"Research-based learning" means: learning through one's own research. It requires curiosity, self-responsibility and a methodical approach. Students who study through research learn to adapt to new things more quickly, to deal with complex contexts confidently and to communicate and cooperate with real partners. This is not only important for students who want to work in science and research one day. In every professional field, in addition to extensive specialised knowledge, precisely those competences are needed that can be acquired through research-based learning.

In the CITY | BUILDING | CULTURE department, research and research-based learning take place with different orientations, approaches and methods: humanities-related: e. g. historical, theoretical, cultural-political, artistic approach; classical building research on the object: e. g. in the field of restoration, preservation of historical monuments, building history; natural science, technology or material-related: e. g. in the field of restoration, architecture design / project-related: both as basic research on individual projects and as typological research and development. Independent of individual timetables and curricula, students have the opportunity to conduct independent research within the framework of UROP - similar to a supervised research internship.

Linking research and teaching is a central concern of the university. As early as 2009, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam received an award for the InterFlex project in the "Excellent Teaching" competition and was funded until 2013: The most important result of InterFlex is that students and teachers from the various departments work together in joint teaching research projects.

From 2012 to 2016, the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam was funded as part of the Teaching Quality Pact: The project FL? Forschendes Lernen - Lehrende Forschung (Researching Learning - Teaching Research) carried out specific measures in all five departments to establish or strengthen research-based learning in the departments.
The results of both projects are documented in numerous publications. The handouts in particular offer practical help for teachers and students. The content-related work is continued in FLEX for Students and FLEX for Teachers.