Hochschule Geisenheim University

Geisenheim university specializes in research that addresses some of the most pressing global challenges of our time—climate change, biodiversity loss, and creating sustainable food systems—with a distinct specialization in special crops like grapes, fruits and vegetables. Our research covers the entire value chain—from sustainable cultivation and processing to marketing and urban landscape development. We conduct both fundamental and applied research, closely collaborating with regional producers, municipalities, and a wide network of international partners. Our research activities include the following 5 core areas which the potential collaboration with Frontiers Research could focus on:

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Climate-resilient agriculture and sustainable crop production: From viticulture and horticulture to ornamental plant cultivation, we explore innovative and resource-efficient farming systems. Our work includes plant breeding, smart irrigation and the use of sensor technologies to optimize inputs and reduce environmental impact.
Bioeconomy and food innovation: We investigate how plant-based products can be processed sustainably and marketed successfully, focusing on food safety and fresh produce logistics. Topics include extraction and formulation of functional ingredients from harvest products and their health effects, circular production systems and consumer behaviour and preferences.
Urban green spaces and cultural landscapes:Our interdisciplinary research focuses on developing and assessing nature-based solutions and climate adaptation strategies for urban and rural landscapes—with particular attention to traditional winegrowing regions. We investigate how green infrastructure can contribute to ecological resilience and environmental quality in cities and cultural landscapes under climate stress. We actively contribute to regional transformation processes, including close cooperation with the Rheingau region within a living lab and the Federal Garden Exhibition (BUGA) 2029.
Climate change adaptation and mitigation: We assess risks and develop strategies to ensure food security, protect biodiversity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Current projects range from water management, use of biochar and pest control to agroforestry and agro-PV.
Digital transformation in agriculture and landscape planning: We implement and evaluate digital tools—from drone technology and sensor-based diagnostics to AI-driven modelling and precision agriculture —for improved decision-making in production, processing, and spatial planning.
These research fields offer rich storytelling opportunities for science journalists. Our unique infrastructure provide direct access to field trials, labs, greenhouses, and real-world innovation environments. Our 50 professors along with researchers from all over the world use this unique research setup as part of our ca. 180 international cooperations with universities, institutions and companies.

Frontier Research

Geisenheim University conducts research that breaks new ground at the intersection of plant science, climate adaptation, food systems, and landscape transformation. Our distinctive focus on special crops—such as grapes, fruits, and vegetables—provides a highly specific yet globally relevant research area, in which we explore urgent questions about the sustainability and resilience of our food systems in the face of climate change and biodiversity losses.
Geisenheim University’s work is frontier research because we tackle complex, system-level questions: How can vineyards and horticultural systems adapt to increasing heat and drought? How can cultural landscapes be reimagined as multifunctional, biodiversity-supporting, and socially inclusive spaces? How can digital tools—from virtual vineyards to AI-driven pest forecasting—support sustainable agriculture in real time?
Our university plays a key role in real-world transformation processes. Through experimental settings such as the Living Lab Rheingau and contributions to the implementation of the Federal Garden Exhibition (BUGA) 2029 in the Middle Rhine Valley, we co-create knowledge with stakeholders and test new solutions under real conditions. This collaborative and innovative approach expands classical research formats and bridges the gap between science, policy, and practice.
Furthermore, we also maintain close cooperation with companies—ranging from local producers to international partners—ensuring that our research remains relevant, applicable, and forward-looking. We actively support innovation and entrepreneurship by encouraging new ideas and start-up initiatives developed by our students and academic staff.
Through the combination of methodological innovation, transdisciplinary ambition, and real-world relevance, our research not only generates new knowledge—it challenges and reshapes existing paradigms in agriculture, climate science, and landscape planning.
Furthermore, our focus on special crops – a largely underrepresented field in mainstream agricultural research – opens up new scientific terrain, particularly in relation to climate adaptation, soil health and the sustainable processing of plant-based foods.
With its interdisciplinary setup, experimental openness and transfer orientation, our research not only explores future scenarios—it helps shape them.
A key success factor for this is a close collaboration with all involved parties, be it authorities, industry partner or the general public. Thus, getting support and partnership for the Geisenheim research areas from the Frontiers network would significantly contribute to the success of the transformation of the agriculture as such.

