At its meeting on 12 and 13 May 2026, the German Research Foundation (DFG) established a new Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 1785) entitled “Generalised Motivic Methods in Geometry” for an initial period of four years. The Augsburg mathematicians Prof. Dr Kai Cieliebak, Prof. Dr Bernhard Hanke and Prof. Dr Wolfgang Steimle are involved in leading five sub-projects and are thus closely involved in the new SFB. Lead institution is the University of Regensburg. In addition, a researcher from the Technical University of Munich and a researcher from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz were involved in the application.

“Many seemingly unrelated individual phenomena in mathematics allow for a comprehensive, conceptual explanation. Motivic thinking is an approach to finding such explanations and applying them to new questions. In the new SFB, we are extending this method from its origins in algebraic geometry to new geometric contexts. The Department of Mathematics at the University of Augsburg is making a significant contribution to this with its expertise in Riemannian and symplectic geometry as well as in differential topology,” explains Bernhard Hanke. “The funding for the SFB enables an attractive research programme and opens up new opportunities for academic exchange as well as the support of doctoral and postdoctoral researchers.”

For University President Prof. Dr Sabine Doering-Manteuffel, this success confirms the strength of mathematics at the University of Augsburg and the outstanding research carried out by those involved: “The approval of Collaborative Research Centre 1785 underscores the international visibility and strength of mathematics at the University of Augsburg. I would like to express my particular thanks to all the researchers involved for their great commitment and the trusting cross-site collaboration. The new SFB strengthens the scientific network of the participating universities and will provide important impetus for the further development of cutting-edge research in geometry.”

About the new consortium

Recent developments in higher category theory suggest a new, unifying perspective on geometry. Whilst the discipline has traditionally been shaped by analysis, algebra, topology and homotopy theory, current breakthroughs are increasingly based on the interplay between abstract concepts and concrete calculations. A key example of this is motivic methods from algebraic geometry, which have already led to significant applications in number theory.

The new SFB regards generalised motivic methods as guiding principles based on universal structures, linearisation and parametrisation. The aim is to open up new perspectives on central problems in geometry whilst simultaneously identifying new avenues of research. The researchers apply motivic thinking to challenging and hitherto unsolved questions in algebraic geometry, topology and Riemannian geometry. The long-term vision of this research centre is to establish general motivic methods and motivic thinking as a powerful, unifying framework in geometry.

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