Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will submit four new pro-posals of graduate schools and excellence clusters each for the Excellence Initiative II. The deadline for submission of the new proposal sketches will be tomorrow, September 01. In the first round of the Excellence Initiative in 2006, the former Universität Karlsruhe (TH) succeeded in all three funding lines. As a Concept for the Future, it proposed the foundation of KIT together with Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, which has meanwhile been implemented successfully. With its new proposals, KIT intends to further enhance its strengths.
“We have drawn up the new proposals along the portfolio of KIT with its centers, focuses, and multi-disciplinary topics in materials and computer sciences, for instance” says Professor Detlef Löhe, KIT Vice President for Research and Information. KIT enters the current competition with seven new own proposals and a proposal drawn up in cooperation with other universities.
Successful acquisition of funds for at least one graduate school and one excellent cluster will be required for KIT to be permitted to submit a follow-up proposal for the Concept for the Future. In the next months, the sketches submitted will be evaluated. In case of a positive result, KIT will be asked to submit full proposals. These proposals and the follow-up proposals for the Concept for the Future and the existing KSOP graduate school and CFN excellence cluster will have to be submitted by September 01, 2011. “The Concept for the Future II on which we are working at the moment will focus on utilizing the potentials of KIT after the merger,” underlines Vice President Löhe.
Thanks to KIT’s status as a state university, both KIT sectors can take part in the Excellence Initiative. The proposals are drawn up jointly by scientists from the large-scale research sector and the university sector of KIT. Work is coordinated by Dr. Irmgard Langbein and Dr. Dennis Nitsche from the Excellence Initiative II project management office. They are supported by the KIT Research Office. “Quite a few sabbaticals have been spent for formulating the proposals,” emphasizes KIT Vice President Löhe,” close cooperation of the scientists from Campus North and Campus South of KIT will inure to the benefit of the proposals.”
In the 2006 Excellence Initiative I, the former Universität Karlsruhe was one of three universities winning in all three funding lines. Proposals for the graduate school of Karlsruhe School of Optics and Photonics (KSOP) and the excellence cluster of Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN) were approved of. The decisive success was reached in the third funding line, the Concept for the Future, with the proposed foundation of KIT.
Within the framework of the Excellence Initiative, the Federal Republic of Germany and the federal states are funding excellent research projects, excellent education of young scientists, and the organizational and institutional development of universities. In June 2009, it was decided to continue the Excellence Initiative after 2012 for another five years with a total funding volume of EUR 2.7 billion (Excellence Initiative II).
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.