In the three decades of its existence, ZMT has rapidly developed into an internationally recognised partner in tropical research and has expanded its regional research areas. In close cooperation with local partners, ZMT researchers are particularly active where coastal ecosystems are changing and their fragile balance is threatened.
Today the research projects of ZMT encompass the entire tropics. There, ZMT scientists also support the development of expertise and structures that enable sustainable coastal zone management. Many of its more than 200 employees and students come from – predominantly tropical – foreign countries.
ZMT's partnerships form a worldwide research network with a high level of expertise, which means that the institute is well positioned to deal with the major issues of the 21st century - sustainability, environmental protection, ecosystem services or coastal protection.
From the start until today
At the beginning of 1991, the "Center for Tropical Marine Ecology" was established as an affiliated institute of the University of Bremen by Prof. Dr. Gotthilf Hempel, the founder of the Alfred Wegner Institute. Thus, after Antarctica, the Arctic and the South Atlantic, a completely new region of the world – the tropical coasts – came into the focus of Bremen's marine sciences. The main basis for the establishment of the new institute was the MADAM project (Mangrove Dynamics and Management), a ten-year project grant of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for bilateral cooperation with Brazil. In the mid-1990s, research on coral reefs gained more and more importance for the ZMT, which coordinated the Red Sea Programme on Marine Sciences (RSP) from 1995 onwards.
The first plans for a German tropical marine institute were drawn up in the 1980s. At that time, the German Federal Government endeavoured to make a contribution to the development of sustainable management of the ecosystems of tropical coastal seas. However, there was a lack of German marine researchers with in-depth knowledge of the tropics and of scientific partners in the tropical countries to develop the ecological and socio-economic foundations.
The "Center for Marine Tropical Ecology" was founded at the beginning of 1991 by Prof. Dr. Gotthilf Hempel, the founder of the Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar and Marine Research, as an affiliated institute of the University of Bremen. Thus, after Antarctica, Arctic and South Atlantic, a completely new Earth region - the tropical coasts - came into the focus of Bremen's marine sciences. The MADAM project (Mangrove Dynamics and Management), a ten-year BMBF funding programme for bilateral cooperation with Brazil, formed an important basis for the establishment of the young institute. Research on coral reefs gained increasing importance in the mid-1990s for the ZMT, which was responsible for the Red Sea Programme in Marine Sciences (RSP) from 1995 onwards.
Early on ZMT defined scientific-ethical principles according to which it developed its projects. These "Bremen Criteria" provided for long-term studies with intensive participation of scientists from the host country and unrestricted exchange of data and information, and were also adopted as guidelines by the German Research Foundation.
In order to support environmental research and an independent environmental policy in the partner countries, ZMT expanded the training of young German scientists in the field of tropical coastal research and closely interlinked it with the training of scientists from non-European, in particular tropical regions. The aim was to win future partners for international cooperation and to ensure continuity of research activities.
The founding director Prof. Dr. Gotthilf Hempel was succeeded at the turn of the millennium by the biogeochemist Prof. Dr. Venugopalan Ittekkot, who headed the institute for ten years. He expanded his contacts in particular to the Asia-Pacific region. ZMT now also coordinated extensive research programmes with Indonesia (SPICE - Science for the Protection of Indonesian Coastal Marine Ecosystems) and China (LANCET - Land-Sea Interactions in Coastal Ecosystems of Tropical China).
The admission of the institute to the Leibniz Association in 2009, not only acknowledged the supra-regional and scientific-political significance of its research, but also created sustainable opportunities were to strengthen the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Ecology – as it was then called – in terms of personnel and research capacity.
Prof. Dr. Hildegard Westphal, a geologist, took over the leadership of ZMT in November 2010. One year later, she was elected Scientific Vice President of the Leibniz Association and held this office until 2017. At ZMT, she pushed thematic and personnel expansion – the number of employees at ZMT has tripled since she took office.
