UnSicht - The invisible sides of the quality in science

With their appointment, professors in Germany generally receive a "chair" to fulfill their performance requirements in research, teaching, academic self-administration and training of young academics. All of these tasks and activities require both individual and collective commitment and often remain invisible to outsiders. Therefore, these smallest (partially) autonomous organizational units at universities are on the one hand the germ cells ("nuclei") and on the other hand the black boxes of the production and reproduction of science.

Because science is produced collectively, internal organizational principles, rules and division of labor are elementary for the accomplishment of academic tasks. This is especially true for activities such as (1) writing journal articles, which serve to communicate one's own results and findings, (2) acquiring external funding, which is indispensable for financing research in most research fields, and (3) writing reviews for academic peer-review procedures, as an established and accepted instrument for quality assurance of research and science. These aforementioned tasks are usually tackled collaboratively at chairs and can rarely be attributed to individual efforts of scientists.

In this research project, we therefore investigate in more detail how chairs are organized. We are particularly interested in how the actions, motivation, and productivity of teams and their members are influenced by factors such as group size, leadership behavior of the chair-holding professors, and staff recruitment.

As examples, we take a look at different disciplines/subjects:

Biology
Business administration
Sociology
Mechanical engineering

The use of diverse survey and evaluation methods enables us to analyze chairs and their boundaries as well as internal processes from different perspectives.

Learn more in our project homepage.

Project period: 01.11.2020 to 30.10.2023

Location & approach

By car

The campus of TU Dortmund University is located close to interstate junction Dortmund West, where the Sauerlandlinie A 45 (Frankfurt-Dortmund) crosses the Ruhrschnellweg B 1 / A 40. The best interstate exit to take from A 45 is “Dortmund-Eichlinghofen” (closer to South Campus), and from B 1 / A 40 “Dortmund-Dorstfeld” (closer to North Campus). Signs for the university are located at both exits. Also, there is a new exit before you pass over the B 1-bridge leading into Dortmund.

To get from North Campus to South Campus by car, there is the connection via Vogelpothsweg/Baroper Straße. We recommend you leave your car on one of the parking lots at North Campus and use the H-Bahn (suspended monorail system), which conveniently connects the two campuses.

By train

TU Dortmund University has its own train station (“Dortmund Universität”). From there, suburban trains (S-Bahn) leave for Dortmund main station (“Dortmund Hauptbahnhof”) and Düsseldorf main station via the “Düsseldorf Airport Train Station” (take S-Bahn number 1, which leaves every 15 or 30 minutes). The university is easily reached from Bochum, Essen, Mülheim an der Ruhr and Duisburg.

You can also take the bus or subway train from Dortmund city to the university: From Dortmund main station, you can take any train bound for the Station “Stadtgarten”, usually lines U41, U45, U 47 and U49. At “Stadtgarten” you switch trains and get on line U42 towards “Hombruch”. Look out for the Station “An der Palmweide”. From the bus stop just across the road, busses bound for TU Dortmund University leave every ten minutes (445, 447 and 462). Another option is to take the subway routes U41, U45, U47 and U49 from Dortmund main station to the stop “Dortmund Kampstraße”. From there, take U43 or U44 to the stop “Dortmund Wittener Straße”. Switch to bus line 447 and get off at “Dortmund Universität S”.

By plane

The AirportExpress is a fast and convenient means of transport from Dortmund Airport (DTM) to Dortmund Central Station, taking you there in little more than 20 minutes. From Dortmund Central Station, you can continue to the university campus by interurban railway (S-Bahn). A larger range of international flight connections is offered at Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), which is about 60 kilometres away and can be directly reached by S-Bahn from the university station.

The H-Bahn (Suspended Monorail System)

The H-Bahn is one of the hallmarks of TU Dortmund University. There are two stations on North Campus. One (“Dortmund Universität S”) is directly located at the suburban train stop, which connects the university directly with the city of Dortmund and the rest of the Ruhr Area. Also from this station, there are connections to the “Technologiepark” and (via South Campus) Eichlinghofen. The other station is located at the dining hall at North Campus and offers a direct connection to South Campus every five minutes.

Map

The facilities of TU Dortmund University are spread over two campuses, the larger Campus North and the smaller Campus South. Additionally, some areas of the university are located in the adjacent “Technologiepark”.

Site Map of TU Dortmund University (Second Page in English).