DFG gives green light for new Research Training Group

Forest dieback 2.0, air pollution or species loss: the new Research Training Group is researching sustainable utilisation concepts for natural commons. (Picture: Colourbox)

Professor Martin Quaas heads the new Research Training Group ECO-N. (Picture: Antje Gildemeister/Leipzig University)

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Doctoral researchers will investigate sustainable concepts for the use of natural common goods

Based on a media release of Leipzig University

Another great success for Leipzig in supporting early career researchers: the German Research Foundation (DFG) announced that it will provide around 7 million euros in funding for a new Research Training Group from April 2024. Under the leadership of Professor Martin Quaas, head of Biodiversity Economics at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and  Leipzig University, more than 40 doctoral researchers in the fields of economics and management science, the natural and life sciences will investigate sustainable concepts for the use of natural common goods.

Air pollution, species loss, overfishing – the list of challenges to sustainable development is long. In most cases, it is people who have overexploited natural resources for economic gain: they have overfished the oceans, crowded out insects through unbalanced agricultural practices and polluted the air with industrial emissions. Some of these undesirable developments have already been partially reversed, but in some cases new problems have arisen. The new Research Training Group, Economics of Connected Natural Commons (ECO-N), will explore these complex interactions between economic demands, human behaviour and natural resources.

From 1 April 2024 until 2029, 42 doctoral researchers will develop an integrative perspective on the sustainable use of natural commons in the areas of atmosphere and biodiversity. In interdisciplinary collaborative projects, they will develop a shared, overarching understanding of the interaction between economic activity and natural dynamics. “On this basis, and by synthesising many forms of management of natural commons, we aim to propose instruments and mechanisms for the sustainable use of natural commons,” says Professor Martin Quaas, spokesperson of the Research Training Group (RTG). “This new RTG is also an important milestone for us on the way to a potential Cluster of Excellence, called Breathing Nature, for which we submitted a draft proposal at the end of May as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments,” adds Professor Johannes Quaas, a meteorologist at Leipzig University and designated spokesperson for the proposed Cluster of Excellence.

ECO-N is a response to the growing demand in research, government and practice for academically qualified specialists who are capable of analysing difficult sustainability problems across sectors and disciplines. The new Research Training Group combines the expertise of the Faculty of Economics and Management Science, the Faculty of Physics and Earth System Sciences and the Faculty of Life Sciences at Leipzig University. Also involved are iDiv and the non-university research institutions Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) and the German Biomass Research Centre (DBFZ).

Dr. Katarina Werneburg

Contact:

Prof Dr Martin Quaas
Head of research group Biodiversity Economics
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)
Leipzig University
Phone: Please contact the iDiv Media and Communications department
Email: martin.quaas@idiv.de