Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ
| Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) | |
|---|---|
 Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ |
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| Category: | Research Center |
| Membership: | Helmholtz Association |
| Facility location: | Leipzig , Halle (Saale) , Magdeburg |
| Branch offices: | Bad Lauchstädt , Falkenberg |
| Type of research: | Environmental research |
| Subjects: | Ecology , biology , physics , microbiology , chemistry , ecotoxicology , health , biotechnology , hydrology , hydrogeology , computer science , economics , social science , law |
| Basic funding: | Federal Government (90%), State of Saxony-Anhalt (5%), State of Saxony (5%) |
| Management: | Georg Teutsch (scientific), Sabine König (administrative) |
| Employee: | 1,189 (as of December 2019) |
| Homepage: | www.ufz.de |
The Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ (until November 28, 2006: UFZ – Umweltforschungszentrum Leipzig-Halle GmbH ) is active in both basic and applied research. Georg Teutsch is the scientific managing director.
It was founded on December 12, 1991, and research began on January 2, 1992. The UFZ has locations in Leipzig , Halle (Saale) and Magdeburg . It also operates test stations in Bad Lauchstädt and Falkenberg . 1,189 employees work at the UFZ (as of December 2019), including 306 doctoral candidates.
Since April 2004, the UFZ has been operating a modern communication and event building, the Leipziger KUBUS. The KUBUS has event rooms of different sizes and flexibility and offers space for up to 550 people.
Orientation of research
As an international competence center for environmental sciences, the UFZ examines the interactions between humans and nature under the influence of global change. The research work concentrates on the terrestrial environment, on densely populated urban and industrial agglomerations, on agricultural landscapes and near-natural landscapes. They deal with questions of future land use, the conservation of biological diversity and ecosystem services , the sustainable management of soil and water resources and the effects of chemicals on humans and the environment - from the level of individual cells and organisms to the regional scale.
One characteristic is integrated environmental research, which overcomes the disciplinary boundaries between natural and social sciences ( interdisciplinarity ) and includes decision-makers from business, politics and society ( transdisciplinarity ). Large scientific infrastructures such as climate and land use experiments (e.g. GCEF Global Change Experimental Facility, ProVIS - Center for the visualization of biochemical processes at the cellular level), platforms and technologies for environmental monitoring (e.g. TERENO - Terrestrial Environmental Observatories), modeling and Visualization (e.g. TESSIN / VisLab Terrestrial Environmental System Simulation & Integration Network) have been or are being initiated, developed and used within the framework of national and international cooperations and networks.
The aim is to show ways for a sustainable handling of the natural foundations of life for the benefit of people and the environment.
Research organization
The integrated environmental research of the UFZ is organized into six subject areas. Subject areas 1–4 are core subjects, subject areas 5 and 6 are cross-sectional competencies:
- Ecosystems of the future
- Water resources and the environment
- Chemicals in the environment
- Environmental and biotechnology
- Smart models and monitoring
- Environment and society
With these thematic areas, the UFZ reacts to climate change , land use change , population growth, social scarcity conditions, globalization, urbanization, decline in biological diversity, growing energy and food needs, growing amounts and diversity of chemicals with effects on humans and the environment, new patterns in the national and global governance.
The 37 methodically oriented departments are assigned to the six strategic subject areas. The large number of departments illustrates the breadth and diversity of research at the UFZ:
Ecosystems of the future
- Biocenosis research
- Soil ecology
- Soil system research
- Landscape ecology
- Conservation research
- Ecosystem services (in cooperation with iDiv )
- Physiological diversity (in cooperation with iDiv)
Water resources and the environment
- Aquatic ecosystem analysis
- Catchment Hydrology
- River ecology
- Hydrogeology
- Limnology
Chemicals in the environment
- Analytics
- Analytical environmental chemistry
- Bioanalytical ecotoxicology
- Molecular Systems Biology
- Ecological chemistry
- System ecotoxicology
- Environmental immunology
- Effect-oriented analytics
- Cell toxicology
Environmental and biotechnology
- Isotope biogeochemistry
- Solar materials
- Technical environmental chemistry
- Environmental biotechnology
- Environmental microbiology
- Environmental and Biotechnological Center (UBZ)
Smart models and monitoring
- Hydro system modeling
- Monitoring and exploration technologies
- Ecological system analysis
- Environmental informatics
Environment and society
- Bioenergy
- Economy
- Urban and environmental sociology
- Environmental policy
- Environmental and planning law
Integrated projects
Integrated and transdisciplinary research takes place in the integrated projects (IP) as the core of UFZ research. The integrated projects are also assigned to subject areas, but only for administrative purposes. However, they work across subject areas and departments according to their objectives and content.
