Magazine | Forschungsmagazin Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau

Engineering Sciences

Good yeast, good wine

Tradition and experience play an important role in viticulture, especially for small wineries. But even tried-and-tested methods sometimes reach their limits – for example, when yeast fails to perform as expected during fermentation. A young research team is now working with winegrowers in the Southern Palatinate to develop a simple process that makes yeast use more reliable.

Manufacturing in sync with energy

Yoghurt, pharmaceuticals, specialty coatings: many products are manufactured in multi-stage, finely tuned steps known as batch processes. These are sensitive operations: poor timing can ruin an entire batch. A research team is developing new concepts to help manufacturers rethink these traditionally rigid workflows. The reason? Electricity from renewable sources comes with fluctuating availability and prices, demanding greater flexibility from industrial production.

Let’s tackle micropollutants

The civil engineer Henning Knerr is refining technologies for wastewater treatment plants that can remove environmentally hazardous synthetic substances – such as painkillers or X-ray contrast agents – from sewage.

Smart networks for sustainable processes

Fabian Jirasek uses artificial intelligence to predict the properties of pure substances and mixtures. The goal is to help the industry develop new active ingredients and chemicals more sustainably in the future.

Social Sciences

Who has the right to alter the climate?

The idea of dispersing sulphur particles in the atmosphere to cool the Earth sounds adventurous, but it is being discussed. However, geoengineering is politically highly controversial. Researchers are addressing questions of responsibility, power and control over such technologies.

Human nature in disaster response

Floods, wildfires, and heatwaves show how fragile our systems become in a crisis. Before official help arrives, people often rely on each other. In these crucial first hours, spontaneous volunteers – everyday citizens without formal training – step in. They act outside of official plans, yet they are often the decisive factor when disaster brings entire regions to a standstill. For scientists, one thing is clear: without the human factor, disaster preparedness remains incomplete.

Reinventing cities

When a region undergoes structural change, it often leads to job losses, vacant buildings, and declining tax revenues. Over time, the remaining residents may begin to feel cut off from the rest of the world. Researchers are now exploring what shrinking cities can learn from one another – and how they might be revitalized.

Election campaigns on television

In front of millions of viewers, the leading candidates faced off in six televised debates in the run-up to the 2025 federal elections. Researchers at the RPTU took a close look at the impact of the performances - with the help of many viewers who rated the candidates using a smartphone app.

Educational Sciences

Refugees, educated – excluded?

The concept of Inclusion is on everyone's lips, but how can we enable refugees to participate in everyday life, the labour market and education? According to education researcher Lisa Rosen, these are crucial questions that society needs to ask itself.

More languages – more language skills

Multilingualism is not the exception in this country, but rather the norm. However, while English and French are considered lingua franca, other foreign languages are less widely accepted. This could be a mistake – also in terms of developing language skills in school.

Raising awareness of sustainability

In 2015, the United Nations (UN) adopted Agenda 2030 with 17 goals for social, economically, and environmentally sustainable development. But how can the topic of sustainability be brought into school and thus into society at large?

Environmental Sciences

Pesticides Everywhere – And No One Knows How Many

From May to September, tractors surrounded by clouds of spray are a familiar sight in vineyards and fields. The pesticides they apply are intended to protect plants from pests and diseases. However, since these chemicals do not easily break down, they accumulate in the soil as complex mixtures. Their effects are still poorly understood.

Life underground

Groundwater is our most important source of drinking water and crucial to the water cycle. At the same time, it is an ecosystem with a diverse community of organisms. The organisms living there contribute to drinking water quality through material and energy cycles.

Unrecognized problem: microplastic in soil

Microplastics in the world's oceans – a problem that concerns many environmentally conscious people. What many do not know is that the same plastics are also found in our soil. It is estimated that five to twenty times more plastic is found on land than in water. What does all this mean for the environment – and ultimately for our health? RPTU researchers are working on answers and solutions.

STEM

The magic formula for sustainable investing

Financial mathematician Ralf Korn is working on ways to make climate-friendly investments – such as those in renewable energy – more effective using mathematical models. His formulas could even help develop a kind of “global-warming mechanism” for stocks. In the future, this would allow investment portfolios to automatically adjust to ongoing climate changes.

Digital Farming: sustainability at the push of a button

When it comes to climate, agriculture comes under scrutiny. A researcher shows how digital data management can help make the carbon footprint of agricultural production transparent.

Climate twins: the future of our cities

Could life in Rhineland-Palatinate in 2080 feel like it does in north-eastern Spain or south-western France today? The Climate Twins model transforms abstract temperature forecasts into concrete images – and assists cities in planning ahead.

AI troubleshooting: detecting anomalies

Whether in chemistry or technical systems, even the smallest deviations can be dangerous. Deep learning, a method of artificial intelligence (AI), helps to detect such anomalies at an early stage: using large amounts of data, it identifies patterns that often remain invisible to humans.

Psychology

The common core of evil in humans

Am I a bad person? A specific measure can answer this question – the Dark Factor. It reveals how strongly someone is inclined towards socially aversive behaviour. Researchers have identified the commonalities between problematic traits such as narcissism, sadism, and egoism, and have used their insights to develop a questionnaire that can determine the Dark Factor of Personality or D-factor for short.

Regulate emotions and stay mentally healthy

Distraction or reinterpretation: there are various strategies for dealing with stressful situations – and the negative emotions that accompany them. When used purposefully, these strategies can prevent mental health problems and protect overall mental well-being.

Equally qualified, unequally treated? Recognizing discrimination

Are sexual minorities and people with a migrant background discriminated against in application processes – simply because there people are prejudiced against them? This is exactly what psychologists are investigating using various research approaches.

Politics and social media: Trust at risk

Parties in constant conflict, a sense of crisis in society – trust in politics is crumbling. Two media researchers explain the role of social media in this process