One year of LIB: researching and acting together

LIB scientists are investigating how our natural world works and the causes of the current loss of species in local regions and in the world's biodiversity hotspots. They compile scientific results as a database for the development of measures to preserve biodiversity for future generations. The dialogue with society and politics on these key challenges of our time is an essential aspect of the work at the LIB. In dialogue with stakeholders and the public, the LIB aims to bring about socially relevant action for the conservation of a diverse natural environment.

In the course of the merger of the former Centre for Natural History of the University of Hamburg with the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig on 1 July 2021, almost 60 additional employees were hired. The LIB currently employs over 300 people in Bonn and Hamburg. Projects with international partners such as the Caucasus Barcode of Life project (CaBOL) and the German-Ecuadorian Biodiversity Consortium (BIO-GEEC) are already running across all locations. Exhibitions such as "Urpferd 2.0" and "Facet-rich insects" are shown in both Hamburg and Bonn. Educational programmes extend across national borders.

"We are growing together. In the development of new projects, the two locations complement each other in research and knowledge transfer. We are sharpening our objectives and building a structure that emphasises the individual profiles of both locations while bringing their strengths together. We are also expanding our radius of action with new buildings for research infrastructure in Bonn and a planned new natural history museum in Hamburg," summarises Prof. Dr Bernhard Misof, Director General of the LIB, on the occasion of the LIB's first anniversary celebration on 23 June 2022. The event is also an opportunity to bring together representatives from science, politics and society and to present the work of the LIB.

"Time is of the essence," emphasises Misof, "because while we are losing the unique diversity of nature, we are only just beginning to understand it. A large part of biodiversity is still undiscovered. But only if we record biodiversity and understand changes in ecosystems can we develop meaningful countermeasures together. Our Museum Koenig Bonn and the Museum der Natur Hamburg, under the umbrella of the Leibniz Association and in the interplay of research, collection, exhibition and education, offer a very good working basis for effectively meeting the challenges of the biodiversity crisis."

As guest speaker at the LIB celebration event, Prof. Dr Matthias Kleiner, President of the Leibniz Association, emphasised: "The Leibniz research museums are a unique feature of the Leibniz Association that sets it apart both internally and externally. I am delighted that the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) has been added as a new and important location in Hamburg."

Katharina Fegebank, Second Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and Senator for Science, Research, Equality and Districts, says: "The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB) is an outstanding example of successful, cross-location research and a profitable transfer of knowledge. I am delighted that we are celebrating the first anniversary of the collaboration between Hamburg and Bonn today. Together, the two locations are doing a great job in communicating knowledge about our biodiversity and the changes in our ecosystem. The LIB has thus become an important flagship for Hamburg as a centre of science, which will continue to have a decisive impact on our city in the future."

Other speakers at the ceremony will include Prof. Dr Hauke Heekeren, President of the University of Hamburg, and Dr Christiane Fricke, Group Leader of Non-University Research Organisations, Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The LIB will present itself to the public with the Museum der Natur Hamburg and the Zoology, Mineralogy and Geology-Palaeontology departments on 25 June 2022 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. as part of an open day.