- Centre
- Milestones
Milestones
June 2026
New iDiv Science Strategy established
for the period 2026 to 2034
29 June 2026
New Members of the Extended Executive Board (EEB) appointed by the Board of Trustees
Ulrich Brose (Uni Jena, Core Professor), Henrique Pereira (MLU, Core Professor), Stan Harpole (UFZ, Core Professor), Sonja Knapp (UFZ, iDiv Member)
Mai 2026
New Junior Research group: BirdFutures
with Tatiane Micheletti (iDiv, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ)
Mai 2026
New Junior Research group: Behavioural Conservation
with Erin Wessling (iDiv, Leipzig University, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)
March 2026
More than 170 new iDiv members confirmed
iDiv now has 283 members, 112 of these have reapplied
29 September – 1 October 2025
Ninth iDiv Annual Conference on biodiversity science
with more than 270 participants at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
26 September 2025
iDiv reception „Pioneering Bold Ideas in Biodiversity Science“
with the Minister Presidents of Saxony and Thuringia and the State Secretary of the MWU Saxony-Anhalt in Halle (Saale)
25–29 August 2025
Ninth iDiv Summer School on “Deep Learning for Biodiversity and Ecological Research”
in Leipzig with 14 participants from 12 countries
14–15 November 2024
Eighth iDiv Annual Conference on biodiversity science
with more than 300 participants at the KUBUS in Leipzig
1 October 2024
New funding model
Permanent funding provided by federal states and hosting institutions in Central Germany
1 October 2024
Dr Anne Wesemann appointed as Chief Operating Officer
1 October 2024
New research group: Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
with Prof Dr Susanne Fritz (iDiv, Friedrich Schiller University Jena) as group head
25 June 2024
Parliamentary evening
at the German Bundestag in Berlin
23—30 May 2024
Eighth iDiv Summer School on “Plant-Pollinator Interactions in Restored Grasslands”
in Leipzig with 21 participants from 13 countries
8 March 2024
Founding of iDiv e.V.
13 November 2023
New Research Training Group ECO-N
Grant proposal approved by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
12–16 September 2023
52nd Annual Meeting of The Ecological Society (GfÖ)
in Leipzig with iDiv as local host
4–8 September 2023
Seventh iDiv Summer School
on “Integrating Ecological and Economic Theory for Modelling Biodiversity Change” in Leipzig
23 June 2023
Long Night of the Sciences
for the first time at the new iDiv building
20 April 2023
Celebration of 10 years of iDiv
with the Minister Presidents of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia and the Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany
30 March 2023
ERC Advanced Grant
for Jonathan Chase (iDiv, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)
20 March 2023
2500th participant
of an sDiv working group meeting
17 January 2023
Parliamentary evening
at the State Representation of Saxony-Anhalt in Berlin
15–19 August 2022
Sixth iDiv Summer School
on “Molecular Evolutionary Ecology in Biodiversity” in Leipzig
1 July 2022
New Junior research group: Soil Biodiversity and Functions
with Anton Potapov (iDiv, Leipzig University) as group head
1 June 2022
New Junior research group: Symbiont Evolution
with Michael Gerth (iDiv, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) as group head
25/26 April 2022
Seventh iDiv Annual Conference
with more than 300 participants – again virtual
7 April 2022
Leipzig Science and Humanities Prize 2022
for Christian Wirth (iDiv, Leipzig University, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry)
1 October 2021
Beginning of the third funding phase of iDiv
October 2021
3,000 scientific publications with iDiv affiliation
since mid 2013
15 September 2021
Inauguration of the new iDiv building
with the Minister Presidents of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia
6 July 2021
Extension of iDiv’s funding
for another three years by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
8/9 March 2021
Virtual iDiv evaluation
by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
February 2021
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize
for Nico Eisenhauer (iDiv, Leipzig University)
1 November 2020
New Junior research group: Evolutionary Ecology
with Omer Nevo (iDiv, Friedrich Schiller University Jena)
8/9 October 2020
Sixth iDiv Annual Conference
for the first time virtual
1 October 2020
Start of the yDiv Postdoctoral Programme
September/October 2020
Move to the new iDiv building
January 2020
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize
for iDiv member Markus Reichstein (Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry)
29 August 2019
Fifth iDiv Annual Conference
on biodiversity science with more than 300 participants at the Leipziger Kubus (UFZ)
21–28 August 2019
Fifth iDiv Summer School
on “Citizen Science – Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy” in Leipzig
9 July 2019
States take over financing
for iDiv after 2024
July 2019
2,000 scientific publications
with iDiv affiliation since mid 2013
11 June 2019
Inauguration of iDiv research greenhouse
at the Botanical Garden of Leipzig University
April 2019
Thuringian Research Prize
for Ulrich Brose (iDiv, Friedrich Schiller University Jena)
6 March 2019
Roofing ceremony for the new iDiv building
1 February 2019
iDiv Science-Policy coordinator (Andrea Perino) starts
11–12 December 2018
Fourth iDiv Annual Conference
on biodiversity science with more than 310 participants at the Leipziger Kubus (UFZ)
1 October 2018
New research group: Biodiversity Economics
