Press release: Two new Research Training Groups in Göttingen
No. 177 - 18.11.2024
DFG funding for studies in legal and migration research, and adapting therapies for tumours
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has funded the establishment of two new Research Training Groups (RTGs) at the University of Göttingen. The RTG “Mobility Rights in the Global Context of Multiple Crises” uses a socio-legal approach on migration. The RTG “Understanding and using therapy-induced adaptation processes in gastrointestinal tumour diseases” has the goal to understand the mechanisms of adaptation to therapy in gastrointestinal tumours and to use them to therapeutic advantage. The DFG funding lasts for a period of five years.
RTG 2987 Mobility rights in the global context of multiple crises
In times of crisis such as these, the number of people forced to flee war or persecution is higher than ever. At the same time, migration itself is increasingly being viewed as a political crisis. The RTG brings together twelve researchers from the Faculties of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Law at the University of Göttingen to pursue the question of how, in this interplay of migration and crisis, mobility rights worldwide come under pressure, and how they might be stabilised. The interdisciplinary exchange makes it possible to analyse how migration movements are regulated and how migrants are struggling for rights. However, it also shows that the law itself is the subject of social and political debate and how politics is made through law.
“The development of a socio-legal approach that combines legal scholarship and social science migration research in the training of PhDs is unique in Germany,” say the RTG Spokespersons Professor Sabine Hess from the Institute of Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology and Professor Angela Schwerdtfeger from the Faculty of Law. “We want to contribute to establishing a legal perspective in empirical migration research. This will give early career researchers a more nuanced and complete understanding of how law and society co-constitute each other.” They can benefit from exchanges with two high-ranking judges and with international researchers who are involved in the project. The research environment of the Centre for Global Migration Studies at the University of Göttingen offers additional networking opportunities. Funding totalling more than 7 million euros has been requested for the RTG.
RTG 2978 ‘Understanding and Exploiting Adaptation to Therapy in Gastrointestinal Cancer’
Tumours of the gastrointestinal tract, in particular liver, bile duct, pancreatic and colon cancer, can change during therapy, making successful treatment more difficult. By gaining a better understanding of the reactions to therapies, RTG researchers aim to develop new treatment strategies to significantly improve the effectiveness of cancer treatments and thus the chances of survival for patients with gastrointestinal tumours. In addition to innovative research, a special focus is also placed on training early career researchers and medical professionals in the fight against therapy-resistant cancers.
The new RTG aims to investigate the adaptation of tumours to therapeutic measures in gastrointestinal cancers such as hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, pancreatic carcinoma and colorectal carcinoma. These tumour types are particularly aggressive and respond to therapy in a way that ensures the survival of the tumour. It is therefore of great importance to understand the mechanisms that tumours use to evade therapies. “With our research programme, we are pursuing two main objectives in the Research Training Group. On the one hand, we want to precisely understand the molecular and cellular adaptation mechanisms of the tumour to therapies such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy and then use these mechanisms to develop new therapeutic approaches for these particularly aggressive types of cancer,” says Professor Elisabeth Heßmann, researcher at the Department of Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Oncology and Endocrinology at the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and Spokesperson for the RTG 2978.
The project is a cooperation between the UMG and Hannover Medical School, which together form the Comprehensive Cancer Centre of Lower Saxony (CCC-N). Funding totalling more than 8 million euros has been requested for the RTG. Further information on RTG 2978 can be found at www.umg.eu/news-detail/news-detail/detail/news/rechts-und-migrationsforschung-verbinden-sowie-therapien-bei-tumoren-anpassen/.
Contact:
RTG Mobility Rights:
Professor Sabine Hess
University of Göttingen
Faculty of Humanities
Institute for Cultural Anthropology / European Ethnology
Heinrich-Düker-Weg 14,37073 Göttingen
Tel: +49 (0)551 39-25349
Email: shess@uni-goettingen.de
www.uni-goettingen.de/de/208718.html
Professor Angela Schwerdtfeger
University of Göttingen
Faculty of Law
Chair of Public Law, in particular Administrative Law
Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, 37073 Göttingen
Email: lehrstuhl.schwerdtfeger@jura.uni-goettingen.de
www.uni-goettingen.de/de/professorin/624635.html
RTG Adaptation Processes:
Professor Elisabeth Heßmann
University Medical Centre Göttingen (UMG)
Department of Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Oncology and Endocrinology
Robert Koch Straße 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)551 39-62616
Email: elisabeth.hessmann@med.uni-goettingen.de
https://gastroenterologie.umg.eu/forschung/arbeitsgruppen-labore/ag-hessmann/