According to the European Commission, 17 per cent of all Europeans do not have enough money to meet their most basic needs. How to tackle the problem? A new research project at the University of Oldenburg is looking for solutions.

"Pop/Knowledge/Transfers" was the title of the conference, which examined the relationship between popular culture, science and society. Here is an interview with the organisers Prof. Dr Susanne Binas-Preisendörfer and Prof. Dr Martin Butler.

The University of Oldenburg is expanding: a new building for the Research Centres Neurosensory Science and Safety-Critical Systems is being built on the Wechloy campus. At the centre: medical technology and human-machine communication.

It took Nicole Franke and Tobias Pieper exactly 1001 days to cycle around the world. The university graduates set off in March 2009 and arrived back in Oldenburg to great acclaim in December 2011.

"How can it be that I meet up with my best friends to punch them in the nose?" Nils Baratella is a doctoral student in the "Self-formations" research training group. His topic: boxing. Ines Weber, who is researching bishops, is quite different. A portrait.

Teaching and research focus: Migration and education, intercultural pedagogy, racism research and pedagogical professionalism.

"Lifelong Learning Campus" opened: The new campus houses all players involved in advanced scientific training and lifelong learning under one roof. And there are now many of them.

Nine new competence centres are being created across the country. The name of the Oldenburg Advanced Training Centre (OFZ) will remain the same. The OFZ, which is closely linked to the Didactic Centre, was the model for the changes.

The DFG is funding the international research group "European Socialisation" with three million euros. The initial questions: What does European integration mean for society? And how does it manifest itself in people's everyday lives?

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the Oldenburg research group "Individualised Hearing Acoustics" with 2.1 million euros over the next three years. The goal: "Hearing for all", even in acoustically challenging situations.

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), partner university of the University of Oldenburg in Port Elizabeth (South Africa), is building the Centre for the Community School (CCS).

It's a lecture and nobody is listening. Oldenburg professors have come up with a solution. Since the winter semester, they have been using "audience response systems". Students simply call them "clickers". The devices are familiar from quiz shows.

114 computer science students have graduated from the University of Oldenburg this academic year. 42 diploma students, 49 Bachelor's and 13 Master's graduates as well as 10 doctoral candidates received their certificates last Friday at a ceremony organised by the Department of Computing Science.

Great success for Oldenburg's Computing Science: The German Research Foundation (DFG) is extending the Collaborative Research Centre (Transregio) "Automatic Verification and Analysis of Complex Systems" (AVACS), which was established eight years ago.

18 years, 50 volumes: in November, the "Joint Science Conference" of the federal and state governments (GWK) approved the project for a complete edition of the philosopher Karl Jaspers. A highlight in the study of the Oldenburg-born thinker.

DFG funds Computing Science Research Training Group on "System Correctness under Adverse Circumstances": How can a transport vehicle drive autonomously without colliding with other vehicles? What secures access to computer information?