After the proposal for the Cluster of Excellence “Breathing Nature“ was rejected in the final step, the consortium reflected on its future direction. Encouraged by the strong and very supportive feedback it had received, we unanimously agreed that the central topic – the interplay between biodiversity, climate, and human behaviour – remains a topic of highest scientific relevance and utmost importance for society. We therefore decided to continue our collaboration and to further advance the ideas and concepts that have been jointly developed over the past years.
Specifically, it was agreed that the current speaker board – Karin Frank (UFZ), Johannes Quaas (UL and iDiv Member), Alex Weigelt (UL and iDiv Member) – will remain in office, that a “Breathing Nature Centre” will be established as a central facility at Leipzig University even without the Cluster framework, and that we will continue to have regular meetings to ensure ongoing exchange and coordination. The consortium plans to carefully consider the request from Leipzig University and partner institutions to prepare a revised proposal, should a new call for Clusters of Excellence open in the coming years.
Several existing collaborative initiatives are already linked to Breathing Nature. The Research Training Group ”Economics of Connected Natural Commons“ (Speaker: Martin Quaas, iDiv and UL) is making good progress: the first Advanced Training Module has recently been completed and sparked great interest, and the first annual retreat is coming up. The Leibniz ScienceCampus ”Smoke and Bioaerosol“ (Speaker: Ina Tegen, TROPOS and UL) is fully underway, with all project scientists now appointed.
We also plan to submit a proposal for another large initiative: the Collaborative Research Centre ”Biodiversity Buffers for Climate Extremes“ (Speakers: Miguel Mahecha (UL and iDiv Member), Ana Bastos (UL and iDiv Member), Heike Kalesse-Los (UL)). We anticipate submitting the full proposal in November, with a review likely in summer 2026 and a possible start in early 2027.
Additional ideas for collaborative projects are currently being developed, including new collaborations with partner institutions across Germany and Europe.
The consortium will meet for its annual retreat in Zeitz in mid-September. In 2026, we plan to host an international conference dedicated to the Breathing Nature theme (21–25 September 2026 at the KUBUS in Leipzig). Stay tuned for further information, including the conference programme and a call for abstracts.
Contact: Johannes Quaas, johannes.quaas@uni-leipzig.de