Excellence Strategy: Cluster applications to be reviewed starting in November
Freiburg, 07/11/2024
A decisive phase is now beginning for the newly proposed Clusters of Excellence ConTrans and Future Forests, as well as for the two existing Clusters of Excellence CIBSS and livMatS: their full and follow-up proposals will be reviewed by international experts in Bonn in the coming weeks as part of the current round of the Excellence Strategy competition organised by the German federal and state governments. The funding decision for the future Clusters of Excellence will be made on 22 May 2025.
In the current round of the Cluster of Excellence funding line in the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments, two cluster initiatives of the University of Freiburg were invited to submit full proposals to the German Research Foundation and the German Council of Science and Humanities: Constitution as Practice in Times of Transformation (ConTrans) and Future Forests – Adapting Complex Social-ecological Forest Systems to Global Change. The existing Freiburg Clusters of Excellence, Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies (CIBSS) and Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS), have submitted renewal proposals.
From October 2024 to February 2025, the 98 approved cluster proposals from across Germany will be reviewed by international panels in Bonn. The review of the proposals from the University of Freiburg will take place between November 2024 and January 2025. The scientists will present their clusters in presentations, plenary discussions and poster sessions and exchange ideas with the evaluators.
“I am delighted to support the participating scholars in the evaluations of the Clusters of Excellence and initiatives and am firmly convinced that they will prevail with their scientific excellence, their great commitment and their socially highly relevant approaches.”
Prof. Dr Kerstin Krieglstein
Rector
Major social relevance
“I am delighted to support the participating scholars in the evaluations of the Clusters of Excellence and initiatives and am firmly convinced that they will prevail with their scientific excellence, their great commitment and their socially highly relevant approaches,” says Rector Prof. Dr Kerstin Krieglstein. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved for their highly professional and intensive preparation for the evaluations. This is an extraordinary joint effort by the entire University of Freiburg.”
In May 2025, the Excellence Commission, composed of members of the expert committee and the federal and state ministers of education and research, will decide which Clusters of Excellence will be funded in the future. Funding will begin on 1 January 2026 and will run for seven years.