZON)
  • 2016: Christof Paar for the Project „Exploring and Preventing Cryptographic Hardware Backdoors: Protecting the Internet of Things against Next-Generation Attacks“ (EPOCH)
  • 2022: Eike Kiltz for the Project „New Foundations for Real-World Cryptography“ (REWORC)
  • 2023: Gregor Leander for the Project „Trust-by-Design – Strong Security Arguments for Symmetric Key Cryptography“ (SymTrust)

International Networks of RUB

Not only the Faculty of Computer Science, but also RUB maintains a wide range of international cooperations and is part of international networks. The website of the International Office of RUB provides a good overview, and some important cooperations can also be found here.

  • DWIH: Through four of the five German Houses of Science and Innovation, RUB cooperates with a network of universities, science and business promotion organizations, companies, and start-ups. The four DWIHs with which RUB cooperates are located in New York, Sao Paulo, Tokyo, and Moscow.
  • Liaison Offices der UA Ruhr: Together with TU Dortmund and the University of Duisburg/Essen, RUB maintains branch offices in North America (based in New York), Eastern Europe/Central Asia, and Central and South America (based in Sao Paulo), which promote student and sicientist exchanges and thus support collaboration in research and teaching.
  • UNIC: “The European University of Cities in Post-Industrial Cities” is an association of ten European universities that face similar challenges due to their similar industrial pasts and that are collaborating to address these challenges in teaching, research, and knowledge transfer.
  • WUN: Das „Worldwide Universities Network“ ist ein weltweit führendes Hochschul- und Forschungsnetzwerk, deren Universitäten gemeinsam Forschung und Lehre zu globalen Herausforderungen vorantreiben und sich dabei an den UN-Nachhaltigkeitszielen orientieren.