DFGMore than €11 Million: 2 University of Hamburg Research Training Groups Extended

18 November 2024, by Newsroom editorial office

Photo: University of Hamburg / Schell

Decision-making and negotiation processes in societies and the carbon cycle in large estuary rivers—the University of Hamburg was granted funding for economics and biology research from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Two research training groups will be funded for a further 4.5 years.

DFG research training groups (RTG) are a funding instrument geared to promote early career researcher training. Altogether, the DFG has extended 5 research training groups for a second funding phase, 2 of them at the University of Hamburg.

Consensus seeking and carbon cycles

The Research Training Group “Collective Decision-Making” (RTG 2503) is located in the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences. Led by Prof. Dr. Anke Gerber, a professor of economics with a focus on microeconomics, the researchers are exploring various social decision-making processes. They are mainly concentrating on election processes, social, political and economic consensus seeking, and questions of shared responsibility in collective decisions. It is a close collaboration of the disciplines of political science, economics, and philosophy.

The Research Training Group “Biota-Mediate Effects on Carbon Cycling in Estuaries” (BiCEst, RTG 2530 ) focuses on environmental systems which are particularly threatened by climate change. Estuaries are the wider parts of a river that then flows into the open sea. They form an important part of the marine and global carbon cycle. The researchers are investigating how plants, animals and microorganisms influence this cycle. Investigations are conducted in the Elbe estuary, among other places, and results are to improve existing earth system models. BiCEst in the Department of Biology is currently headed by Prof. Dr. Kai Jensen, a professor of applied plant ecology, and in the second funding phase by Prof. Dr. Elisa Schaum, a professor of plankton ecology and evolution.

Interdisciplinary doctoral programs

The biology research training group is expected to receive €6.2 million over the next 4.5 years, while the economics RTG will receive around €2 million. Research training groups provide doctoral researchers with an opportunity to acquire top-level degrees within a structured doctoral program. They usually work in highly relevant interdisciplinary research projects. There are 5 structured doctoral programs at the University of Hamburg, which is also involved in 2 more.