Interdisciplinary Centre for Atmosphere and Environment

Interdisciplinary Centre (IZ) for Atmosphere and Environment

Global environmental change is the greatest challenge facing humanity today. In addition to the omnipresent discussion about climate change, changes in the two environmental compartments of water and soil are another major task. Not only the already ubiquitous microplastics and the acidification of the oceans are important issues, but also the adaptation to the already occuring climate change with the predicted higher occurrence of extreme weather events (e.g. heavy rain) pose immense problems for mankind in heavily populated regions. Changes in the soil caused by acid rain or the introduction of pollutants such as heavy metals or poorly degradable organic compounds are an additional challenge.

Since its foundation in year 1972, the Bergische Universität has been involved in research in the three environmental compartments mentioned above, without a closer cooperation between the areas to date - except in the area of the atmosphere, through a close link between the two working groups in atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics.

The close connection between the two mentioned working groups of atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics was the trigger for the foundation of the Institute for Atmospheric and Environmental Research, in which colleagues from the Safety Engineering and the Research Centre Jülich have already been integrated. This new institute significantly improved the visibility of the involved working groups.

By founding the Interdisciplinary Centre for Environmental Research, further working groups are now to be integrated across faculties, not only to bundle the predominantly research-led activities, but also to treat the important topic of environmental research in teaching across disciplines. Since environmental problems are above all a social challenge, besides scientific and technical problems approaches from humanities and social sciences are also included. With that, the IZ takes up the approaches of the "Environmental Humanities" and contributes to the interdisciplinary environmental discourse. The objective of the IZ is the

• Implementation of basic and application-oriented research and development projects in the field of environmental research and relevant adjacent areas.

• These include:
  Process studies for a better understanding of environmental changes (e.g. soil, air and water, climate, health, damage to buildings),

• Development and commercialization of novel measuring methods for the highly sensitive detection of trace substances in the environment,

• Long-term observations of climate-relevant trace substances in the atmosphere in combination with trend analyzes and the identification of the driving processes in the climate system

• Studies on the historical development of our knowledge of the environment

• To promote communication between the environmental sciences and the history of the environment and science and to provide a forum for mutual exchange

These goals are achieved by taking on the following tasks:

• Implementation of research projects,

• Acquisition and management of funds from public research funding,

• Acceptance of project management for institutions of the University of Wuppertal

• Raising and managing earmarked funds from non-governmental organizations,

• Raising and managing non-earmarked or non-project-related funds for research funding (e.g. foundations, donations, etc.),

• Providing scientific service capacity within the framework of third-party projects (accompanying research, service function in the development area, etc.),

• Advising companies and institutions on environmental issues,

• Conducting events to impart and disseminate knowledge in the field of environmental research as well as working in public and other institutions on tasks related to planning research and teaching, research coordination, the development of guidelines, standards, etc.,

• Implementation of interdisciplinary events, such as interdisciplinary courses, workshops and colloquia,

• All other measures which appear suitable and which are required to fulfill the objectives of the institute.