The research basis underlying the School is depicted in the figure above. Its most salient feature is a three-towered structure by so-called units, delineating the main areas of research in physics and astronomy at Bonn and Cologne. Our research is mainly financed by external funding of collaborative research centers ("DFG Sonderforschungsbereiche" and "BMBF Forschungsschwerpunkte"), and focal support programmes of DFG and BMBF. The Bonn and Cologne departments cooperate with the Juelich Research Center and the Max-Planck-Institute for Radioastronomy. They are engaged in ongoing collaborations with international research groups worldwide.

Innovative experimental and theoretical fore-front research is pursued in a number of fields:

The Department of Physics & Astronomy at Universitaet Bonn focuses on the areas of particle physics, condensed matter / photonics, and astronomy / astrophysics. The department runs its own electron accelerator (ELSA) and a cyclotron. There are strong groups in both experiment and theory which carry out research supported by large collaborative research funding (three DFG and BMBF Research Centers, SFB and FSP, and two DFG research units, FOR). More information about the research groups and facilities in Bonn 

The research foci of the Department of Physics at Universitaet zu Koeln are astrophysics, condensed matter and statistical physics, and experimental nuclear physics using an in-house tandem accelerator. One of the particular strengths of Cologne physics is theoretical research in condensed matter and statistical physics, where it is coordinating a total of three DFG Research Centers (SFB). Interdisciplinary research in these SFBs involves biologists, chemists, and mathematicians. Please consult http://www.physik.uni-koeln.de for more information.