The successful Mercator project ended on 31 December 2016 and this webpage will no longer updated.
Mercator Research Groups
In a joint project with Stiftung Mercator, Ruhr University Bochum has established two “Mercator Research Groups” (MRG 1 and 2). In each group three to four professors form an independent research team supplied with state-of-the-art infrastructure, additional staff, and generous funds. They will be accompanied by a senior scientist of their own choice, who through his/her extensive experience can act as an advisor for the independent research of the young professors. The leadership of the MRG, however, will remain exclusively in the hands of the professors.
The total funding volume for the two Mercator Research Groups amounts to 10 million Euro over a period of six years.
Next to their highly interdisciplinary research projects, the MRGs actively enhance internationalization as well as striving to improve the equality of gender in their fields.
MRG 1
The first Mercator Research Group "Structure of Memory" (MRG 1) started work in January 2010 and focuses on research in the Neurosciences. Composed of experimental and theoretical neuroscientists as well as philosophers, the team investigates episodic and semantic memory processes and their relation to other cognitive functions. MRG 1 is made up of three research sectors which perform interdisciplinary work.
MRG 2
The second Mercator Research Group “Spaces of Anthropological Knowledge – Production and Transfer” (MRG 2), examines forms of production and circulation of human knowledge within their respective cultural and historical context. Under the umbrella of this project, research in the fields of knowledge history, philosophy, literary studies, media studies, and cultural psychology is carried out.
