Research profile

Research at TU Clausthal is concerned with technologies and methods for sustainable management of resources – i.e. energy, materials, and data – also drawing on and contributing in various ways to the concept of a circular economy. This applies not only to the extraction of raw materials from primary and secondary sources and the design of resource-light and recyclable materials and products, but also to interconnected questions in complex processes, short and long-term energy storage, CO₂-cycle management, and innovative ideas for business models. In all of this, the shift to digital technologies is understood as an ineluctable issue that cuts across all topics. In these areas of great relevance to society and science, TU Clausthal makes outstanding and internationally recognized contributions to research.

TU Clausthal’s capacities are focused on four research areas which are closely intertwined:

Research cooperations and projects at Clausthal University of Technology that deserve special mention often work on an interdisciplinary basis with external partners from science and industry. The research goals are usually defined for the long term and are designed in a broader research framework than in individual and joint projects with a more sharply formulated time and target horizon. This includes our memberships in research networks and research associations as well as our participation in collaborative research centers and research groups or in graduate and doctoral programs. Of course, the Clausthal Research Centres, which coordinate and carry out interdisciplinary research projects internally, also play a special role.

Scientific work is based on principles that are the same in all countries and in all scientific disciplines. First and foremost is honesty towards oneself and others. They form the basis for respectful interaction with each other, with study participants, animals, cultural assets and the environment, and are essential for society's indispensable trust in science.

At the same time, they are an ethical norm and the basis for the rules of scientific professionalism, i.e. good scientific practice, which vary from discipline to discipline. Teaching these to students and young scientists and ensuring the conditions for their validity and application in practice is a core task of teaching and the self-government of science.