Participation
The Exploratories on Functional Biodiversity Research offer a modern and interdisciplinary platform in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem research. If you would like to participate in the Exploratories, you can apply for a DFG grant in the next call for proposals. We will keep you informed about current developments on this page.
Alternatively, you can always apply for a cooperation with your own funds at the steering committee of the Exploratories.
The Biodiversity Exploratories are currently in the 7th phase, which runs from 1/3/2023 until 28/2/2026. The DFG call for proposals for the next phase (2026–2029) has been published now and can be found below “Call for Proposals” or here.
All relevant documents required for submitting a proposal under the DFG call are listed below. Please read them carefully.
Important dates:
- January 16, 2025: Deadline for submitting a very short summary of the intended research (name of applicant(s) and their institution, preliminary title, maximum of 5 lines of text, plus one or more of the following keywords: EPs, MIPs, VIPs, FOX, REX, LUX, BEClimWood, forest, grassland, “forest, grassland and arable fields,” theory and modeling, synthesis, social-ecological research) via email to the scientific coordinator of the Biodiversity Exploratories (victoria.griessmeier@senckenberg.de).
- January 21, 2025: Online information event for all potential applicants. Registration via email to the scientific coordinator.
- March 26, 2025: Deadline for completing registration in elan before submitting a proposal to the DFG.
- April 2, 2025: Deadline for proposal submission to the DFG (proposals must be written in English).
- Second week of July, 2025: Review colloquium for the Priority Program. Applicant attendance is scheduled for July 8, 2025.
- March 1, 2026: Proposed start date for all new projects. The project duration is 36 months and must not exceed this period.
If you have questions about participating in the call, please contact the Central Coordination Office (beo@senckenberg.de) or the scientific coordinator (victoria.griessmeier@senckenberg.de).
Call for Proposals "Infrastructure Priority Programme: Exploratories for Large-Scale and Long-Term Funtional Biodiversity Research"
241211_ifw-115_spp-1374_priority-programme_biodiversity-exploratories.pdf, 1.20 MB 
Supplementary document "Stability and Climate Change"
This document contains detailed information on the research perspective of temporal dynamics, stability, and resistance/resilience of ecosystems under environmental change.
stability-and-climate.pdf, 988.33 KB 
Supplementary document "Arable fields"
This document contains additional information on the arable field plots and preliminary results.
arable-fields.pdf, 684.86 KB 
Supplementary document "BEClimWood"
beclimwood_design_public.pdf, 698.72 KB 
Supplementary document "Overview services provided by the Core Projects"
infrastructure-information-provided-by-core-projects.pdf, 494.65 KB Please also refer to the following links:
Research Design and Plots:
Research design multi-site experiments (REX, LUX, FOX):
Data Management System BExIS and Public Data:
https://www.bexis.uni-jena.de/ddm/publicsearch/index
Rules of procedure of the biodiversity exploratories:
https://zenodo.org/records/13985687
DFG Elan System:
Cooperations can be arranged at all times after reviewing project suitability. The application is submitted to the steering committe of the Biodiversity Exploratories. Detailed information on how to apply can be obtained from the central coordination office (beo@senckenberg.de). (beo@senckenberg.de).
