The internationalization strategy of the University of Cologne (UzK) defines the following internationalization goals based on the motives for international leadership in research and teaching, cosmopolitanism and social responsibility in a global context as well as preparing students for the global job market: 1.) Internationalization of research2.) Internationalization of studies and teaching3.) Improvement of the support structures for internationalizationTo achieve these goals, 16 measures have been defined. The Erasmus+ mobilities fundamentally contribute to the UzK's internationalization goals, which are designed to turn students, lecturers and staff into open-minded world citizens who are able to interact with people and cultures from all over the world. The project underlines the international profile of the faculties and institutes involved and of the university as a whole. Internationality of studies, teaching and research has always been part of the University of Cologne's self-image. As a traditional university with a strong research tradition, the UzK is integrated into international research contexts and, as one of the largest and oldest universities in Europe, has been cultivating international academic exchange for students and scientists for decades. Thanks to its excellent international reputation, the UzK has a well-established, global international network with more than 500 partnerships and research collaborations and at European level with nearly 400 Erasmus partner institutions and over 700 individual Erasmus+ Subject Agreements. As a medium-term goal, half of all students are expected to spend either a mobility period abroad during their studies or to be trained in double degree programmes. The UzK is committed to the European education and research area in its activities. Around 65% of student mobility worldwide is currently attributable to mobility under the Erasmus+ programme. The Erasmus+ network in Europe thus plays a central role in student mobility in all three stages of education. The aim is to establish this network with partner institutions in all Erasmus+ participating countries while respecting the quality standards defined in the ECHE as well as the principles outlined by the UzK. As already mentioned, the Erasmus+ programme serves as an important cornerstone for implementing the UzK's internationalization strategy. The mobility measures have been and continue to be an important instrument for providing students, doctoral candidates, academics and non-academic staff with comprehensive and wide-ranging international qualifications in accordance with its internationalization strategy, while at the same time providing adequate support for international students and academics coming to UzK. In addition to the purely bilateral mobility measures, it enables better multilateral networking of European and non-European partner institutions. As part of its Global Network Partner concept, the UzK is striving for closer integration with selected partners in Europe and other partner institutions in the non-European key regions. The UzK is also striving to establish a network within the European area. More comprehensive university contracts have already been concluded with the universities of Leuven (BE), Nijmegen (NL) and Prague (CZ). The UzK has been a member of the Coimbra Group since 2017. This Membership offers the opportunity to deepen cooperation with European partner institutions and to provide educational policy impulses within the network at a European level. In addition, at the end of 2019, the UzK initiated the European consortium EUniWell (consisting of 7 universities, including the universities of Birmingham, Florence, Cologne, Leiden, Linnaeus, Nantes and Semmelweis), which aims to create closer, innovative and forward-looking cooperation opportunities at European level. The European and international cooperation projects can therefore play a profitable and beneficial role in the sense of a networking expansion of the strategic partnerships (e.g. in the expansion of joint degree programmes). The established Erasmus+ network has proven itself fundamentally and has been expanded in terms of numbers. In quantitative terms, the number of student mobility applications has increased in comparison to the approved number of applications, not least due to a comprehensive information initiative within the UzK: 758 mobility applications were realised in the SMS student mobility programme; 143 places were approved in the SMP line of funding, and 152 mobility applications were realised. In the faculty mobility programme, 34 STA mobilities were carried out, and 19 STT mobilities. In quantitative terms, the Uzk has thus met the objectives of its internationalization strategy. The figures for the follow-up project in 2019 clearly continue the trend, even though the global pandemic has led to a shift in numbers of students.