Danish Institute for Advanced Study (DIAS)

The Danish Institute for Advanced Study (DIAS) is an elite research center at the University of Southern Denmark, bringing together exceptional minds from various disciplines to inspire groundbreaking ideas and foster interdisciplinary research. DIAS supports curiosity-driven research and encourages collaboration across different fields and levels of expertise.
One of DIAS’s key initiatives is “Wicked Problems,” which addresses complex issues that lack clear solutions and require multidisciplinary approaches. The goal is to explore the complexity of these challenges, paving the way for new perspectives and potential scientific breakthroughs.

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At the moment, we have three Wicked Problems running:

1. Complex Cross-Sectorial Challenges in Africa: Challenge 1 – The West-African Climate-Nature-Health Nexus
Using Guinea Bissau as a case study, this project explores how global inequality is exacerbated by climate change disproportionately affecting the world’s poorest countries. By framing the extensive, complex, and disproportionate impacts of climate change as a wicked problem, the project aims to shed light on environmental, economic, and health impacts faced by underprivileged nations, and to ultimately collaborate with local communities to improve their living conditions and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
Project leadership:
Christine Stabell Benn, DIAS Chair of Health Sciences, Department of Clinical Research, SDU

2. Interacting Robots in Everyday Life and the Transformation of Society (IRELTS)
This project explores the technical and societal dynamics of integrating robots into daily life. By framing human-robot interaction as a potential wicked problem, the project aims to enhance the understanding of both robots and humans, emphasizing the need for predictive models of human behavior to ensure smooth interactions and positive societal reception.
Project leadership:
Norbert Krüger, DIAS Chair of Engineering, the Maersk McKinney Moller Institute, SDU

3. Capitalism in the Danish Experience
This project explores the economic trajectory of capitalism, specifically how it has been shaped by historical contingencies, social conflicts, and global entanglements, using Denmark as a case study. By framing capitalism itself as a wicked problem, the project seeks to move beyond simplistic narratives and instead explore the complexities that define Denmark’s economic development.
Project leadership:
Paul Sharp, DIAS Chair of Business and Social Sciences, Department of Economics, SDU
Jeppe Nevers, DIAS Chair of Humanities, Department of Language and Culture, SDU

Frontier Research
Our project at the Danish Institute for Advanced Study (DIAS) qualifies as frontier research due to its interdisciplinary approach, curiosity-driven focus, and global impact. DIAS brings together top researchers from various fields to tackle complex societal challenges, fostering innovative solutions and groundbreaking ideas. The “Wicked Problems” initiative exemplifies this by addressing issues that lack clear solutions and require multidisciplinary approaches, paving the way for new perspectives and potential scientific breakthroughs.

Science journalists working with DIAS through the Frontiers database can gain access to cutting-edge research and collaborate with leading experts, enhancing their storytelling with rich, compelling content. The experience offered by the FRONTIERS residency program allows journalists to deeply understand the research process and the complexities of frontier science, providing valuable networking opportunities and insights into the latest scientific advancements.

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY

DESY is a world leading accelerator centre. As one of Germany’s largest research centres, DESY carries out fundamental research that creates new knowledge and new conceptual approaches. This research is the basis on which the challenges of the future can be mastered: Issues such as energy supply, climate protection and healthcare require long-term thinking, sustainable solutions and new technologies. The research carried out at DESY is extremely diverse. The scientists who work here are looking for the tiniest building blocks of matter that make up our world, developing innovative high-tech materials and searching for new mechanisms of action for future medications. As one of Germany’s largest research centres, DESY carries out fundamental research that creates new knowledge and new conceptual approaches. This research is the basis on which the challenges of the future can be mastered: issues such as energy supply, climate protection and healthcare require long-term thinking, sustainable solutions and new technologies.

Research at DESY focuses on four areas: accelerators, photon science, particle physics and astroparticle physics.

