Since its foundation in 2007, the Interdisciplinary Center for Narrative Research (CNR) at the University of Wuppertal has initiated and coordinated research and teaching on all aspects of narrative from theoretical and systematic, as well as historical and cultural perspectives.

In addition to investigating the various forms of literary and audiovisual narrative found in different genres and media (fictional narrative), CNR research has since 2009 explored the phenomenon of “narrating reality,” focusing on the forms, functions, and effects of factual narratives. Our research practice thus encompasses a wide range of narrative phenomena, ranging from oral storytelling, through ordinary communication, to identity-forming master narratives and collective storytelling.

The poductivity of Wuppertal's CNR is demonstrated not only by numerous publications and research projects, but also by the first open access journal (‘Diamond Standard’) in the field of interdisciplinary narrative research: the bilingual journal DIEGESIS, edited since 2012 by members of the CNR. Moreover, in 2022 the CNR established its first annual Lecture Series on Factual Narrative (Poetikdozentur), in which outstanding practitioners insights into their work.

In recent years the CNR's inter- and transdisciplinary research has focused on the manipulative effects of narratives in public contexts. For its tenth anniversary, the CNR organized a high-profile conference on the relation between narrative and the post-truth and fake news debates. The event led to the formation of new research interests on, for example, toxic and migration narratives, and these are being pursued, among other avenues, within the framework of a collaborative EU Horizon 2020 project. Currently, these recent research initiatives are being further developed in the context of a broad research initiative on the topic of “narrative dynamics,” involving cooperation with other interdisciplinary centers at the University of Wuppertal.