The Helmholtz Alliances
The Instrument
Helmholtz Alliances offer participating scientists an attractive opportunity to conduct research on new topics with the necessary critical mass and to develop current research topics in innovative ways. The alliances aim to strategically develop the research profiles of participating Helmholtz Centres and to transfer successful research into the Helmholtz Association’s research programme.
Helmholtz Alliances bring together universities, Helmholtz Centres and other non-university research institutions to work on collaborative research projects. In some cases, research partners from abroad and companies are also involved. Helmholtz Alliances have their own management structure and develop concepts specifically designed to promote young scientists and equal opportunities. Each alliance has an overall annual budget of between five and ten million euros at its disposal; the funding is provided by the President’s Impulse and Networking Fund, the participating Helmholtz Centres and their partners.
The Procedure
Applications for establishing a Helmholtz Alliance can only be submitted within a call for proposals by the Helmholtz Association’s Head Office and with the participation of at least one Helmholtz Centre. The application process consists of three stages: a declaration of interest, a draft proposal and the final application.
Approved Helmholtz Alliances:
The Helmholtz Alliance Mem-Brain
The Helmholtz Alliance Mem-Brain develops new membrane materials for use in reducing emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in fossil-fuel power plants.
Lead centre: Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ)
The Helmholtz Alliance on Systems Biology
The Helmholtz Alliance on Systems Biology aims to contribute to a better understanding of complex diseases such as cancer and nervous and cardiovascular disorders and to identify new intervention strategies.
Lead centre: German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
More information on the Helmholtz Alliance on Systems Biology
The Helmholtz Alliance on Immunotherapy of Cancer
Researchers in the Helmholtz Alliance on Immunotherapy of Cancer are working to find new approaches to the treatment of advanced-stage cancers by harnessing targeted immune responses.
Lead centre: German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
More information on the Helmholtz Alliance on Immunotherapy of Cancer
The Helmholtz Alliance “Planetary Evolution and Life”
Scientists working in the Helmholtz Alliance “Planetary Evolution and Life” hope to find answers to questions such as whether life on other planets is possible and what conditions for it exist on other celestial bodies and in distant solar systems.
Lead centre: German Aerospace Center (DLR)
More information on the Helmholtz Alliance “Planetary Evolution and Life”
The Helmholtz Alliance “Physics at the Terascale”
In the Helmholtz Alliance “Physics at the Terascale”, a network of particle physicists from German universities and research centres have joined forces to do research into the building blocks of matter and its structure at the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN research centre in Geneva.
Lead centre: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
More information on the Helmholtz Alliance “Physics at the Terascale”
The Helmholtz Alliance for Mental Health in an Aging Society
The Helmholtz Alliance for Mental Health in an Aging Society (HelMA) is involved in research on the age-related neurodegenerative disorders Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, and focuses on linking basic and clinical research.
Lead centre: Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU)
More information on the Helmholtz Alliance for Mental Health in an Aging Society
The Helmholtz Alliance “Cosmic Matter in the Laboratory”
In the Helmholtz Alliance “Cosmic Matter in the Laboratory”, scientists at the ExtreMe Matter Institute (EMMI) conduct research on how matter behaves at extremely high and low temperatures and at very high density.
Lead centre: GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research
More information on the Helmholtz Alliance “Cosmic Matter in the Laboratory”
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