Conference – Bonn September 2024

Our conference Sustainable Solutions, Shared Futures: Development Research for the 21st Century

ZEF News Special Issue

Facts & Figures – ZEF and Doctoral Program

ZEF has acquired and run nearly 100 projects in more than 80 countries funded by more than 40 donors over the past 25 years. Currently we run around 40 projects in 49 countries.

Alumni Gallery

More than 450 students from 79 countries have participated in the BIGS-DR program at ZEF so far. We are happy to feature a selection of our alumni.

25 Years of ZEF Research & Stories

Over the past 25 years, ZEF’s researchers have been conducting inter- and trans-disciplinary research in, for and with emerging economies on global issues with its collaborating research partners around the world.

25 Years of ZEF and its International Doctoral Program

The Center for Development Research (ZEF) is an institute of the University of Bonn, Germany. It started its research activities in 1997. ZEF’s researchers aim to find science-based solutions to promote sustainable development and planetary health.

ZEF’s research divisions and groups conduct inter- and trans-disciplinary research in, for and with emerging economies and on global issues with its collaborating research partners around the world. ZEF is guided by an International Advisory Board

ZEF educates doctoral students from all over the world in its Doctoral Studies Program. More than 450 students from 79 countries have participated in the BIGS-DR program at ZEF so far.

Welcome

  • Michael Hoch, Rector of Bonn University
    Dear distinguished friends of ZEF, Twenty-nine years have now passed since the Rectorate and Senate of the University of Bonn decided back in 1995 to establish an academic think-tank for international and interdisciplinary questions of development research, the Center for Development Research, or ZEF. ZEF’s foundation was made possible by… Read more: Michael Hoch, Rector of Bonn University
  • Katja Dörner, Mayor of the City of Bonn
    Dear readers, The Center for Development Research (ZEF) is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its international doctoral program. When this program was launched back in 1999, two years after the institute itself had become operational, it was not only a first at the University of Bonn (followed by many other… Read more: Katja Dörner, Mayor of the City of Bonn
  • Four questions for Joachim von Braun
    Why was ZEF established 25 years ago? The determinants of ZEF’s establishment can be grouped in “deep causes” and “practical determinants”. The deep causes of establishing ZEF were that a Center for Development Research (ZEF) was (and is) needed. Understanding development opportunities and failures, identifying technological, institutional and policy innovations,… Read more: Four questions for Joachim von Braun
  • Four questions for Paul Vlek
    Why was ZEF established 25 years ago? In the early 90s the City of Bonn and its University were at a crossroads of two political developments at that time: the rapprochement of East and West Europe and the internationalization of Bonn after losing its status as Germany’s capital. With the… Read more: Four questions for Paul Vlek