Through the expansion of the social sciences and the geosciences, ZMT's research has become increasingly interdisciplinary. Tropical ecology topics of global importance as well as complex regional problems are comprehensively examined – from their basics to practical solution strategies. Regionally, ZMT has strengthened its cooperation with Africa, for example in the framework of the Leibniz Graduate School SUTAS (Sustainable Use of Tropical Aquatic Systems) with Tanzania.
Furthermore, ZMT strengthened the targeted dialogue with scientific and non-scientific partners in Germany and tropical countries through the establishment of the Office for Knowledge Exchange.
The name change of the institute, which since 2017 has been called Leibniz Centre for Marine Tropical Research, takes into account the growing interdisciplinary breadth, which encompasses both the natural and social sciences.
In January 2017, the ZMT expanded its executive level. Dr. Nicolas Dittert joined as ZMT's administrative director. At the beginning of 2022, Professor Raimund Bleischwitz took over the scientific management of the ZMT in Bremen and, together with Dr. Nicolas Dittert, has formed the top management of ZMT ever since. Bleischwitz comes from University College London (UCL), one of the world's top 10 universities. There he held the Chair of Sustainable Global Resources and was Director of the Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources. Raimund Bleischwitz conducts research in the field of the productivity of natural resources in the economy and society and deals with the multidisciplinary challenges of resource use. His work emphasizes both the interaction between resources and ecosystems ("nexus") and the opportunities of resource policy for innovation and improved living conditions.
In fall 2022, Raimund Bleischwitz also took over the management of the International Ocean Institute (IOI) Germany . At the beginning of 2023, he was appointed Professor of Global Sustainable Resources at the University of Bremen.
Under the leadership of Raimund Bleischwitz and Nicolas Dittert, the new building for the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) continues to take shape. The new building project is to be constructed in Otto-Hahn-Allee in the Horn-Lehe district of Bremen. It covers almost 6,500 square metres and has a budget of 34.8 million euros. The federal government and the state of Bremen are sharing the funding. The state's share will be provided by the Senator for Science and Ports. (LINK) In spring 2023, the ZMT managing directors signed the contract with SWAP Architektur. The Viennese architectural firm won the Europe-wide architectural competition for the new ZMT building and will design the building.
With Raimund Bleischwitz, the ZMT is expanding its scientific modelling capacities in order to supplement research into Earth System Models (ESM) with a novel approach for coastal ecosystems and communities in tropical countries. The strategic expansion of the institute (special status / STB) was approved in spring 2024.
The restructuring of the ZMT research programme into five programme areas initiated by Hildegard Westphal will also be further developed and finalised under Bleischwitz. The interdisciplinary programme areas now form the organisational framework of the ZMT, where scientists from different disciplines work on overarching research questions and strategic goals. In this way, the programme areas create the institutional framework for excellence in research in terms of relevance, method development and contributions to solving urgent problems; in addition, capacity development and knowledge exchange are further developed in close cooperation with international partners in the tropics. The impetus towards a Gender Equality Action Plan, a diversity strategy and guidelines for good leadership also fit into this context.
Bleischwitz also championed the ZMT's participation in the Leibniz Labs, a new cross-institute funding format of the Leibniz Association. ZMT has been a member of the Leibniz Labs "Systemic Sustainability - Biodiversity, Climate, Agriculture and Nutrition within Planetary Boundaries" since March. The ZMT will contribute its interdisciplinary expertise in researching tropical coastal ecosystems from a natural and social science perspective.
At European level, Raimund Bleischwitz is therefore intensifying his collaboration with the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment, where he heads a working group on the transformative role of research. The alliance aims to improve the processes of research evaluation, rethink traditional assessment methods and promote modern approaches. His work flows into the newly founded Leibniz Strategy Forum 'Research Assessment', of which Bleischwitz has been appointed a member.
A particular concern is the further development of the blue economy in harmony with climate protection and issues of justice. The topic of "ship recycling" is an initial focus and is also being prepared for the Bremen site with its steelworks.