TB ecosystems of the future
- IP New Ecosystems
- IP land use conflicts
TB water resources and the environment
- IP material dynamics in catchment areas
- IP Healthy Aquatic Ecosystems
- IP water shortage
TB chemicals in the environment
- IP Exposome
TB Environment and Biotechnologies
- IP environmental behavior of chemicals
- IP Sustainable Biotechnology and Bioeconomy
TB Smart models and monitoring
- IP From model to prediction
TB Environment and Society
- IP urban transformation
- IP spatial effectiveness of the energy transition
Member, cooperations, networks, certifications
The UFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers . In this network, 19 scientific-technical and medical-biological research centers with around 40,000 employees and an annual budget of 4.8 billion euros have come together. The UFZ conducts research in three of the six research areas of the Helmholtz Association: (1) Earth and Environment (85% of UFZ resources), (2) Energy (8%) and (3) Health (7%).
The UFZ cooperates and works with a large number of authorities, research institutions and organizations nationally and internationally (including UNEP , EU , Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ), Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services ( IPBES ), Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN)).
The UFZ is a member of PEER (Partnership for European Environmental Research). PEER is an association of eight European environmental research centers and was founded in 2001. More than 5,000 people are employed in the PEER centers. The total budget of all eight centers is around € 430 million per year. By carrying out joint research projects and promoting cooperation between European and international scientists, PEER wants to contribute to strengthening environmental research and its role at the European level.
The UFZ is a cooperation partner of the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research ( iDiv ) founded in 2012 with the universities of Leipzig, Halle-Wittenberg and Jena as well as other research institutions . The iDiv is based in Leipzig and is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Since 2005 the UFZ has been validated according to the company environmental management system EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme). Since 2014 it has had the “berufundfamilie” audit.
financing
90% of the basic funding is provided by the Federal Republic of Germany and 5% each by the federal states of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt with a total of € 64.9 million. The total budget with third-party funding and other income is € 89.6 million (as of Dec. 2016).
Publications
The UFZ issues a series of brochures, thesis papers and other publications. An annual report on the work of the center is published every year.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Resonator podcast of the Helmholtz Association : The UFZ in Leipzig (episode 7, June 17, 2013)
- ↑ http://www.ufz.de/index.php?de=34262
- ↑ UFZ website - facts and figures
- ↑ Subject area ecosystems of the future
- ↑ Subject area water resources and the environment
- ↑ Subject area chemicals in the environment
- ↑ Subject area environmental and biotechnology
- ↑ Subject area Smart Models and Monitoring
- ↑ Subject area environment and society
- ↑ The subject areas and their departments
- ↑ IP New Ecosystems
- ↑ IP land use conflicts
- ↑ IP Material Dynamics in Catchment Areas
- ↑ IP Healthy Aquatic Ecosystems
- ↑ IP water scarcity
- ↑ IP exposome
- ^ IP environmental behavior of chemicals
- ↑ IP Sustainable Biotechnology and Bioeconomy
- ↑ IP From Model to Prediction
- ↑ IP Urban Transformation
- ↑ IP spatial effectiveness of the energy transition
- ↑ Helmholtz Centers. Retrieved February 27, 2019 .
- ^ Information and publications , UFZ
Coordinates: 51 ° 21 ′ 7.5 ″ N , 12 ° 25 ′ 43.8 ″ E