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Frontier research

DESY has constantly driven technology solutions and science. Together with partners all over the world, researchers at DESY have developed an innovative concept called TESLA technology. This accelerator concept is to serve not only as the basis of a future super-accelerator for particle physics but also as the most powerful X-ray source in the world – the European XFEL X-ray laser in Hamburg. In addition, the experts at DESY are working on concepts for the future – laser-plasma acceleration is one example, where the teams at DESY achieved recent breakthroughs (see https://www.desy.de/news/news_search/index_eng.html?openDirectAnchor=3773&two_columns=0 and https://www.desy.de/news/news_search/index_eng.html?openDirectAnchor=3761&two_columns=0). In addition. DESY is currently planning the world’s leading 4D X-ray microscope that will surpass everything that has gone before in terms of brilliance and performance. PETRA IV is an ultra-modern, fourth-generation synchrotron radiation source that will be created by converting the existing PETRA III facility. Electrons travel at almost the speed of light in the 2.3 kilometre long accelerator ring. PETRA IV will enable frontier research.

Social-Ecological Systems Institute

We conduct research at the frontier between Natural Sciences and Humanities to explore how to create a fair world where the benefits generated within social-ecological systems are shared sustainably with other species, both within and across generations. To understand how to foster transformations for sustainable and fair futures, we: (1) use place-based social-ecological systems thinking to understand and resolve sustainability challenges such as biodiversity loss and environmental injustice; (2) bring together insights and approaches from the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities in genuinely collaborative endeavours; (3) integrate experiences, practices, and understandings from diverse knowledge systems – including Indigenous and Local Knowledge -; and (4) provide spaces for people to meet and exchange ideas.

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Therefore, the frontier of research relies not only on what we research -i.e., social-ecological systems -, but also on how we do research – i.e., weaving diverse scientific disciplines, knowledge systems, and communication tools, including arts.

Frontier research

To understand how to foster transformations for sustainable and fair futures is a research endeavour that is placed in the frontier of (1) disciplines, considering interdisciplinary topics such as biodiversity conservation, biocultural diversity, governance, nature’s contributions to people, or environmental justice; and (2) knowledge systems, integrating practices and knowledge from Western science and Indingenous and Local Knowledge systems.

The role of microbial aerosols in weather, health and climate

The atmosphere is not just a blanket of air surrounding our planet—it is a dynamic and vital component of Earth’s climate system and essential to the sustainability of life. Remarkably, this vast and often extreme environment is home to a surprising diversity of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, and microalgae. These airborne life forms play roles far beyond what was once imagined. In our research group, we explore how these microorganisms manage to survive the challenging conditions of the atmosphere and how they might influence key physical processes—most notably, the formation of clouds and precipitation.

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By studying the diversity and abundance of atmospheric microbes, we aim to identify their main sources, understand how they are transported into the air, and reveal the mechanisms that allow them to persist and even thrive while airborne. A fascinating aspect of our work is examining whether these microorganisms remain metabolically active once suspended in the atmosphere—and if they do, what environmental factors control their activity. Some of these microbes are capable of producing special proteins that trigger ice formation in cloud droplets at relatively warm temperatures (close to 0°C). This biological ice-nucleation process can act as a catalyst for rainfall, with significant implications for ecosystems, agriculture, and urban environments.

We investigate these ice-nucleating proteins both in terms of their molecular function and their evolutionary history, seeking to understand how they have developed and how they might be harnessed or mimicked. By uncovering the roles of airborne microbes in atmospheric processes, we aim to contribute new knowledge that can improve the accuracy and predictive power of weather and climate models.
Our work stands at the intersection of microbiology, atmospheric science, and climate research—with the ambition to illuminate one of the lesser-known, yet potentially powerful, drivers of Earth’s climate system.

