The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (german: Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren) is the largest scientific organisation in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. It is a union of 18 scientific-technical and biological-medical

research center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricit ...

s. The official mission of the Association is "solving the grand challenges of science, society and industry". Scientists at Helmholtz therefore focus research on complex systems which affect human life and the environment. The namesake of the association is the German physiologist and physicist

Hermann von Helmholtz Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Associat ...

.Helmholtz Association - About Us
retrieved 24-May-2012. The annual budget of the Helmholtz Association amounts to €4.56 billion, of which about 72% is raised from public funds. The remaining 28% of the budget is acquired by the 19 individual Helmholtz Centres in the form of contract funding. The public funds are provided by the federal government (90%) and the rest by the States of Germany (10%). The Helmholtz Association was ranked #6 in 2020 by the

Nature Index The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries and their scientific output since its introduction in November, 2014. Each year, Nature Index ranks the leading institutions (which can be companies, universities, government agen ...

, which measures the largest contributors to papers published in 82 leading journals.

Members

Map of 19 member centers of the Helmholtz association

Members of the Helmholtz Association are: *

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (German: ''Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung'') is located in Bremerhaven, Germany, and a member of the Helmholtz Association ...

(''Alfred-Wegener-Institut für Polar- und Meeresforschung'', AWI), Bremerhaven * Helmholtz Center for Information Security, CISPA, Saarbrücken *

German Electron Synchrotron The Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (English ''German Electron Synchrotron''), commonly referred to by the abbreviation DESY, is a national research center in Germany. It operates particle accelerators used to investigate the structure of mat ...

(''Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron'', DESY), Hamburg * German Cancer Research Center (''Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum'', DKFZ), Heidelberg *

German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (german: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany ...

(''Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt'', DLR), Cologne *

German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases The German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (German: Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen, (DZNE)) is an interdisciplinary research institution that investigates neurodegenerative disease in all its facets. It is one of six ...

(''Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen''; DZNE), Bonn *

Forschungszentrum Jülich Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ here for short) is a national research institution that pursues interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy, information, and bioeconomy. It operates research infrastructures with a focus on supercomputers. Cu ...

(FZJ) ''Jülich Research Center'', Jülich *

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 ...

(''Karlsruher Institut für Technologie'', KIT), (formerly Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe), Karlsruhe * Helmholtz Center for Infection Research, (''Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung'', HZI), Braunschweig * GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences (''Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam – Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ'', Potsdam * Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon Geesthacht, formerly known as ''Gesellschaft für Kernenergieverwertung in Schiffbau und Schiffahrt mbH'' (GKSS) * Helmholtz München German Research Centre for Environmental Health (HMGU), Neuherberg * GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research (''GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung''), Darmstadt * Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin for Materials and Energy (''Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie'', HZB), Berlin * Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (''Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung'', UFZ), Leipzig *

Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics The Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (german: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, IPP) is a physics institute investigating the physical foundations of a fusion power plant. The IPP is an institute of the Max Planck Society, part of ...

(''Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik'', IPP), Garching *

Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association The Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) in Berlin, Germany is one of the sixteen research centers of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres. MDC is member of EU-LIFE, an alliance of leadi ...

(''Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft'', MDC), Berlin-Buch * Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) formerly known as ''Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf'' (FZD) changed 2011 from the

Leibniz Association The Leibniz Association (German: ''Leibniz-Gemeinschaft'' or ''Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz'') is a union of German non-university research institutes from various disciplines. As of 2020, 96 non-university research insti ...

to the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers, Dresden * Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) formerly known as Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR) Helmholtz Institutes are partnerships between a Helmholtz Center and a university (the institutes are not members of the Helmholtz Association themselves). Examples of Helmholtz Institutes include: * Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Würzburg, established in 2017Press release "Helmholtz-Institut kommt nach Würzburg" (German)
/ref>

Programme structure

The works of the centers are categorised into programmes, which are divided into six research groups.Helmholtz Association - Research
retrieved 29-Sept-2015 The Helmholtz centers are grouped according to which research group they belong to: * Energy includes contributions from DLR,

KIT Kit may refer to: Places *Kitt, Indiana, US, formerly Kit * Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province * Kit Hill, Cornwall, England People * Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kit (surname) Animals * Young animal ...

, FZJ, GFZ, HZB, HZDR, IPP. Topics are

Renewable energies Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

, energy efficient conversion,

nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles ( neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manife ...

and

nuclear safety Nuclear safety is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "The achievement of proper operating conditions, prevention of accidents or mitigation of accident consequences, resulting in protection of workers, the public and the ...

. *Earth and environment is studied at AWI, DLR, FZJ,

, HZI,

GEOMAR The GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR), former ''Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences'' (German: ''Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften'', IFM-GEOMAR), is a research institute in Kiel, Germany. It was formed in 200 ...

