DFG supports two new research groups at Goethe University Frankfurt

“The two new research groups funded by the German Research Foundation show how Goethe University Frankfurt is tackling topics which are socially relevant and of global significance, such as the earth’s water resources and the effects of regulatory measures on market development,” says Professor Birgitta Wolff, the University’s president. “Congratulations to the researchers responsible, Petra Döll, Tobias Tröger and Rainer Haselmann, whose proposals were able to convince the German Research Foundation of the scientific quality of their projects.”

How water is distributed on our planet

The Research Unit “Understanding the Global Freshwater System by Combining Geodetic and Remote Sensing Information with Modelling Using Calibration/Data Assimilation Approach” (GlobalCDA), coordinated by Professor Petra Döll, hydrologist in Frankfurt, and Professor Jürgen Kusche, geodesist in Bonn, has set itself the task of quantifying water flows and water volumes on the earth’s continents more accurately in order to gain a deeper understanding of global water cycles.

In fact, global hydrological models already exist, but the aim now is to include additional, satellite-based observation data. “In order to quantify more precisely how water is distributed worldwide, we need to develop a new method that lets us assimilate these data and use them to adjust model parameters,” says Professor Döll, who focuses on further developing the global hydrological WaterGAP that is suitable for estimating the current status and future development of the global freshwater system under human impacts.

Professor Döll has been working since 1996 on global-scale modelling of water resources and their use under the impact of global change. How much water is there in the ground? How much water is flowing in various rivers? And how much water is hidden in snow fields? “If we can understand the present status of water resources and know how water moves, how it is stored and what happens when there is little rainfall, then we are a big step further,” says Döll.

Continental water flows play an important role for other aspects of the earth system. For example, groundwater depletion contributes to the global sea level rise. In a globalised world, a better understanding of the freshwater system worldwide would help to ensure sustainable water management (e.g., during droughts), but equally the sustainable production of food and energy. Seven groups from Germany are engaged in the project as well as one from Switzerland and another from Luxembourg. The German researchers will receive a total of about € 1.9 million for the first three years.

How markets react to new regulations

Under the title “Foundations of Law and Finance”, a Centre for Advanced Studies led by law professor Tobias Tröger and economics professor Rainer Haselmann will investigate how institutional and regulatory parameters influence financial market decisions and outcomes. The researchers want to take a closer look at the interconnections between legislation, economics and politics in this area and in so doing measure and evaluate the effects of legislative proposals and amendments on the real economy. “Our objective is not only to let the two disciplines of law and economics explore a common topic but also develop joint methodologies,” explains lawyer Tobias Tröger.

The project has evolved out of the LOEWE Centre “SAFE – Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe” at the House of Finance of Goethe University Frankfurt. Fellows from Germany and abroad were selected beforehand who are able and willing to engage in this type of methodologically synthesising research. According to Professor Tröger, SAFE and the House of Finance already provide the infrastructure necessary for such interdisciplinary cooperation and this makes them ideal hosts for the project.

Specifically, the objective is to study the market impact of legislation adopted in response to the 2007/08 financial crisis as well as investigate how certain corporate governance arrangements affect company value. Exploring the political-economy determinants of different regulatory measures is another central topic addressed by the project. Tröger is convinced: “Our results will debunk the popular myth of a ‘simple explanation’”. In addition to the spokespersons, a further six professors from Goethe University Frankfurt will engage in the project over the initial four years, together with two postdoctoral researchers, eight junior fellows and 20 fellows. The German Research Foundation has granted funding to the tune of € 3.1 million for the first four years.

The German Research Foundation is currently setting up a total of eight new Research Units, a Clinical Research Unit and two Centres for Advanced Studies, for which around € 32 million will be available in the first phase. This funding enables researchers to look at current pressing issues in their field and adopt innovative approaches in their work. In this context, the Centres for Advanced Studies are specially tailored to working practices in the humanities, meaning that they can receive funding for two four-year periods, by contrast to research groups in general, where the German Research Foundation can fund research for two three-year periods.

Portrait photographs of the spokespersons can be downloaded from: www.uni-frankfurt.de/69763182

Caption: Professor Petra Döll (photo: private), Professor Tobias Tröger (photo: IMFS/Hannelore Förster), Professor Rainer Haselmann (photo: Oli Hege)

Further information: Professor Petra Döll, Chair of Hydrology, Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences and Geography, Riedberg Campus, Tel.: +49(0)69-798-40219, email p.doell@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Professor Tobias Tröger, Chair of Civil, Commercial and Business Law, Institute of Civil and Business Law, Faculty of Law, Westend Campus, Tel.: +49(0)69-798-34391, email troeger@jur.uni-frankfurt.de

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Goethe University is a research-oriented university in the European financial centre Frankfurt The university was founded in 1914 through private funding, primarily from Jewish sponsors, and has since produced pioneering achievements in the areas of social sciences, sociology and economics, medicine, quantum physics, brain research, and labour law. It gained a unique level of autonomy on 1 January 2008 by returning to its historic roots as a “foundation university”. Today, it is among the top ten in external funding and among the top three largest universities in Germany, with three clusters of excellence in medicine, life sciences and the humanities. Together with the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Mainz, it acts as a partner of the inter-state strategic Rhine-Main University Alliance.

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