Academic Centres at the Philipps-Universität Marburg

• Center for Synthetic Microbiology
  In January 2010, the Philipps-Universität Marburg, the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Terrestrial Microbiology, and the Max Planck Society began to establish a Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO) in Marburg, promoted by the Excellence Program of the state of Hessen. Within the Center new functional units will be synthesized and integrated into cells in order to create microorganisms with new functions and potential for applications.

• Teacher Training Centre of the Philipps-Universität Marburg
  The Teacher Training Centre at the Philipps-Universität Marburg has been preparing study regulations for teacher training courses in cooperation with the various departments since August 2005. It plans and coordinates the practical part of educational studies, offers advising for students in teacher training Programmes and is involved in the appointment of professors entrusted with teacher training. It also develops further and continuing education courses for teachers offered by the university. 
   
• Japan Centre of the Philipps-Universität Marburg
  The Japan Centre at the Philipps-Universität Marburg promotes research related to Japan and collects information and documentation about Japan. It also brings together teaching and research activities concerning Japan from different fields in order to gain and convey academic insights into modern Japan and the Japanese language. Furthermore, it offers Japanese language courses, maintains contacts with Japanese institutions, and supports exchange Programmes for scholars and students. The academic fields covered by the Japan Centre are also associated with a corresponding university department.
   
• Scientific Centre for Material Sciences
  The main areas of research at the Scientific Centre for Material Sciences are in the fields of chemistry, geosciences and physics. Since its founding in 1989, the Centre has been concerned with a wide range of activities both in basic and application-oriented research in the fields of solid-state and surface physics, polymer chemistry and physics, organic and inorganic chemistry as well as biochemistry. The Centre promotes material sciences by focusing on specific research topics and supports associated instruction with courses in the field of material sciences. 
   
• Centre for Gender Studies and Feminist Futurology
  The Centre engages in research and teaching in the areas of feminist and gender studies with a focus on futurology. Currently, it includes scholars from the social sciences and philosophy, psychology, Protestant theology, history and the humanities, German studies, aesthetics and art history, biology and human medicine as well as educational studies. 
   
• Centre for Conflict Research
  This Centre, which was founded in 2001, and which currently has 45 employees from 15 different fields working in an interdisciplinary environment, brings together various teaching and research activities that concentrate on important social and international conflict situations.
   
• Marburg Centre for Canadian Studies
  The Marburg Centre for Canadian studies developed out of the interdisciplinary Canada research group in 2001. It comprises academics from different departments (including foreign language studies, geography, social sciences and philosophy) as well as the university library, which also shares an interest in Canadian studies. The Centre conveys knowledge about geography as well as the political and social system and the literature of Canada.
   
• Foto Marburg Picture Archive
  With about 1.5 million pictures, Foto Marburg is one of the largest picture archives for European art and architecture. It is used by the German Documentation Centre for the History of Art, which includes safeguarding pictorial heritage through photographs and digital reproductions. By setting up cooperative structures, Foto Marburg supports documentation work at museums, offices for the protection of historic documents, picture archives, universities and libraries. 
   
• Georg Büchner Research Centre
  The Büchner Centre, founded in 2000, is part of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz and is working on a critical historical edition of the works and writings of Georg Büchner with source documentation and commentary (Marburg edition), to be published around 2012. 
   
• Linguistic Atlas of Germany
  During the more than 100 years of research at the institute, linguistic geography has been established and further developed as a method of dialectology. This has resulted in the linguistic atlas developed at Marburg and the adoption of the methods of the ‘Marburg School’ (as the research on the Linguistic Atlas of Germany is called) by other research institutions. 
   
• Information Centre for Foreign Language Research
  The Information Centre for Foreign Language Research was founded in 1969 and operates as an extra-departmental facility at the Philipps-Universität Marburg. Its main area of research is the documentation of literature from the area of foreign language research and foreign language pedagogy. Its special focus makes it unique in Germany.
   
• Research and Teaching Focus in the Public Health Service
  This research group, comprising scientists from the faculties of law and economics, political science, psychology, Protestant theology, geography and medicine, analyzes the social challenges in the health sector in view of demographic developments, medical advances and the resulting increase of average life expectancies on the one hand, and increasing costs on the other.
   
• Marburg Centre for Medieval Studies
  Since the beginning of 2002, scholars from various faculties of the Philipps-Universität Marburg and many academic institutions in Marburg have been working on establishing an interdisciplinary Centre for Medieval Studies in Marburg. A research group has been set up as a platform for further activities.
   
• Virtual Linguistics Campus (VLC)
  The Virtual Linguistics Campus (VLC) is the largest e-learning platform for linguistics in the world and has been developed by the Philipps-Universität Marburg. The VLC offers validated linguistics courses and study material for theoretical and applied linguistics. In addition, it provides numerous linguistics tools and the communicative foundations for successful e-learning.
   
• PhD College for Humanities and Social Sciences
  The PhD college was founded in July 2005 and offers Marburg PhD students from these fields interdisciplinary networking and promotion of their dissertations.
   
• Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies
  An interdisciplinary Centre for Middle Eastern studies will be founded at the Philipps-Universität Marburg in 2006. This Centre will focus on and expand Middle Eastern Studies in the state of Hessen, which have a 100-year tradition at Marburg dating back to the founding of the Oriental Seminar. 
   
• Photography Archive of Original Certificates since 1250
  This facility, which is unique in Europe, has the task of making photographic records of original certificates granted to people during the medieval German Reich from its beginnings up to 1250 in the best possible quality and to evaluate the documents from a diplomatic point of view and to make the research results available to the public.