, GFZ, HZG, HMGU, UFZ. Topics are ''the changing earth'', ''marine, coastal and polar systems'',

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A ...

and

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

, biogeosystems and the topic ''terrestrial environment''. *Health is studied at the DKFZ, FZJ,

, HZI, DZNE HZG, HMGU, GSI, HZB, HZDR, MDC, and UFZ. This includes

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

research, cardio-vascular and

metabolic Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...

disease research,

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes ...

infection An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable di ...

and

immunity Immunity may refer to: Medicine * Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease * ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press Biology * Immune system Engineering * Radiofrequence immunity de ...

, environmental

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

studies, comparative

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

for human health. *Key Technologies are studied at FZJ,

, HZG. In a single topic there is cooperations of the HZB. *Structure of Matter is studied at

DESY The Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (English ''German Electron Synchrotron''), commonly referred to by the abbreviation DESY, is a national research center in Germany. It operates particle accelerators used to investigate the structure of mat ...

, FZJ,

, HZG, GSI, HZB, HZDR. Topics are elementary and astro

particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...

hadron In particle physics, a hadron (; grc, ἁδρός, hadrós; "stout, thick") is a composite subatomic particle made of two or more quarks held together by the strong interaction. They are analogous to molecules that are held together by the ...

s and

nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies t ...

, PNI-research (research with

Photon A photon () is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Photons are massless, so they alwa ...

Neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , which has a neutral (not positive or negative) charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the atomic nucleus, nuclei of atoms. Since protons and ...

s and Ions),

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identif ...

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consi ...

and

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

research. *Aeronautics, Space and Transport is studied at DLR. Major research topics are mobility, information systems and communication.

The Helmholtz Climate Initiative

Eight of the above-mentioned Helmholtz centers are part of the ''Helmholtz Climate Initiative Regional Climate'' (in German: ''Regionale Klimainitiative''
REKLIM
in order to tackle the interactions between

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's o ...

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wor ...

and land surfaces. These interactions determine the

of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

. Detailed observations and process studies are combined within the initiative. For the funding period 2009-2013 the REKLIM-initiative has a budget of 32.2 million Euro. In this funding period, the program is divided into seven topics, each of the topics is organized in various work-packages. # Coupled modelling of regional earth systems. Model regions are the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Highly resolved regional model are used to simulate atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, ice sheets, land surface, soil, vegetation, aerosol chemistry and other components on a regional scale. # Sea-level changes and coastal protection. The effects of glacier and ice-stream dynamics, the response of the ocean on heating and melt water run-off are studied in particularly for Greenland. # Regional climate changes in the Arctic Forcing and long-term effects at the land-ocean interface # The land surface in the climate system # Chemistry-climate interactions on global to regional scales # Extreme weather events Storms, heavy precipitation, floods and droughts # Socio-economics and management

Climate change adaptation Climate change adaptation is the process of adjusting to current or expected effects of climate change.IPCC, 2022Annex II: Glossary öller, V., R. van Diemen, J.B.R. Matthews, C. Méndez, S. Semenov, J.S. Fuglestvedt, A. Reisinger (eds.) InClimat ...

and mitigation strategies In the second funding period (2011-2015), three additional topics have been added.

Open access

The Helmholtz Association was one of the initial signatories of the 2003

Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities is an international statement on open access and access to knowledge. It emerged from a conference on open access hosted in the Harnack House in Berlin by the Ma ...

. This commitment towards

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

publishing of scientific research was then formally approved by its Assembly of Members, an assembly of the directors of the Helmholtz Centers. In a September 2004 Resolution the Assembly adopted the following commitment: ”Publications from the Helmholtz Association shall in future, without exception, be available free of charge, as far as no conflicting agreement with publishers or others exists.” While the Helmholtz Association has no strict open access mandate. The Helmholtz Association encourages

gold open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or Gratis v ...

, while

green open access Self-archiving is the act of (the author's) depositing a free copy of an electronic document online in order to provide open access to it. The term usually refers to the self-archiving of peer-reviewed research journal and conference articles, as ...

is promoted through institutional repositories of the individual Helmholtz Centers. To further the idea of open science, the Helmholtz Association maintains the Helmholtz Open Science Coordination Office.Helmholtz Open Science Coordination Office
Helmholtz Association

Notes

* Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe is often abbreviated as ''FZK'', although this violates the rights of ''Feuerverzinkerei FZK Karlsruhe''.

References

External links

* {{Authority control College and university associations and consortia in Germany Organisations based in Berlin Organisations based in Bonn Research institutes in Germany Research institutes established in 1995 1995 establishments in Germany