Research
The Faculty of Life Sciences at Heidelberg University is one of the most dynamic and interactive life sciences faculties in Europe. It covers a broad spectrum of disciplines ranging from molecular biosciences to biodiversity, addressing questions at all experimental and computational levels from structural to systems biology.
The Faculty of Biosciences is part of Heidelberg's unique campus structure, the Neuenheimer Feld. It is home to numerous neighbouring faculties as well as outstanding non-university research institutions.Among other things, the Heidelberg Biosciences is home to the Cluster of Excellence “Cellular Networks” - the cluster was approved as part of the state's excellence strategy to promote cutting-edge research. Heidelberg is also home to several collaborative research centres funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and several research institutions such as the MPI for Medical Research, the EMBL and the DKFZ, whose directors are also professors at our faculty. The Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) is another research institution that is funded by the Klaus Tschira Foundation and whose scientists in the field of biosciences are also members of our faculty.
In addition, there are a number of other DFG research groups and supraregional collaborative projects funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).The faculty is the sponsor of the Heidelberg Graduate School HBIGS which forms the organisational framework for the individual topic-related graduate schools of the faculty.
These institutes, together with the campus-wide Core Facilities, offer ideal research and training opportunities for undergraduates and doctoral students, postdocs, junior research group leaders and senior researchers alike. Heidelberg's success in the German Excellence Initiative enabled the establishment of innovative structures such as inter-institutional partnerships and research networks like the CellNetworks cluster. Numerous externally funded collaborative research centres and training networks also reflect the breadth and quality of research in Heidelberg's life science community.
Research and research-oriented teaching in the life sciences benefit greatly from exchange with colleagues in other faculties and non-university institutions. Many of them are located on the Neuenheimer Feld campus, which strongly promotes scientific exchange and collaboration.