Kiel evolutionary biologist receives the prestigious Max Planck Fellowship a second time
Max Planck Society honours Prof. Hinrich Schulenburg from Kiel University for his scientific work and promotion of evolutionary research in the Kiel area
- Joint press release by Kiel University and the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology Plön -
With over 80 research institutions, the Max Planck Society (MPG) is one of the leading institutions for basic research in Germany. It regularly awards the Max Planck Fellowship to university professors who have distinguished themselves through excellent research and special efforts to promote cooperation between their university and a Max Planck Institute. The MPG has now appointed Hinrich Schulenburg, Professor of Evolutionary Ecology and Genetics at Kiel University, as a Fellow of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön (MPI-EB) for a further five years after 2017. The society thus honours his scientific successes, his intensive efforts to further develop the Kiel area into a top location for research in evolutionary research and the associated commitment to close cooperation between Kiel University and MPI-EB.
"Schulenburg's work, for example on evolution-based strategies to avoid antibiotic resistance, underlines in a special way how evolutionary research can contribute to solving current societal challenges. Together with his commitment to fruitful cooperation between our institute and Kiel University, this makes him a particularly worthy recipient of the Max Planck Fellowship," emphasises Professor Paul Rainey, Managing Director of the MPI-EB.
"With Hinrich Schulenburg's renewed appointment, the MPG is honouring not only his research but also his successful efforts to bring together all evolutionary biologists in the Kiel area. The MPG thus confirms the increasing importance of this scientific field at Kiel University and its partner institutions, which are currently joining forces to become a centre of cutting-edge research on evolution that is unique in Germany," says Kiel University’s President Professor Simone Fulda, commenting on the significance of the award.
Hotspot of evolutionary research in the Kiel area
Together with colleagues, Schulenburg has succeeded in recent years in bundling evolutionary research activities and scientific consortia in the Kiel region under the umbrella of the Kiel Evolution Center (KEC) at Kiel University. Since then, the university and its partner institutions - in addition to the MPI-EB, for example, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Borstel Research Centre - have succeeded in acquiring several large research consortia such as the Clinician Scientist Program in Evolutionary Medicine (CSEM), the Leibniz Science Campus Evolutionary Medicine of the Lung (EvoLUNG) and the DFG Research Training Group (RTG) Translational Evolutionary Research (TransEvo). The researchers organised in this group pursue the common goal of counteracting the negative effects of man-made changes on natural selection and further developing evolution-based solution strategies, for example in evolutionary medicine, wildlife conservation or agriculture.