The precise expression of protein coding genes is of crucial importance to all organisms, since proteins are involved in virtually all vital processes. Some proteins need to be available at exactly the right amount to perform cellular functions sustainably and thereby maximize fitness. Consequently, gene expression needs to be accurately controlled. For these reasons, it has been hypothesized that cells evolve towards a state in which expression levels are optimally tuned to maximize fitness in the current environment. The cell’s growth and resource distribution is constrained by tradeoffs between the costs and benefits of a particular expression level. Recent investigations of the global effects of protein levels provide insights into the mutual dependency between expression and growth. To test this central hypothesis in systems biology, we use Escherichia coli which is the best-characterized model organism for fundamental research on gene expression, as well as for biotechnological applications. We aim to advance the understanding of the costs and benefits of expression by systematically investigating its ~4000 genes with gene deletion- and expression libraries. The effect of the expression level for each gene on fitness will be quantified through precise high throughput growth rate measurements. We will dissect general cellular cost-factors from gene specific effects which allow us to systematically uncover the mechanistic causes of the cost of protein overexpression. The burden manifests in universal protein biosynthesis costs but also specific costs such as eventual detrimental effects. The benefits are determined by the function of a protein: metabolic activity, structural component, and other roles. We will test if these contributions collectively converge to an optimum to maximize fitness. Optimality is a common objective in man-made systems and engineering and it will be intriguing to learn how natural selection has shaped cells according to this concept.

Many management practices incur important consequences for the distribution of resources as well as for workers' monetary and non-monetary benefits. It is therefore likely that employees' social preferences - like reciprocity, fairness concerns - matter for the effectiveness of management practices and play a major role in the productivity of firms. I analyze the causal effects of management practices and study to what extent employees' social preferences shape the returns of the considered management practices. In RCTs, I randomize management practices within firms to identify their effects on multiple outcomes, e.g. sales and turnover. I then collect survey data on employees' social preferences and managers' beliefs to study how social preferences shape the returns of the management practices. PROJECT A: In a bakery chain with a control-oriented culture, I reduce for a randomly selected half of the 150 stores documentation duties that workers perceive as a sign of distrust. I examine the causal impact of employee control on performance and study whether the effects interact with workers' reciprocity. PROJECT B: In a random sample of 234 grocery stores, bonuses are allocated equally among workers. In the remaining stores, managers have full discretion regarding the bonus allocation. I study whether managers' discretion causally affects performance and examine to what extent the effect is associated with employees' fairness perceptions and managers' beliefs about workers' distributional preferences. PROJECT C: In a kitchen manufacturer, 301 workers employed in various units whose task it is to identify kitchen planning errors do not interact and share knowledge. I introduce a new component into the organizational structure: regular meetings in which randomly selected workers from different units discuss planning errors. I study the causal impact of the meetings on performance and trust between workers, and examine whether the effects depend on workers' reciprocity.

The simplest polyatomic molecule, trihydrogen cation, serves as a useful benchmark for fundamental quantum chemistry and has profoundly impacted astronomy. It was first detected in the interstellar medium in 1996, and has been recognized for its pivotal role as a universal proton donor and an initiator of ion-molecule chemistry producing many of the molecules detected in space. Interstellar chemistry is an exciting chemical playground of thermodynamics and kinetics as the molecules can require up to days or even weeks to reach thermal equilibrium in the low-density cold environments. A longstanding astrochemical conundrum has been the population distribution between the two nuclear spin modifications of trihydrogen cation, ortho and para, as it has important implications for its use as a cosmic ray ionization probe. In reactions involving identical particles/fermions, like trihydrogen cation, restrictions are introduced due to the Pauli principle which can significantly increase the time required to reach a thermal equilibrium. This makes the chemistry, especially the kinetics, of the ubiquitous trihydrogen cation in these regions both exciting and challenging to understand in our terrestrial laboratories. Here, I propose to use a cryogenic ion trap to isolate the nuclear spin states of trihydrogen cation which is the first of its kind for a polyatomic molecule recently developed in the host’s group. Beyond the intriguing fundamental chemical physics of this system, isolation of the nuclear spin states will be exploited to study the quantum state-specific kinetics down to 10 K for the reaction between molecular hydrogen and trihydrogen cation which is one of the most common bimolecular reactions in the universe. Performing these challenging measurements with a critical impact on our understanding of astrophysical processes will not only increase my skill set but also contribute towards my position as an emerging leader in astrochemistry.