The winners of this year’s competition for project funding within the “vielfältig.nachhaltig.digital” program have been named, and these six projects will be receiving financial support over a three-year period. This was the fifth time that University of Bonn teachers have been called upon to submit highly innovative teaching projects. Professor Klaus Sandmann, Vice Rector for Teaching, Learning and University Development explains: “The competition entries reveal how creative our teachers are in their efforts to design cutting-edge teaching approaches.”
Three of the winning projects involve artificial intelligence
The judges panel was particularly impressed with digitalization-related projects this year, as five of the six winning projects are digital in nature. Of those, three involve the use of artificial intelligence (AI), which Vice Rector Sandmann said, “is revealing of how the University of Bonn is making deliberate advances in the use of AI in teaching in a needs-based manner that will keep us on the cutting edge.”
Another project is about an AI assistant for English linguistics called CorpusMentor, which enables students working with “corpora,” i.e. large digital collections of language data, to ask questions in natural language. A large language model (LLM) translates natural language questions into corpus queries, then retrieves the results, calculating usage frequency and generating charts.
Funded projects 2025–2028
- “CORDIAL (CORpus-based Dialogue-driven AI for Learning),” Professor Robert Fuchs (Department of English, American, and Celtic Studies)
- “Dichter, Sammler, Forscher: Karl Simrock die Brüder Grimm und ihr Netzwerk digital” (“Poets, collectors, researchers: Karl Simrock, the Brothers Grimm and their digital network”), Privatdozent Dr. Peter Glasner (Department of German and Comparative Literature and Culture)
- “Digitale Kompetenzen zur Messwert- und Datenerfassung im Lehramtsstudium Physik” (“Digital competencies for measurement and data recording for the teaching degree program in Physics”), Dr. Frank Vewinger (Department of Physics and Astronomy)
- “Fachdidaktischer Assistent in der Lernfeld- und Kompetenzorientierung (FALKO) – Entwicklung eines KI-gestützten Lernbegleiters in der ersten Phase der Lehrerausbildung” (“Subject didactics assistant for learning area and competency orientation (FALKO)—Development of an AI-supported learning companion for phase one of teacher education”), Professor Alexandra Brutzer (Nutrition and Food Sciences)
- “NewHorizons: Ein universitätsübergreifendes, inter- und transdisziplinäres Simulations- und Rollenspiel für die Universität Bonn” (“NewHorizons: a cross-university, inter- and transdisciplinary roleplay simulation for the University of Bonn”), Professor Adrian Hermann (Department of Oriental and Asian Studies)
- “The English Course Companion (EnC2): An Integrated, LLM-Supported Platform for English Language Practice,” David Moroney (Department of English, American, and Celtic Studies)
About the “vielfältig.nachhaltig.digital” project funding program
The funding program titled “vielfältig.nachhaltig.digital” was formed by the University of Bonn Rectorate in 2021 as a strategic funding source for individual and group projects relating to degree programs and teaching that help cultivate students’ individual potential, raise awareness on the importance of sustainable development and anchor the acquisition of digital skills within teaching. In each funding round, up to two million euros are awarded for projects chosen in a competitive process. The members of the judges panel are selected so as to be broadly representative of the various faculties and status groups. The next application phase opens in late 2025.
... to the press release of the University of Bonn:
... to funding priority "vielfältig.nachhaltig.digital":