Great success for the Coastal Research Centre (FZK) of Leibniz University Hannover and TU Braunschweig: the FZK has joined the German Marine Research Alliance (DAM). The alliance promotes the sustainable use of our coasts, seas and oceans through research, data management and digitisation, as well as suitable infrastructures and the transfer of knowledge. As a shared research facility of Leibniz University Hannover and TU Braunschweig, the FZK provides considerable expertise in coastal engineering.
Overall, six research facilities and research museums joined the alliance. DAM was founded in July 2019 and comprises 19 institutions including the following new members: FZK, University of Greifswald, the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), the German Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund, as well as the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven. The alliance approved the new members during a general meeting held in Hamburg on 12 February 2020.
Founded in July last year, DAM is a joint project of marine research institutions in Germany, the federal government, as well as the federal states Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. The new members will increase the spectrum of expertise available within the alliance, which comprises universities and research facilities such as Helmholtz Centres, Leibniz Institutes or Max Planck Institutes.
"As a coastal area, Lower Saxony attaches great importance to gaining a profound scientific understanding of the role of the seas and oceans regarding climate change and biodiversity - today more than ever. Findings can be used as a basis for determining specific measures in politics, the industry and society. The Coastal Research Centre will be a key contributor within the German Marine Research Alliance, which brings together expertise from universities and research facilities. Moreover, the visibility of marine research conducted in Lower Saxony will be increased, both nationally and internationally", says Björn Thümler, Minister of Science and Culture of Lower Saxony.
Established in 1996, the FZK focuses on coastal research in the field of hydrodynamic, morphodynamic and ecological processes. In order to identify and interpret trends regarding potential changes and developments of natural processes in a timely manner, the research centre works on characterising and predicting these processes, their interaction, as well as temporal and spatial changes. The FZK operates one of the largest wave flumes worldwide.
DAM is in receipt of funding from the federal government and five federal states in Northern Germany. In addition, the alliance is promoted by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.
Additional information on the German Marine Research Alliance can be found at www.allianz-meeresforschung.de.
Note to editors:
For further information, please contact a member of the FZK executive board:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Torsten Schlurmann, Leibniz University Hannover, Tel. +49 511 762 19021, schlurmann@lufi.uni-hannover.de
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Nils Goseberg, TU Braunschweig, Tel. +49 531 391 3930, n.goseberg@tu-braunschweig.de
