Project Houses
RWTH Aachen University aims at pioneering emerging research areas of global and societal relevance. Most of these research areas are of an interdisciplinary nature. For this reason, it is essential for RWTH to support its researchers in identifying, establishing, promoting, and eventually maintaining research areas in interdisciplinary growth areas from the initial exploration of new ideas to the creation of research centers.
These measures promote a closer integration of and collaboration between the different disciplines, such as Engineering, Natural Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Business and Economics, and Medicine, towards an "Integrated Interdisciplinary University of Technology". To achieve these goals, a structured strategic process has been established.
Addressing Interdisciplinary Research Questions
The RWTH Project Houses place special emphasis on interdisciplinary research. Scientists and mathematicians are teaming up with economists and academics from the humanities to tackle research issues that have immense scientific and social significance. How can we responsibly meet our energy needs in the future? What will life in our cities be like ten years from now? How does modern mobile phone technology affect human interaction?
Center for Automotive Catalytic Systems Aachen (ACA)
The ACA bridges the gap between chemistry, physics and mechanical engineering in the interdisciplinary scientific field of exhaust aftertreatment for mobile applications.
The goal of the project house is to investigate and enable catalytic systems as a key technology for efficient and environmentally-friendly propulsion systems for future challenges. The ACA seeks to develop materials, production processes as well as adapted operation strategies in collaboration with international industrial and academic partners.
ACTurbo Project House – Aachen Center for Turbomachinery Manufacturing
The ACTurbo project house pools and coordinates integrative and interdisciplinary top-level research concerned with the production and repair of turbomachinery. The project house is one of several initiatives of the Production Engineering Profile Area that have been derived from the strategy process. The aim is to implement the general principle of networked adaptive production for the product turbomachine.
Center of Molecular Transformations (CMT)
The CMT orginated from the interdisciplinary growth area "Molecular Science and Engineering"; the primary goals of this newly established project house include developing sustainable methods and processes for molecular transformation and making a contribution to the preparation of alternative carbon sources (biomasses, CO2). Therefore, the project house works in the field of catalysis research, under the integration of approaches and methods from chemo-catalysis, bio-catalysis, and process engineering.
Gender and Diversity in SET (Science, Engineering, Technology): Virtual Project House
In order successfully to address the global challenges of our time, RWTH has set itself the goal to develop into a truly integrated interdisciplinary University of Technology. In order to continue to be competitive in the future, RWTH seeks to tap and develop the potential of a community of culturally and otherwise diverse people.
Researchers from different disciplines at have commited themselves to integrate gender and diversity perspectives in their research, applied methodologies, teaching, and scientific outlook and to consider this integration of perspectives as an important cross-sectional task.
The Virtual Project House aims at interconnecting scientists and their research areas, promote interdisciplinary collaboration between them, and thus to make their work more visible to the research community.
HumTec Project House
An integral component of the University's Institutional Strategy, HumTec aims at fostering high level interdisciplinary research between the humanities/social sciences and the engineering/natural sciences.Following this strategy, HumTec provides a framework for top-level interdisciplinary research. At HumTec, social scientists as well as engineers, natural scientists and physicists work together in interdisciplinary teams on the major societal challenges of our time. It strives to provide answers to current global challenges such as energy production and distribution, medical care in an aging society, and climate change, which can only be adequately addressed in an interdisciplinary fashion. For this reason, seeks to innovatively transcend the boundaries of disciplines. HumTec's researchers address their topics from the perspectives of their disciplines before discussing them in interdisciplinary groups. Under on roof, ethical, legal, political, cognitive, social, linguistic, cultural, and medical aspects are being investigated.
ICMEaix Project House
The ICMEaix project house is the umbrella organization for all modeling and simulation activities in the area of structural materials at RWTH Aachen and in the University's collaborations with external research institutions. Integrated Computational Materials Engineering, ICME for short, aims at the computer-based prediction of component properties as a function of local material characteristics, taking into account the entire production chain.
IMF Project House
The goal of the newly create "Interdisciplinary Management Factory" (IMF) project house is to support the transformation of the School of Business and Economics into an internationally competitive institution for interdisciplinary, technology-oriented research.
The IMF is expanding on the success of the IMP project house from the first phase of the Excellence Initiative. This included the faculty's research program within the Institutional Strategy I.
Power to Fuel Project House – P2F
Considering a sustainable development, the production of alternative fuels and vehicle movements is one of the key challenges of our time. The conversion of regeneratively produced electricity to fuels offers a promising approach.
The Power to Fuel Project House, P2F for short, has devoted itself to the ambitious goal of developing innovative processes in order to achieve the highest possible efficiency in the conversion of electrical energy into fuels.
Project House TESA – Technology-Based Energy System Analysis
Drawing on scientific and technical expertise, TESA displays the potential and limits of currently available and new technologies in accordance with ecological, economic and social criteria. Crucial for the evaluation of technological innovations are the databases used, as well as the methods for the depiction of complex system structures, taking into account all relevant interdependencies.
Project House Water – PHW
Water is the key element for life and will be one of the most important resources in everyone's future. Its sustainable and global availability, high quality standards and the steady increase in extreme, waterborne events such as flooding, represent major challenges to all persons.
At this point, Project House Water sets in as competence center for interdisciplinary water research: In a network of technical, scientific, economic and social departments, researchers explore the connection, effects and requirements between the priorities of Water-People-Environment and develop innovative strategies and technologies for diverse applications.
Production for the Construction of Tomorrow
The project house Production for the Construction of Tomorrow seeks to pool the University’s expertise in the area of sustainable, future-oriented production for construction purposes. The existing research activities at RWTH are to be further developed within a consortium, which it to form the basis for a new research cluster, “Construction and Environment.” This cluster is to be established on RWTH Aachen Campus in the medium term, bringing together researchers from RWTH institutions, companies, as well as service providers from the construction sector. The new cluster is to open up a new dimension intense on-site collaboration between academia and companies in the wider construction sector.