ZMT - Leibniz Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung

6.5.16 | The Leibniz Association has signed an agreement with the marine science institute of the Israeli universities in Eilat to extend its research cooperation with Israel. On the basis of agreement six Leibniz institutes will be undertaking joint interdisciplinary marine research together with the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences (IUI). The Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) has been instrumental in the cooperation agreement.

Matthias Kleiner, President of the Leibniz Association, Amatzia Genin, Scientific Director of the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat, Hildegard Westphal, Vice President of the Leibniz Association and Director of the ZMT, and Isaiah Arkin, Vice President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem signed the cooperation in Berlin in April.

A workshop in Berlin with 80 researchers from 18 Leibniz institutes and seven Israeli universities marked the start of the cooperation in February. Preceding the workshop a delegation headed by Leibniz President Matthias Kleiner visited the Israeli partners in June last year.

The Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) was instrumental in setting up the agreement. The Bremen-based institute has cooperated with the IUI for many years. Also taking part in the open collaboration are the Senckenberg Nature Research Society, Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften (ISAS), the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), the Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ) – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ) and the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG). The joint research between the IUI and the Leibniz institutions will at first be focusing on the resilience of corals with regards to environmental changes, on marine active ingredient research, on oceanography as well as the interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean. In addition to research, methods training and joint summer schools for PhD students are planned.

Located at the Gulf of Akaba at the Red Sea the IUI unites the tropical marine research of the six Israeli universities and the Weizmann Institute of Science. The Hebrew University is the coordinator of the IUI. Based at the most Northern of the tropical seas the IUI has a unique research infrastructure. With view to the cooperation of all Israeli partners within this research area the IUI is also a distinctive entity from a science politics perspective.