The 2nd TRR 379 Retreat will take place on Thursday, 12th, and Friday, 13th February 2026, bringing together all members of the TRR 379 community for two days of scientific exchange, discussion, and networking. The retreat provides a comprehensive program designed to showcase the latest research progress, foster collaboration across project areas, and reflect on the past year of the TRR.
Following the conclusion of the 2025 reporting year, we have analyzed the data from our coordinated programs. Transparency is a key component of our research culture, which is why we are sharing a detailed look at the people behind TRR 379.
We would love to take you on a journey through our project. Please find here a video explaining a bit about the subproject “A08: The metabolic lung-brain axis in aggressive behavior in patients with AMD”
The Distribits 2025 conference and hackathon (23-25 October in Düsseldorf, Germany) will bring together researchers, software developers, and other data enthusiasts working on distributed data management technologies and FAIR workflows. These themes are integral to the decentralized data management infrastructure employed within the TRR 379. Namely, this year’s Distribits event will feature talks on the development and application of DataLad, git-annex, and other distributed data tools, which are core technologies enabling version control, sharing, and reproducibility of datasets across TRR 379 sites.
On September 3, 2025, the TRR 379 successfully rolled out the DFG’s (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) annual survey on coordinated programmes using the TRR 379’s integrated metadata system, reflecting the consortium’s commitment to data-driven research management.
We would love to take you on a journey through our project. Please find here a video explaining a bit about the subproject “A06: Decoding dynamic reciprocal neural mechanism underlying reactive aggression: Insights from fMRI and fNIRS hyperscanning”
We would love to take you on a journey through our project. Please find here a video explaining a bit about the subproject “A05: Peripersonal space violations and social threat: daily-life psychological and neural mechanisms of environmental risk for reactive aggression”
We would love to take you on a journey through our project! Here we present a special media project created for children and overwhelmed relatives, explaining our research through the adventures of Amygdala-Alarmina and Sniffy the Nose.
Ute Habel is co-author of a new publication on the neuroanatomical correlates of psychopathy, which was recently published in the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences.
The study examined structural MRI data from 39 male patients with psychopathy and identified a variety of volume reductions. This study is the result of close collaboration between Forschungszentrum Jülich, RWTH Aachen University (together in the JARA-BRAIUN cooperation), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Georg August University Göttingen, and the University of Pennsylvania, using the Julich Brain Atlas and EBRAINS.
Effectively preventing violence means not only controlling it, but also understanding it: The German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology (DGPPN) has now published a fundamental statement on violence prevention, in which therapeutic approaches are highlighted as a key measure. ‘The best way to prevent violence is through targeted and scientifically based therapy,’ is the tenor of the DGPPN statement. This is based on the latest findings in psychiatry, psychotherapy and neuroscience.
In a large and multidisciplinary research network, active efforts to promote equal treatment and equality are of great importance. The Equal Opportunity Committee has been working on this issue with great commitment since the start of the project and, following the EOC manifesto signed by all members, has now published two concrete guidelines for TRR members. The two flyers, ‘How to access family support services at your institution’ and ‘What to do if you experience discrimination,’ are now available in the internal area of the SFB.
Dr. Christiane Licht(Left), a postdoctoral researcher and Christina Neczewicz (right), a doctoral student of medicine at RWTH Aachen, visited the LVR-Klinik in Viersen,Germany today. Building on the initial visit that kickstarted the research on the Q01 research project, we focused on continuing and complementing patient surveys, recruiting additional patients, and collecting biosamples for further analysis.
We would love to take you on a journey through our project. Please find here a video explaining a bit about the subproject “A03: Using State-of-the-Art Neuroimaging Techniques to Explore Aggression and Acute Threat Processing”
Today, Christina Neczewicz (left) and Joris Burger (right), doctoral research students at RWTH Aachen University, and Dr. Christiane Licht (center) had an appointment at the LVR-Klinik Viersen, recruiting additional forensic patients. We are looking forward to this coming collaboration regarding recruitment in Q01.
We would love to take you on a journey through our project. Please find here a video explaining a bit about the subproject “A02: Context effects on threat processing in dependence of testosterone levels”
Certainly, we took the opportunity to have a group picture taken from our team. We were close to 100 peoplease, with only a few missing.
Finally, we were able to meet for the first time since the project began in October. Almost 100 attendees were a testament to the scope of this project. And yet, in addition to the substantive work, the relationship with the new participants in the special research area in particular was established and further strengthened with the ‘old hands’. In addition to the presentation of all projects and the obligatory elections, the workshops on equal opportunities, Gitlab and the project’s data management concept were of central importance for future success.
The opportunity of the personal meeting on the day before the retreat was gladly taken to carry out the first pilot measurements across all locations together on the premises of the University Hospital Aachen in order to improve quality.
Christina Neczewicz (left) and Joris Burger (right), doctoral students of medicine at RWTH Aachen, visited the LVR-Klinik Viersen today together with Dr. Christiane Licht (centre). In a constructive exchange, we received positive feedback on the Q01 research project and are pleased to now officially begin the study on site.
Only two weeks from now we will all meet for our first TRR Retreat. But we will not only meet as a great team, but we will be honored to be joined and supported by our prominent Scientific Advisory Board, consisting of James Blair, Tom Denson, Kent Kiehl, Martin Rettenberger, Georg Starke and Essi Viding. Find more about these distinguished international researchers on a dedicated page.
We are looking forward to a fruitful and inspiring meeting of all new and old TRR379 members in Aachen on February 13-15. It is a great chance and responsibility for us, to work together on a topic that is more relevant than ever, looking at the recent sad and terrible events. Our first meeting will be an impactful start towards the challenges that lie ahead of us. We aim to build a network, and a strong, joint force for pushing our projects forward. We are welcoming you all in Aachen, and especially our guests from our Scientific Advisory Board.
At this year’s congress of the German Society for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (DGPPN), the spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Centre, Ute Habel, had the honour of not only presenting the topic ‘Aggression from a neuroscientific perspective’ as a ‘top speaker 2024’. She also took the opportunity to present the research programme of the SFB TRR 379 at the very well-attended congress. In addition, Christine Freitag, Christian Schmahl and David Slattery, three scientists from the SFB TRR, were able to present the phenotypes and neurobiological basis of aggression in mental illness in a symposium. They were joined by long-standing cooperation partner Thomas Nickl-Jockschat from Magdeburg at this very well-attended event.
After many years of preparation, the wait is finally over. The first funding period of the TRR379 begins on 1 October 2024. Everyone involved is working hard and with great enthusiasm to make this collaborative research centre a success.