Great success for the University of Tübingen in the excellence competition

Six cluster initiatives invited to submit full proposals The University of Tübingen has mastered the first stage of the current federal and state excellence competition with great success. "I am delighted that six of our initiatives for the establishment of new clusters of excellence have today been invited to submit a so-called full proposal," said University President Professor Karla Pollmann, on Friday. "This result makes Tübingen once again one of the most successful universities in Germany and underlines its position as a location of top-level research both nationally and internationally." The following cluster initiatives were invited to submit a full proposal: The paleoanthropological cluster initiative HUMAN ORIGINS will integrate both biological and cultural perspectives into human origins research and thus define a new conceptual framework to move away from the piecemeal study of the fossile and archaeological records which is currently prevalent. The cluster initiative TERRA is about the interaction between diversity and stability in the geosphere and the biosphere. It aims to develop an integrated understanding of how geo-biosphere interactions in terrestrial systems induce and respond to environmental changes. The cluster initiative GreenRobust from the field of plant biology will study plant responses to climatic and biotic perturbations to understand the organisational principles that provide robustness (i.e. the maintenance of function despite perturbation) to plant life, and thus deliver roadmaps for the sustainable management of plant-based agriculture and ecosystems.