Oldenburg. It provides space for 80 employees of the "Hearing4all" cluster of excellence and the interface between the University of Oldenburg's Research Centres Neurosensory Science and Safety-Critical Systems: the new NeSSy research building, which was opened today on the Wechloy campus by Lower Saxony's Minister of Science, Dr Gabriele Heinen-Kljajic. "What is special and important about this new building is its integrative character. It will enable a dialogue between the various research areas and create space for exciting ideas," explained Heinen-Kljajic. With NeSSy, the University of Oldenburg is further sharpening its profile. It will secure its leading national and international position in research and make Oldenburg an even more attractive location, she continued.

Prof Dr Katharina Al-Shamery, Acting President of the University of Oldenburg, said at the opening ceremony: "Even in the early days of the University of Oldenburg, scientists from different disciplines conducted research together in laboratories - which was still unusual at the time. In NeSSy, this form of scientific collaboration is being continued at the highest international level". The new research building offers three outstanding research focuses at the University of Oldenburg - hearing research, neurosensor technology and safety-critical systems - a common place for intensive exchange, says Al-Shamery.

The research focuses are represented by the physicist and physician Prof Dr Dr Birger Kollmeier, the neurobiologist Prof Dr Georg Klump and the computing scientist Prof Dr Werner Damm.

Kollmeier, spokesperson for the "Hearing4all" Cluster of Excellence, is Head of the Department of Medical Physics, the Centre for Hearing Research and the HörTech Center of Competence for Hearing Aid Systems Technology (HörTech). Klump, Director of the Research Centre Neurosensory Science, heads the "Zoophysiology and Behaviour" working group and is spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Centre "Active Hearing". Computing Science expert Damm, Director of the research centre Safety Critical Systems, is also spokesperson for the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre "Automatic Verification and Analysis of Complex Systems" (AVACS).

Laboratories take up half of the floor space in the approximately 2,000 square metre NeSSy research building: these include acoustics and hearing laboratories as well as neurophysiology laboratories. The scientists will also have access to high-quality research instruments, such as a magnetoencephalograph, a functional magnetic resonance scanner and a 3D virtual reality laboratory. These will help to advance both interdisciplinary basic research and applied research. The scientists' research interests centre on innovative developments in medical technology and human-machine communication. NeSSy also houses a conference centre that supports the exchange between scientists. "Bringing together the concentrated expertise of Oldenburg hearing research under one roof with leading international brain research groups and creating a shared space for research into human-machine interactions was a dream eight years ago - and is now a reality that is internationally unique," says the Oldenburg hearing researcher Kollmeier.

The building was designed by Stuttgart-based architects Heinle, Wischer und Partner. The total costs, including the initial fit-out, amount to around 15 million euros, half of which will be borne by the federal government and half by the state.