Collaboration and bundling of research activities of three universities in Central Germany
The aim of the new research centre is to bundle a wide range of biodiversity activities on an interdisciplinary basis and at an internationally visible level. The overarching goal is to research and protect the natural foundations of life
In October 2010, the universities of Halle-Wittenberg, Jena and Leipzig jointly applied for a DFG Research Centre and were selected by the DFG as a possible location for a research centre alongside the universities of Berlin, Göttingen and Oldenburg. At the meeting of the DFG Joint Committee in April 2012, the consortium from Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia was ultimately selected as the location for the seventh DFG Research Centre. The central location of the facility, named "German Centre of Integrative Biodiversity Research - iDiv", is Leipzig.
The Saxon State Minister for Science and the Arts, Sabine von Schorlemer, said in her welcoming address: "iDiv is structurally pure diversity. iDiv brings together the research activities of no less than three renowned universities and eight important non-university research institutions, including a particularly important contribution from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ. And this spans several German states. The structural diversity of iDiv is extraordinarily high and unprecedented." Funding for the new research centre has initially been set for four years. During this period, iDiv will be supported with a sum of around 33 million euros.
The research centre will focus its work on four key questions: How can biodiversity be recorded? How does it develop and maintain itself? What influence does it have on the functioning of ecosystems? How can it be protected? The five research fields of biodiversity theory, interaction ecology, evolution and adaptation, biodiversity conservation and biodiversity synthesis are intended to provide answers to these questions. A synthesis centre will promote cooperation between the various disciplines of biodiversity research and help the entire field to develop creatively. The scientists involved in iDiv come from the fields of biology, chemistry, geosciences, economics, computer science and physics. The qualification of young scientists is also a key concern of the iDiv, which is why an integrated research training group is part of the research centre.
Source: Press release from the SMWK - Saxon State Ministry of Science and the Arts from 19 April 2013
