Gentle purchase incentives can lead customers to choose groceries with higher animal husbandry standards more often. A recent study at the University of Bonn at least suggests this. The researchers used two different animal welfare label posters as “nudges.” Each poster itself changed the consumer behavior of participants shopping in a virtual supermarket. The share of products with higher animal welfare standards in the shopping cart was highest when both posters were combined. Further studies have yet to clarify the extent to which the results can be transferred to real shopping situations. The study has been published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics.

How can we feed a growing global population? And what role are new technologies playing in making food systems sustainable? The PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn welcomed a class of schoolchildren to Klein-Altendorf Campus to show them some innovative approaches being taken in the world of agriculture. The young people spent a morning gaining an insight into current research projects and learning how robots, drones and digital technologies are transforming the agricultural sector.

Over the course of evolution, plants have developed an elegant strategy to counteract a lack of phosphate in the soil — they form symbiotic relationships with soil fungi. These mycorrhizal fungi efficiently supply their plant partners with phosphate and other essential minerals. Recently, scientists at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB) in Halle, in collaboration with partners at the University of Bonn, discovered a molecular switch that detects the plant's phosphate content and signals whether to initiate or inhibit the symbiosis. This signaling pathway could enable plants to form partnerships with soil fungi even when sufficient phosphate is available. The study, published in the renowned journal Science Advances, offers a potential solution to a long-standing agricultural problem and opens new avenues for reducing fertilizer use.

The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) has announced that a new Collaborative Research Center (CRC) is to be set up at the University of Bonn: the “FoodDiverse” collaborative project, which is studying the diversification of food systems. The University will also be involved in a new CRC/Transregio (CRC-TRR) looking at narratives from pre-modern times and various cultural contexts, while two existing CRC-TRRs have been extended for another funding period. TRRs are projects that are implemented by several universities working together. 

Whether it’s malnutrition, diet-related diseases, or negative environmental impacts, our food systems are neither sustainable nor sufficiently resilient. A promising approach to changing this is to diversify food systems.

Using a low-cost sensor and the Global Navigation Satellite System Interferometric Reflectometry (GNSS-IR), river water levels can be monitored around the clock. The water level data are automatically transmitted via cellular networks to an analysis center. Researchers at the University of Bonn developed the method several years ago and tested it on the Lower Rhine. With support from the European Space Agency (ESA), the monitoring system is now also being used in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

In sub-Saharan Africa, many people are undernourished or malnourished. A new study by the Universities of Bonn and Ghana shows how rising incomes and urbanization are influencing dietary patterns of local populations. According to this, the wealthier segments in African countries are increasingly eating like people in Western industrialized countries. Although this improves their supply of important nutrients, it also has a greater negative impact on the environment. The study also looks at how this environmental damage can be minimized. It has been published in the journal ‘Sustainable Production and Consumption.’

The University of Bonn will be celebrating 150 years of geodesy in the city on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. With a special ceremony, the University’s Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation will be acknowledging its long tradition in research and teaching while also turning its thoughts to the future. Specifically, it will be asking what contributions geodesy will need to make to society, science and technology over the coming decades.