Research field Earth and Environment

Our impact on the planet is substantial and continues to grow. Climate change, disappearing biodiversity, and other critical developments have been observed for decades and are threatening to destroy the natural foundations of human life, including drinking water and fertile soil. The overriding challenge for the future is to develop strategies for preventing and coping with natural hazards and climate change in order to bring the sustainable, efficient use of resources into line with the long-term protection of geosystems and ecosystems. Finally, in order to develop options for political action, the socioeconomic consequences of the abovementioned factors must also be analysed.

The research regarding Earth and Environment examines the basic functions of the Earth system and interactions between society and nature. Its goal is a comprehensive understanding of the complex changes affecting both the Earth and the environment and the formulation of accurate predictions of future trends.

Due to the great variety of issues involved, it is essential that scientific infrastructure is used effectively and that new forms of strategic research networks are established within and beyond the Helmholtz Association. This concentration of forces is currently taking place in national and international collaborations with universities and non-university research institutes (e.g., in the form of “virtual institutes”) and through optimised cooperation at the European level.

One key research network is provided by the Regional Climate Change (REKLIM) initiative. In close cooperation with universities and non-university research groups, this initiative has combined the expertise of various Helmholtz centres in studies of the regional impact of global climate change. It cooperates not only with the regional Helmholtz climate offices responsible for southern, central and northern Germany, the polar regions and the rise in the sea level, but also with the Climate Service Center, which serves as a kind of platform for climate-relevant issues. The Helmholtz Association’s innovative Water Science Alliance, which strategically pools expertise in German water research, is an additional initiative in which university partners are closely involved.

Cross-centre and cross-institutional research projects, carried out on an international level, are playing an increasingly important role. The association has agreed to work closely with the Canadian University of Alberta on a variety of research topics in the coming years, including the sustainable use of oil sands, the separation and geological storage of CO2 (CCS), geothermal energy, water and soil remediation, re-cultivation, and landscape development.

In addition to the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, three other Helmholtz Centres are currently contributing expertise to the initiative, which spans the association’s six major research fields: the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, and the Forschungszentrum Jülich.

An additional goal of the research field Earth and Environment is to promote young scientists. Existing measures and structures are being optimised on an ongoing basis, in most cases in cooperation with external partners. In the area of education and advanced training, these structures include the Helmholtz graduate schools and the Helmholtz research schools, and, in the area of independent research, the “Young Investigators’ Groups”.

Two graduate schools are currently receiving funding in the research field Earth and Environment: the Helmholtz Interdisciplinary Graduate School for Environmental Research at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, which cooperates with six university partners, and the Helmholtz Graduate School for Polar and Marine Research at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), which has three university partners. Funding is also going to the Helmholtz Research School on Earth System Science at the AWI (two university partners) and the Helmholtz graduate research school GeoSim (two university partners).