Frontier Research
Our research sits at the frontier of science because it challenges traditional boundaries between disciplines and explores a largely uncharted component of Earth’s climate system: the role of microorganisms in the atmosphere. While microbes have long been studied in soil, water, and living organisms, their presence and function in the air—one of the most extreme and dynamic environments on Earth—remains a scientific frontier. Investigating life in the sky is not only inherently fascinating, it also has the potential to reshape our understanding of key atmospheric processes such as cloud formation, precipitation, and even climate regulation.
This field pushes the limits of microbiology, atmospheric science, and climate modeling, demanding novel methodologies, cross-disciplinary thinking, and a readiness to confront the unknown. We ask bold questions: Can airborne microbes actively influence the weather? Are their biological processes significant enough to be included in climate models? What are the evolutionary drivers behind their adaptations to life in the atmosphere?
Answering these questions requires innovative approaches—from sampling microbial life at high altitudes, to studying their ice-nucleating proteins at the molecular level, to integrating findings into atmospheric models. This kind of work is inherently exploratory and high-risk, but also high-gain. The insights we generate could have significant implications for agriculture, urban water management, and global climate policy.
For science journalist trainees, this is an exceptional training ground. First, the topic is timely: climate science and biodiversity are central themes in public discourse, yet the idea that life in the air could influence the weather remains relatively unknown to the broader public. Communicating this complex, cutting-edge science in an accessible and engaging way offers an exciting challenge—and a chance to make a real impact on how people understand the planet.
Second, the interdisciplinary nature of the project provides exposure to a wide range of scientific techniques, questions, and communities—from microbiologists and molecular biologists to meteorologists and environmental modelers. This gives trainees a deep appreciation for how different scientific cultures collaborate to tackle shared problems.
Finally, our research group is internationally diverse and highly collaborative, offering an inspiring, open, and intellectually stimulating environment. Trainees will be immersed in a culture of curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity—an ideal setting to sharpen their ability to observe, interpret, and communicate science at the cutting edge.

Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere, Department of Biology

In Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), we aim to produce groundbreaking insights into how the worldwide emergence of novel ecosystems impacts biodiversity and biosphere functioning and how we can steer these dynamics towards the most positive outcomes for life on Earth as possible. ECONOVO’s research program is organized around four research themes to provide the much-needed basis for predicting the consequences of the accelerating global spread of novel ecosystems and improving their value for Earth’s biodiversity and biosphere functioning. Most importantly the residence should have an interest in ecosystems, biodiversity and nature.

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Frontier research

The Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) is at the forefront of research into how anthropogenic pressures are reshaping ecosystems globally. ECONOVO tackles one of the most urgent frontiers in ecology: understanding and guiding the emergence of novel ecosystems in a rapidly changing world. The center integrates macroecology, biodiversity science, paleoecology, archaeology, socio-ecological systems, rewilding, and vegetation modeling to uncover both the historical underpinnings and future trajectories of ecosystems facing accelerating climate change, biological invasions, and land-use transformations. ECONOVO’s work bridges fundamental and solution-oriented science, aiming to steer novel ecological dynamics toward outcomes that support biodiversity and biosphere functioning.

ECONOVO is led by Professor Jens-Christian Svenning, a globally leading macroecologist with more than 600 peer-reviewed publications and over 60,000 citations. His research spans continents and timescales, with major contributions to our understanding of plant distribution, ecosystem functioning, rewilding, and conservation under global change. ECONOVO’s environment is dynamic and international, offering a fertile setting for deep engagement with cutting-edge ecological science and its societal relevance, making it a highly suitable host for a science journalist interested in frontier environmental research.

Microbial networking – from organelles to cross-kingdom communities – CRC1535 MibiNet 

The Collaborative Research Centre 1535 MibiNet “Microbial networking – from organelles to cross-kingdom communities” is dedicated to exploring the fascinating world of microbial interactions in all their complexity. Our interdisciplinary team investigates how microorganisms communicate at various levels – from the organization within individual cells to complex, cross-kingdom communities.

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Our pioneering research aims to uncover fundamental microbial networking principles and understand their role in diverse contexts, ranging from intracellular endosymbionts to intercellular cross-kingdom microbiomes. We utilize innovative microscopy methods, cutting-edge omics technologies, and bioinformatic analyses to decipher previously unknown microbial communication and cooperation forms. These findings have potentially transformative implications for our understanding of microbial communities and could open new avenues for applications in medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology. Journalists will find diverse points of contact with us, ranging from the visualization of complex microbial interactions to exploring the ecological and biotechnological relevance of networking.

Frontier Research

MibiNet addresses fundamental questions about the organization and function of microbial networks that have been insufficiently understood to date. CRC1535 will pursue a profound “learning from nature” strategy: fundamental principles and unifying concepts from natural examples of stable microbial interactions will be challenged by implementing them in the synthetic construction of designer organelles, endosymbionts, and cross-kingdom communities. We transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries by integrating innovative methods from cell biology, genomics, physics, and bioinformatics to decipher the complex interactions between microorganisms at various levels – from subcellular processes to global biogeochemical cycles.

