Application for Cluster of Excellence submitted

At the end of May, the University of Göttingen, together with partners at the Göttingen Campus, submitted a total of five outlines for new Clusters of Excellence as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. One cluster initiative, in which DPZ scientists play a leading role, was also included: "Cognition and Behavior in the Anthropocene".

Against the backdrop of accelerating cultural, ecological and technological change in recent decades, the planned Cluster of Excellence asks how individuals cope with change. A transdisciplinary team from behavioral research, cognitive sciences, neurosciences, physics and computer science is working to develop a model of individual adaptability. The scientists want to investigate behavioral strategies, cognitive processes and neuronal mechanisms that underlie the individual response to change. The planned cluster is characterized above all by the close integration of laboratory and field research and a comparative perspective.

Julia Fischer, spokesperson of the cluster initiative, emphasizes the close cooperation with other players at the Göttingen Campus: in addition to the DPZ and the university, researchers from the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization are also involved in the planned cluster. With the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, an institution outside the Göttingen Campus could also be won for the initiative.

With the submission of the outline at the end of May, the first step on the way to becoming a Cluster of Excellence has been taken. On February 1, 2024, it will be announced whether the initiative will be invited to submit a full proposal. A final funding decision will not be made until May 2025. If the decision is positive, funding will begin in January 2026, initially for an initial funding period of seven years.