Junior Research Groups
The junior research groups at the Alfred Wegener Institute are funded by the Helmholtz Association, German Research Association and the European Research Council. There are currently 9 such groups at the institute.
Helmholtz Junior Research Groups
With the Helmholtz Junior Research Groups, the Helmholtz Association supports the early independence of young scientists and offers them a reliable career perspective. This programme is designed to provide outstanding working conditions in a research-oriented environment for the best foreign and domestic junior researchers. It is aimed at junior employees who have completed their doctorates within the past two to six years.
Further information can be found here.
Emmy Noether Junior Research Goup
The Emmy Noether Programme of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) offers outstandingly qualified young researchers the opportunity to qualify for a university professorship by independently leading a junior research group over a period of six years. Postdocs and temporary junior professors in an early phase of their academic career (usually up to 4 years after the doctorate) can apply. Holders of a junior professorship who have been positively evaluated in the interim are no longer part of the programme's target group.
Further information can be found here.
ERC Starting Grant Research Groups
ERC Starting Grants support aspiring research group leaders who want to establish a well-equipped research team and conduct independent research in Europe. The programme is aimed at promising researchers with proven potential to become independent leaders of a new and excellent research team. It is aimed at junior employees who have completed their doctorates within the past two to seven years.
Further information can be found here.
ARJEL
To better understand the role of jellies in the Arctic seas, the Helmholtz Young Investigator project ARJEL - ARctic JELlifish, will combine the most recent technologies in optics, acoustics, and environmental DNA analyses. Integrative field surveys will allow us to link distributional patterns of jellies to sea-ice and oceanographic features. Furthermore, we will apply species distribution models to a broader set of archived data to understand observed species patterns and to predict changes under future scenarios.
MarESys
MarESys aims to better understand the current and future CO2 uptake by the ocean and its drivers. To this end, we further develop the marine ecosystem compartment of the Earth System model and apply this in simulations of the last decades and of the future.
CLOC
CLOC (Cosmic Links between Ocean Sediments and Ice Cores) employs cosmogenic radionuclides (10Be, 14C, 26Al, 36Cl) to date and synchronize different environmental archives. Global variations in their production rates due to changes in the geomagnetic field and solar activity, allow us to establish a connection between a wide range of climate archives (ice cores, sediments, speleothems) and regions and investigate the dynamics of past climate changes.
SiDe-EFFECT
The aim of SiDe-EFFECT - Silicic acid Decline Effect in the Arctic Ecosystem - is to assess the consequences of the decline in silicic acid concentrations in the inflow of North Atlantic water into the Eurasian Arctic on the Arctic marine ecosystem using an ecosystems biology approach. By combining novel and classical approaches to study phytoplankton physiology, biodiversity and zooplankton interactions we aim to improve current projections of the fate of the Arctic Ocean in times of climate change.
DOUBLE-TROUBLE
Using state-of-the-art biochemical methods, experimental approaches and modelling techniques, Double-Trouble investigates the impact of global warming and anthropogenic pollution on the structure and functioning of the central Arctic food web under current environmental settings and future change. We are aiming at determining its vulnerability and resilience to progressive environmental change and human impact for future sustainable ecosystem management in the central Arctic.
SNOWflAke
SNOWflake (Learning from local snow properties for large-scale Antarctic ice pack volume) aims to investigate how the snow cover on Antarctic sea ice responds to changing atmospheric conditions, affecting the sea ice mass balance by inducing snow-albedo feedbacks that accelerate sea ice melt and retreat. Combining observations, model development and evaluation, this research will significantly improve our process understanding of Antarctic sea ice in the Southern Ocean climate system – from today’s perspective and for future warming climate scenarios.
FluxWin
FluxWin focuses on how carbon and nitrogen cycling and resulting greenhouse gas emissions change between the growing season, when plants and scientists are active, and outside of the growing season, when plants are not active and many fewer measurements are collected.