Cluster of Excellence "The Future Ocean"
Understanding the ocean means shaping the future
The ocean. It covers more than two thirds of our planet. Even so, we know more about the surface of the moon than about the depths of the seas. This, in spite of the fact that mankind's future lies in the world's seas. They determine the climate of tomorrow across the entire globe – and are already suffering from the advance of global warming. New raw materials and sources of energy can be found on the seafloor – how can we exploit them? Many marine organisms may harbour the secrets to cures for diseases – if they are still around tomorrow.
These are just some of the facets that the Kiel cluster "The Future Ocean" is investigating. The aim: to increase our understanding of ocean change and its associated potential and risks, in order to enter into a new symbiotic relationship between humans and the sea.
Who is conducting research into the future ocean?
In "The Future Ocean", experts from diverse specialist areas are combining their expertise: For example, lawyers and geoscientists are investigating questions on how and who has the right to exploit resources on the seafloor. Climatologists and economists are working on the question of what conditions make CO2 storage on the seafloor a relevant option. Marine scientists, medics, mathematicians, chemists, engineers and social scientists are dedicating themselves to further questions.
The German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) has approved the cluster and will be funding the investigation of this topic over the next 5 years.
The network partners include five faculties and 26 institutes at Kiel University, as well as the Kiel Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR),
the
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) and the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts.
The flyer on the Kiel cluster of excellence can be downloaded here as a pdf.
The original cluster application to the DFG is available for download here (pdf, 14,7MB).
Webmaster:
mluening@uv.uni-kiel.de