1001

On November 25 geologist Prof. Dr. Hildegard Westphal, Director of the ZMT, was elected new scientific Vice President by the General Assembly of the Leibniz Association. Thus, the Executive Board is complemented by a vice president who will mainly deal with two main focuses: internationalization and capacity building.

The Leibniz Association is one of the four large extra-faculty research associations in Germany, together with the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. It comprises 87 research institutions which address scientific issues of importance to society as a whole. They conduct research ranging from natural science, engineering and environmental science via economics, social science and infrastructure research to the humanities. Also, they provide infrastructure for science and research and perform research-based services. The institutes employ over 16.000 staff members and are funded through federal and state governmental sources.