Our Mission
- To understand the biodiversity of life on Earth in its complexity, functions, and interactions with people;
- To develop scientific knowledge for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, together with the international scientific community and society;
- To advance the field of integrative biodiversity research, through scholarly contributions, education, capacity building, and the promotion of early-career researchers.
“Biodiversity is more than the sum of all plants and animals, and it is more than an abstract concept. Biodiversity is the fabric of life that sustains us all. The better we understand biodiversity, the better we safeguard our own well-being.”
The iDiv Network
Founded in 2012 with a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) through 2025, iDiv has grown to include nearly 300 employees and 170 members within its wider consortium.
Here, professors, postdoctoral, and doctoral researchers, work alongside science managers, to move biodiversity research forward.
iDiv is largely supported by Central Germany’s three states: Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, and Saxony. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and Leipzig University run the iDiv research centre in cooperation with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).
What Does the “i” in iDiv Stand For?
The “i” in iDiv stands for integration: By bringing together different research approaches, iDiv scientists can better answer questions about how biodiversity is changing at different scales and levels of complexity.
Integration also promotes ongoing collaboration and knowledge exchange between scientists across disciplines and at the interface between policy and society. This is how we ensure our research makes an impact.
More About iDiv