History of iDiv

Milestones in 2012

27 April 2012

Acceptance Initial Proposal, DFG funds iDiv
14 May 2012

First general member assembly with press conference at the Botanical Garden in Leipzig (Photo: Leipzig University)
13 November 2012

iDiv moves into BioCity
5 December 2012

Launch Websitewww.idiv.de

1 February 2013

Visit Saxon Minister of Science, Sabine von Schorlemer
1 March 2013

1st yDiv doctoral researcher employed
6 - 9 March 2013

1st sDiv workshop took place (sPlot)
18 – 20 April 2013

Opening Symposium “Integrative Biodiversity Research – a young discipline under time pressure”
18 April 2013

iDiv becomes a central facility of Leipzig University
1 September 2013

First professorship appointed (Biodiversity Conservation/Henrique M. Pereira)
Oct - Dez 2013

yDiv accredited to InGrA (International Graduate Academy MLU), JGA (Graduate Academy FSU), RAL (Graduate Academy UL)

1 April 2014

Starting point professorships Molecular Interaction Ecology (Nicole M. van Dam) and Experimental Interaction Ecology (Nico Eisenhauer; Photo: Christian Hüller)
1 May 2014

Starting point professorship Ecosystem Services/Aletta Bonn
5 May 2014

Commissioning High Performance Computing Cluster at UFZ (Photo: André Künzelmann/UFZ)
9 July 2014

Re-commissioning canopy crane as a research platform
1 August 2014

Starting point professorships and research groups Biodiversity Synthesis (Jonathan Chase) and Physiological Diversity (Stanley Harpole)

1 February 2015

Professorship Theory in Biodiversity Sciences appointed (Ulrich Brose)
25 May 2015

Humboldt Professorship for Tiffany Knight (Spatial Interaction Ecology research group)
23 – 29 August 2015

First iDiv Summer School with 24 participants from 16 countries in Leipzig
2 – 3 December 2015

First iDiv Annual Conference on biodiversity science with more than 230 participants and 80 lectures in Leipzig.
3 December 2015

Celebrating 3 Years of iDiv

28 January 2016

ERC grant for Nico Eisenhauer
18 April 2016

iDiv evaluation by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
4 May 2016

First iDiv Annual Lecture by Paul R. Ehrlich in Halle (Photo: Paul R. Ehrlich – CC BY 2.5)
1 June 2016

Chief Operating Officer appointed (Sabine Matthiä)
19 – 25 June 2016

Second iDiv Summer School on Biodiversity Synthesis and Integration in Leipzig
4 – 8 July 2016

International GEO BON Conference hosted by iDiv (Photo: Niels A. Petersen)
6 July 2016

Extension of iDiv’s funding for another four years by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
29 July 2016

‘Freigeist’ Fellowship of the VolkswagenStiftung for Carsten Meyer
1 October 2016

Beginning of iDiv’s second funding phase
7 – 8 November 2016

Second iDiv Annual Conference on biodiversity science with more than 200 participants at the UFZ Leipzig.

March 2017

Over 1,000 participations in sDiv working group meetings since 2013
March 2017

1,000 scientific publications with iDiv affiliation since mid 2013
17 May 2017

iDiv Ecotron inauguration at the UFZ experimental facility in Bad Lauchstädt
9 June 2017

Saxon Prime Minister Stanislaw Tillich and Minister of Science Eva-Maria Stange visit iDiv core centre in Leipzig