General News & Updates – June 2026

Location and Deadlines Regarding the Next TRR Retreat #

The next TRR 379 Consortium Retreat will take place at the Seminaris Hotel Bad Honnef. The registration list is active on GitLab. Please register by the deadline at the end of August. Registrations are binding; the final deadline for room cancellations without penalty is February 1st. Late cancellations require attendees to cover accommodation and seminar costs individually.

New Team Member in Q02: Shai-li Romem Porat #

Shai-li Romem Porat joins the team as a new PhD candidate focusing on data management and harmonization across the TRR 379 sites. With experience in large-scale, international research, his expertise covers gaming, loneliness, and burnout. The primary aim of his research is to explore social interactions in gaming environments to enhance individual wellbeing. We are excited to have his support in expanding our consortium’s research data infrastructure.

New Team Member in EOC: Karmelina Roussou #

Karmelina Roussou joins the team as the new HiWi administrator and primary point of contact for committee-related matters. With experience in equality and diversity advocacy, she will support the group in promoting inclusion. We are excited to have her support in promoting inclusion and diversity within our community.

Mini Grant Winners & Incentives #

Richard Nkrumah (Central Institute of Mental Health Mannheim) has been awarded a TRR 379 Mini-Grant for his project “Multimodal Neuroimaging Markers of Aggression in TRR 379: A Feasibility Study Toward Translational Prediction Models."[cite: 1] The study will leverage existing multisite datasets to develop a harmonized neuroimaging framework.[cite: 1] Second-place incentive awards are granted to Moritz Sturm and Katrin Knietsch for workshops and lab exchanges to support cross-site collaboration.

OHBM People’s Choice Award #

Michael Hanke and project partners won the People’s Choice Award at the OHBM conference in Bordeaux for their poster showcasing open software infrastructure components developed within the ABCD-J framework.

Transdiagnostic Approaches to Aggression at the DGBP #

At the recent DGBP congress, the SFB/TRR 379 presented research in a dedicated symposium titled “Neuropsychobiology of Aggression: A Transdiagnostic Approach to Mental Disorders.” Chaired by Ute Habel and Andreas Reif, the session focused on biological mechanisms driving aggressive behavior across diagnoses. Presenters including Kerstin Konrad, Michael Hanke, and Jonathan Reinwald discussed how environmental influences and specific neural circuits, such as the ventral pallidum network, shape competitiveness and aggression.

In the Media: Prof. Dr. Ute Habel in Tagesschau #

Spokesperson Prof. Dr. Ute Habel was interviewed by Tagesschau following a violent rampage in Leipzig to discuss the psychological condition of such perpetrators. She clarified that psychiatric disorders alone rarely cause violent behavior, noting that medical treatment demonstrably minimizes aggressive potential. Habel cautioned against sensationalized media coverage that induces public anxiety and shapes a false stigma around mental health patients. Instead, she emphasized that socioeconomic distress and a personal spiral of violence rooted in early childhood trauma are significantly more predictive of violence than a psychiatric diagnosis alone.

Read the full article on Tagesschau →

View the Full Newsletter #

You can read or download the complete printable June 2026 newsletter below:

Download the full News Update (PDF)

We look forward to continued collaboration and exciting developments ahead.