Citizens meet scienceOur projects

You want to start a company? You need more information and advice? Then you have come to the right place: the prize-winning concept of StartING@THGA is a university initiative that support future entrepreneurs and the start-up culture in the Ruhr area.

THGA has launched the project Hidden Champions to encourage people in jobs to do a part-time university degree and improve their chances of becoming future leaders and experts, chances which are open to all talents disregarding their social background: educational climbers are welcome.

Lars Thalmann is developing the issue how to print artifical knees using a 3-D printer for the benefit of children in Colombia. To achieve this, he has to study this artificial joint very carefully: what are the loads on the joint, which forces do apply? Third Mission funding provided by the university enabled him to buy additional printing material and peripherals to advance his research.

In summer 2020 the Young Talents Tech Award of THGA was announced for the first time. This award is for pupils who like experimenting and developing things. Selected projects are funded with up to EUR 500, and the best idea wins an award. The Central Study Advice of THGA coordinates the contest.

The 3-D Print task force of Prof. Dr. Uwe Dettmer was given THGA's Third Mission Award 2020 for their special commitment during the Covid-19 crisis. In particular the collaboration between the task force, THGA and the German Mining Museum shows how important local cooperation is to give fast and simple help where needed.

As a response to the global spread of the corona virus Prof. Dr. Uwe Dettmer and his assistant Marcel Witting started the task force 3-D Print in the beginning of 2020. Their aim: to provide people and organisations that urgently need protection during the Corona pandemic with products from the 3-D printer. For example, face shields and door openers were manufactured this way and donated to different facilities in Bochum. The project gained wide support within DMT-LB, the owner of THGA, and the City of Bochum.

Prof. Dr. Bernd vom Berg was awarded the first Third Mission Award for his innovative ideas and research. As an expert of electrical engineering and information technology he develops intelligent systems at THGA which are of benefit to the human and to the animal population of Bochum.

In summer 2020, the local centre KoFabrik organised a local open-air festival around the Imbuschplatz, a square in the city centre. KoFabrik aims at improving collabration in the neighbourhood, and THGA was happy to join the programme. Different performances of music, theatre and science entertained and informed the audience. Prof. Dr. Tobias Rudolph explained, for example, that drones are good for much more than taking holiday pictures, Prof. Dr. Norbert Hüttenhölscher gave a convincing talk about renewable energies, and Dr. Christiane Scholz invited people on a trip to the Saale ice age.

The Ruhr area is a prime example of how generations of immigrants have been successfully integrated over decades. This legacy, which started with foreign labour in German coal mines in the late 19th Century, will remain part of the region's future identity, too. But what exactly will this future look like? What are the challenges we need to masterr? These were the key topics explored by members of the university, representatives of the government of North Rhine-Westphalia and experts at THGA.

What kind of country do we want to be? To find answers to this question, numerous people from the university, the German Mining Museum and the neighbourhood met on 15 June 2019 at the information desk of THGA to note their ideas on posters and to exchange their views on the topic.

At the Focus Day on Mineral Resources in the German Mining Museum, researchers and lecturers of THGA discussed with external experts what sustainable mining should look like: how can we implement and shape it? These and other issues were explored and answered in the fishbowl discussion round.