Our research is groundbreaking as it uncovers novel concepts of microbial communication and cooperation, and could revolutionize our understanding of the fundamental principles of life in microbial communities. This innovative approach, deconstructing and synthetically reconstructing natural systems, holds the potential for scientific breakthroughs in microbiome research, new antimicrobial strategies, and the sustainable use of microbial resources in biotechnology and agriculture. By investigating previously unknown mechanisms and developing novel analytical tools, we are venturing into uncharted scientific territory and thus addressing genuine ‘Frontier Research’ questions.


AngryWaters

Many Earth system processes involving multi-physics, multi-phase conditions extend over several orders of magnitude in length- and time-scales. Engineering science, in pursuit of deeper process understanding and solution-oriented design, has used scaling theories to address scale-afflicted, complex processes through experimental work in laboratory environment at reduced scale. The standard scaling approach, the Buckingham -theorem, is especially deficient when multi-physics and multi-phase processes require the choice of more than a single non-dimensional number, resulting in severe scale effects and typically meaning that accuracies at reduced scale are inadequately quantified. Hence, we choose a demonstrably complex multi-physics, multi-phase process for the investigation of scaling accuracies the progressive collapsing of residential buildings and the associate debris transport, evolving from extreme flow events from natural hazards, such as flash floods or tsunami.

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ANGRYWATERS seeks to achieve a breakthrough in modelling these complex processes by deriving novel scaling laws that will be developed in the framework of the Lie group of point scaling transformations. Scaling requirements will be applied to the combined fluid-structure interaction at various scales, developing sophisticated building specimens; here, we employ 3D-printing and appropriately engineered materials to match the scaling requirements. We conduct a comprehensive experimental campaign, using medium- and large-scale facilities, subjecting the specimens to extreme flow conditions in the form of dam-break waves. We consider sub-assemblages, single and multiple buildings, enhancing the understanding of energy losses and debris production upon collapse, elaborating reduced scale accuracies. High-fidelity numerical modelling will complement our experiments, deepening our process understanding; a depth-averaged model with novel debris advection model crucially enhances predictive capabilities.

Frontier research

AngryWaters will conduct experimental research on residential building collapse at various scales: there is going to be a medium scale with a facility in Braunschweig that allows reduced scale building collapse at approximately 1:10 length scale, and more excitingly, a large scale with a facility in Hannover that will allow testing up to real scale building components such as walls or columns. The extreme flow will be modelled by using a dam-break facility that delivers flows with a flow depth of about 1.5 m, moving at a speed of approximately 6 m/s.

These experiments will provide extremely visible and impressive pictures and scenes for media, provided that the right equipment is available to film and photograph; moreover, there might be extreme events during the residency, i.e., a tsunami, or dam-break, or dike breach around the globe which would become an extra objective for the AngryWaters team to study the effects of such natural hazard onto the built environment.

Reel Borders: Film and Borderlands

Reel Borders is a five -year research project funded by the European Research Council (Starting Grant, PI: Kevin Smets). It studies the interrelations between film and borders, mainly by looking at the border areas between Ireland and the UK, Morocco and Spain, and Turkey and Syria.

The project combines methods and insights from migration and border studies, film studies, and participatory and anthropological research. Among other methods, it employs participatory filmmaking to understand the experiences of people living in border areas.

Synthetic Biology at the Marburg Center for Synthetic Microbiology (Synmikro)

With more than one hundred scientists SYNMIKRO follows a two-pronged approach – building to understand, and understanding to build – to gain insight into the principles of microbial life and to provide tools needed to tap the potential of microorganisms in modern biotechnology.

Synthetic microbiology has the potential to greatly benefit society by allowing us to design and engineer microbes for specific purposes. It can drive advancements in medicine, sustainable production, and environmental solutions. By precisely controlling microorganisms, we can develop eco-friendly biofuels, break down toxic pollutants, and revolutionize healthcare with new therapies. This makes synthetic microbiology a key tool for building a more sustainable and healthier future.