By Dr Marten Winter, Head of sDiv
This month, the sDiv synthesis centre at iDiv achieved a huge milestone: The 368 scientific publications resulting from sDiv-supported projects have amassed over 50,000 citations.
The sDiv synthesis centre is an exciting science infrastructure that also functions as a small funding agency. We fund working groups, postdocs and sabbaticals researching biodiversity and provide scientific and administrative support to facilitate synthesis projects, which combine various information sources, theories, and data to produce broadly applicable and generalisable results.
As the leader of sDiv since its inception, I am immensely proud and thrilled with the many projects and our participants’ achievements in the last 12 years.
This milestone is a clear indication that impactful and relevant insights are not only being produced by our biodiversity synthesis centre but also valued and validated by the global research community. It also recognises the incredible administrative and scientific support provided by sDiv and iDiv’s event team. This is science management at its finest!
sDiv’s innovative working groups and projects
sDiv’s working groups are creative, stimulating, and interdisciplinary, tackling some of the biggest questions and challenges in biodiversity research. Our projects cover a wide range of topics, from understanding ecosystem functions to developing policy-relevant measures to respond to biodiversity change across all taxa.
While the milestone of over 50,000 citations is certainly impressive, it is important that I also recognise the remarkable achievements that have contributed to this success.
First, almost one out of every five publications – 17% of 368 – appeared in renowned journals, like the Nature family journals, Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. These journals are globally recognised as the most prestigious and impactful in science. Beyond this, these sDiv publications also feature prominently in the Global Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) assessment, clearly demonstrating the significance of the scientific results.
I believe Prof Josef Settele, a close colleague and co-chair of the 1st Global IPBES Assessment, perfectly captured the essence of sDiv: “sDiv is an important mechanism moving research forward. Beyond its significant national and international importance, I greatly enjoyed being a part of the sDiv working group sECURE.”
Second, sDiv projects have initiated several hugely successful global data collection and analysis endeavours, such as sPlot – The Global Vegetation Database, which continue to have a huge impact within and outside of scientific communities. sDiv projects have produced valuable policy and conservation management outcomes. For example, sImpact has developed an already globally implemented approach to measure and compare the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of non-native species.
Third, over the years, I have witnessed the career advancement of almost all of the former sDiv postdocs, who have secured permanent positions as researchers, professors, or academic staff in both the science and industry sectors. The success of former sDiv postdocs in securing prestigious positions amplifies sDiv’s influence and reputation, and it also shows how the creative work environment at sDiv and iDiv supports their careers towards implementing successful projects, including securing relevant and impactful publications.
What’s next for sDiv?
After hosting over 3,000 project participants in more than 100 synthesis working group projects and supporting over 40 postdoctoral researchers, leading to 50,000 citations of sDiv-supported publications, we ask: What comes next?
At sDiv, we are always eager to support novel and necessary research to address grand challenges. We will continue enhancing our global collaborations, such as our recent joint call on biodiversity and climate change with nine international synthesis centres. We will also aim to support new, increasingly relevant projects for applied topics, particularly socioeconomic aspects.
Related links
Contact
Dr Marten Winter
Head of sDiv
Leipzig University
Telephone: +49 341 9733129
Email: marten.winter@idiv.de