Supported by our interdisciplinary research approach, the researchers of the WiSo Faculty make a significant contribution to the academic excellence of the University of Cologne, which ranks among the most research-intensive universities in Germany and Europe and enjoys an excellent international reputation.
The close collaboration across faculties, made possible by the University’s broad range of study programmes and research areas, enables us to address the major challenges of our time at an internationally outstanding level. Institutions such as the Cologne Laboratory for Economic Research (CLER) further strengthen the University of Cologne’s excellent research infrastructure.
Projects, initiatives and research centres with leading WiSo involvement
Research Center C-SEB
The Centre for Social and Economic Behaviour (C-SEB) was founded in early 2015. Zogether with internationally renowned scientists from Europe and the USA, they investigate the fundamental principles and behavioral mechanisms that affect social and economic behavior. As a research centre, the C-SEB represents, manages and further develops the Key Profile Area (KPA) “Social and Economic Behaviour” of the University of Cologne. The KPA brings together researchers from economics, business administration, psychology and related fields to study social and economic behaviour.
Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets and Public Policy
ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy, Germany’s first Cluster of Excellence in the field of economics, has been jointly run by the University of Bonn and the University of Cologne since 2019. The aim of the cluster is to advance a new paradigm for the analysis of markets and public policy in light of fundamental societal and technological challenges. All research activities are coordinated under the umbrella of the Reinhard Selten Institute (RSI). The cluster’s research findings are directly aimed at providing relevant stakeholders with the tools to respond to today’s challenges in an evidence-based manner.
Key Profile Area Social and Economic Behavior
As part of the nine key profile areas at the University of Cologne, the central aim of the Social and Economic Behaviour key profile area is to bring together different research approaches. On this basis, it seeks to understand how insights from behavioural research can be applied in practice to help address major social and economic challenges.
Within the key profile area, since 2019 the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy has been funded in cooperation with the University of Bonn as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments (ExStra).
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