with Prof Dr Martin Quaas (iDiv, Leipzig University) as group head
20–31 August 2018
Fourth iDiv Summer School
on “Ecological Theory of Modelling for the Biodiversity Crisis” in Leipzig
July 2018
Piers J. Sellers Mid-Career Award
for iDiv member Markus Reichstein (Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry)
1 June 2018
New Junior research group: Evolution and Adaptation
with Renske Onstein (iDiv, Leipzig University) as group head
12 April 2018
Groundbreaking of the new iDiv building
with Minister President of Saxony Michael Kretschmer
21 March 2018
Roofing ceremony of research greenhouse
at the Botanical Garden of Leipzig University
January 2018
Max Planck Fellowship for Christian Wirth (iDiv, UL, MPI BGC)
extended for another five years
4–5 December 2017
Visit by the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)
at the iDiv core centre in Leipzig
19–20 September 2017
Third iDiv Annual Conference
on biodiversity science with more than 240 participants at the Leipziger Kubus (UFZ)
3–15 September 2017
Third iDiv Summer School
on “Synthesising and Modelling Biodiversity Data” in Leipzig
9 June 2017
Saxon Prime Minister Stanislaw Tillich and Minister of Science Eva-Maria Stange
visit iDiv core centre in Leipzig
17 May 2017
iDiv Ecotron inauguration
at the UFZ experimental facility in Bad Lauchstädt
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
7–8 November 2016
Second iDiv Annual Conference
on biodiversity science with more than 200 participants at the Leipziger Kubus (UFZ)
1 October 2016
Beginning of the second funding phase of iDiv
29 July 2016
‘Freigeist’ Fellowship
of the VolkswagenStiftung for Carsten Meyer (iDiv, Leipzig University)
6 July 2016
Extension of iDiv’s funding
for another four years by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
4–8 July 2016
International GEO BON Conference
hosted by iDiv
19–25 June 2016
Second iDiv Summer School
on “Biodiversity Synthesis and Integration” in Leipzig
1 June 2016
Sabine Matthiä appointed as Chief Operating Officer
4 May 2016
First iDiv Annual Lecture
by Paul R. Ehrlich in Halle
18 April 2016
iDiv evaluation
by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
28 January 2016
ERC Starting Grant
for Nico Eisenhauer (iDiv, Leipzig University)
3 December 2015
Celebrating 3 Years of iDiv
2–3 December 2015
First iDiv Annual Conference
on biodiversity science with more than 230 participants and 80 lectures in Leipzig
September 2015
iDiv member Georg Pohnert (FSU) appointed as Max Planck Fellow
23–29 August 2015
First iDiv Summer School
with 24 participants from 16 countries in Leipzig
25 May 2015
New research group: Spatial Interaction Ecology
with Humboldt Professor Tiffany Knight (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, iDiv) as group head
1 February 2015
New research group: Theory in Biodiversity Sciences
with Prof Dr Ulrich Brose (iDiv, Friedrich Schiller University Jena) as group head
1 January 2015
New Junior Research Group: Domestication Genomics
with Martin Mascher (iDiv, IPK) as group head
1 August 2014
New research group: Biodiversity Synthesis
with Prof Dr Jonathan Chase (iDiv, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) as group head
1 August 2014
New research group : Physiological Diversity
with Prof Dr Stan Harpole (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, iDiv, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) as group head
9 July 2014
Re-commissioning of the Leipzig Canopy Crane
as an iDiv research platform
5 May 2014
Commissioning of the High-Performance Computing Cluster
at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ
1 May 2014
New research group: Ecosystem Services
with Prof Dr Aletta Bonn (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, iDiv, Friedrich Schiller University Jena) as group head
8 April 2014
New Junior Research Group: Sustainability and Complexity in Ape Habitat
with Dr Hjalmar Kühl (iDiv, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) as group head
1 April 2014
New research group: Experimental Interaction Ecology
with Prof Dr Nico Eisenhauer (iDiv, Leipzig University) as group head
1 April 2014
New research group: Molecular Interaction Ecology
with Prof Dr Nicole M van Dam (iDiv, Friedrich Schiller University Jena) as group head
March 2014
Robert Bosch Junior Professorship
for Dr Hjalmar Kühl (iDiv, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)
October–December 2013
yDiv accredited
to InGrA (International Graduate Academy MLU), JGA (Graduate Academy FSU), Research Academy Leipzig (UL)
1 September 2013
First iDiv research group: Biodiversity Conservation
with Prof Dr Henrique M Pereira (iDiv, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) as group head
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
6–9 March 2013
First sDiv workshop took place (sPlot)
1 March 2013
First yDiv doctoral researchers
1 February 2013
First Junior Research Group: Niche Detector for Hyperdiverse Tropical Forests
with Nadja Rüger (iDiv, Leipzig University) as group head
1 February 2013
Visit Saxon Minister of Science, Sabine von Schorlemer
January 2013
Christian Wirth (iDiv, Leipzig University) appointed as Max Planck Fellow
5 December 2012
Launch of the iDiv website
13 November 2012
iDiv moves into BioCity Leipzig
1 October 2012
Beginning of the first funding phase of iDiv
14 May 2012
First General Member Assembly with press conference
at the Botanical Garden in Leipzig
27 April 2012
Acceptance Initial Proposal
the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) funds iDiv