Together for Science

Berlin's extramural research institutions are joining forces - the MPIIB is one of them

The new association, to which almost all extramural institutes and centres in the Berlin area belong, is intended to facilitate coordination between extramural research institutions and provide a central contact point for cooperation with Berlin universities and exchange with society and politics. Similar to the Berlin University Alliance (BUA), the association of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BR 50 is also intended to provide a platform for dialogue between the participating institutes.

The alliance represents research areas from all scientific fields. At the founding meeting on February 18th in the Max Liebermann House at Brandenburg Gate, founding coordinators were elected for four sections: Prof. Dr. Thomas Sommer for Section 1 (Life Sciences), Prof. Dr. h.c. Jutta Allmendinger Ph.D. for Section 2 (Social Sciences and Humanities), Prof. Dr. Ulrich Panne for Section 3 (Natural Sciences) and Prof. Dr. Michael Hintermüller for Section 4 (Technical and Engineering Sciences).

"With their excellent research, the extramural institutions are already making an indispensable contribution to the profiling of Berlin as a leading international science location," said Thomas Sommer, founding coordinator of the Section for Life Sciences and Scientific Director of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC). "With BR 50, we are now joining forces to bring the Berlin research community to prosperity."

Ulrich Panne, founding coordinator of the Section for Natural Sciences and President of the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), adds: "The exchange between science, society and politics is becoming increasingly important and BR 50 will build many important bridges between the research institutions in Berlin for this purpose".

BR 50 will also strengthen cooperation with Berlin's universities, expects Jutta Allmendinger, founding coordinator of the Section for Social Sciences and Humanities and President of the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB): "The large number and diversity of extramural research institutions is a clear strength of Berlin. With our new network, we offer a central dialogue partner for Berlin's universities to initiate forward-looking research projects together with them".

According to Michael Hintermüller, founding coordinator of the Section for Technical and Engineering Sciences, director of the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics and spokesman of the board of directors of the Forschungsverbund Berlin, one of the motives for founding BR 50 is the great challenges facing humanity: "With the new association, Berlin's research institutions can better use their synergies to develop solutions together for the problems that lie ahead.

At the inaugural meeting, 41 of Berlin's extramural research institutions were initially brought together, including institutes of the major science organisations Leibniz Association, Max Planck Society, Helmholtz Association and Fraunhofer Society, as well as the Federal Government's departmental research institutes and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.

(Teaser Image: Lukas Plewnia - polen-heute.de)

Press Contacts

Dr. Harald Wilkoszewski
Head of Communication and Press Officer
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB)
harald.wilkoszewski@wzb.eu, 030 - 25491 509

Jutta Kramm
Head of Communication
Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft (MDC)
jutta.kramm@mdc-berlin.de, 030 - 9406 2140

Venio Quinque
Communication Department
Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM)
venio.quinque@bam.de, 030- 8104 1002

Anja Wirsing
Press Officer
Leibniz Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.
wirsing@fv-berlin.de, 030 - 6392 3337