The European Research Council is providing millions of euros in funding for projects from the fields of economics, evolutionary biology and computer science
The University of Bonn has yet another good reason to celebrate as three of its researchers have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant worth €1.5 million each. This European Research Council (ERC) grant program is designed to support early-career researchers. The economist Assistant Professor Amelie Schiprowski, the computer scientist Professor Lucie Flek and the evolutionary biologist Dr. Moritz Lürig will use the funding to progress their own research projects over the next five years.
Labor economics: launching a career in a challenging job market
Demographic change is causing major shifts on labor markets and making it harder for companies to find young talent. Yet the youth employment rate remains high in many countries. “We need a sound empirical understanding of entry-level labor markets to find effective answers to this phenomenon,” explains Assistant Professor Amelie Schiprowski, who in 2019 was appointed to the Cluster of Excellence “ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy” of the Universities of Bonn and Cologne and is part of the Department of Economics at the University of Bonn. In her ERC-funded project entitled “Entry-Level Hiring in Tightening Labor Markets: Frictions, Firm Heterogeneity and Public Policy” (ENTRYHIRE), she studies how firms hire and train entry-level employees in the face of tightening labor markets. “I will analyze how demographic change is altering the ‘matching process’ between young workers and firms,” says Schiprowski. With her empirical analyses, which rely on data from the German apprenticeship market, the economist is hoping to furnish an evidence base for public policy interventions that improve the functioning of entry-level labor markets.
Detailed press release: https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/university-of-bonn-celebrates-three-erc-starting-grants
Media contact:
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Amelie Schiprowski
ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence
University of Bonn
Phone: +49 228 73-60330
Email: amelie.schiprowski@uni-bonn.de
Evolutionary Biology: The digital 'wing atlas'
The wings of butterflies and moths display a wide variety of colour patterns. 'We know that these patterns are important for visual signalling,' explains Dr Moritz Lürig, who is currently still a researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. 'Some species of butterflies and moths use these patterns to deter predators or attract mates, for example.' New studies show that these complex patterns have a relatively limited genetic basis, including just a few genes and regulatory elements. In his ERC project, 'The Evolution of Wing Coloration in Lepidoptera' (EWINCOL), Lürig will investigate how such enormous diversity may have developed from such a limited genetic basis. With the help of artificial intelligence, he will analyse millions of digitised images of preserved butterflies and moths from natural history museums around the world. His goal is to create a comprehensive database of wing colour patterns. ‘This digital “wing atlas” will allow me to tackle three questions. First, how colours have changed during evolution and whether they are related to speciation, secondly, whether colour and shape evolved independently of each other, and thirdly, how environmental factors such as light, habitat or temperature shape the global distribution of wing colour patterns.”
Detailed press release: https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/university-of-bonn-celebrates-three-erc-starting-grants
Media contact:
Dr. Moritz Lürig
Florida Museum of Natural History der University of Florida
E-Mail: moritz.luerig@gmail.com
Website: www.luerig.net
Computer Science: AI with social intelligence
AI systems such as ChatGPT are increasingly taking on social roles – as advisors in everyday decision-making, as learning assistants, or as conversation partners in difficult moments. Yet precisely in situations where empathy, judgment, and social understanding matter most, these systems often fail. This is where the project LLMpathy, led by Prof. Dr. Lucie Flek from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bonn, comes in. Her goal: to make artificial intelligence (AI) more socially intelligent. “Today’s AI can imitate empathy, but it does not understand why,” says Prof. Flek, who also conducts research at the Lamarr Institute and the Bonn-Aachen International Center for IT (b-it). “At the same time, language models have recently learned to solve highly complex mathematical problems by breaking them down into smaller steps. In LLMpathy, we want to teach them to structure and justify human thoughts and emotions in the same way.” To achieve this, Flek – who is also active in the University of Bonn’s Transdisciplinary Research Areas (TRA) “Modelling” and “Matter” and part of the upcoming Excellence Cluster “Our Dynamic Universe” (starting in January 2026) – will combine advanced machine learning methods with long-term psychological studies. The AI models will be given a personalized profile that links human traits, values, emotions, and actions. This enables the models to causally explain their answers and improve their reasoning through continuous human feedback. In addition, a simulation environment will be developed, where personalized AI agents interact with each other – for example, in conflicts or negotiations. This makes it possible, for the first time, to systematically measure and improve how well language models adopt different perspectives, pursue goals, or resist manipulation. The new insights will also help uncover unethical forms of personalization, such as AI exerting emotional pressure in product advertising. In this way, LLMpathy ensures that future AI systems meet high standards of transparency, trustworthiness, and ethical behavior – in line with the forthcoming EU AI Act.
Detailed press release: https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/university-of-bonn-celebrates-three-erc-starting-grants
Media Contact:
Prof. Dr. Lucie Flek
Institute for Computer Science
University of Bonn
Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
Bonn-Aachen International Center for IT (b-it)
Phone: +49 0228-73-69200
E-mail: flek@bit.uni-bonn.de
About the ERC Starting Grant
With the ERC Starting Grant, the ERC supports researchers of all nationalities with two to seven years of experience since completing their doctorate. Applicants must have a promising scientific track record and submit an outstanding project proposal on behalf of their host institution. The PI does not need to be employed by the host institution at the time of proposal submission, but a mutual agreement and commitment are necessary if the proposal is successful. Funding is usually provided for five years with a grant of up to €1.5 million. Further information is available at https://erc.europa.eu/apply-grant/starting-grant.