Who we are
NFDI4Biodiversity is a consortium under the umbrella of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) dedicated to mobilising biodiversity and environmental data for collective use.
Mission Statement (Excerpt)
The partners pool their scientific and technical expertise to provide a broad service portfolio for handling biodiversity and environmental data and to develop it further in close cooperation with users from research and practice. The consortium consists of about 60 scientific institutions, museums, natural history societies, state offices, and other institutes and expert groups.
The cooperation of the partner network is guided by the knowledge that stakeholders in science, politics, nature conservation and landscape management need reliable data to be able to develop better contributions to the conservation of biodiversity.
To this end, the consortium partners offer added value to the professional community, specifically:
- Access to modern technologies and a comprehensive stock of biodiversity and environmental data
- Methods and tools for archiving, publishing, searching and analysing data that are suitable for everyday use and have been tried and tested in practice
- An expert forum for the safe and competent handling of data for diverse and responsible use
A full version of our mission statement can be found here (including handout [PDF]).
What is NFDI4Biodiversity all about? Watch our short film and find out!
About the NFDI
Within the National Research Data Infrastructure, valuable data holdings for the German research system are systematically developed, interconnected, and made sustainably accessible. Since 2019, the Federal Government and the federal states have jointly funded the establishment of the NFDI. By 2023, 26 consortia had been selected, collectively covering all scientific domains in Germany and working to provide relevant data in accordance with the so-called FAIR principles. Responsibility for the selection process and project funding lies with the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Organisation of the consortium
The consortium is an association of about 60 partner institutions. Their cooperation and the use of the jointly developed results are governed by a cooperation agreement. The spokesperson institution and the co-applicant institutions are responsible for the implementation of the work programme to the German Research Foundation (DFG). The other partner institutions, as representatives of the biodiversity community, contribute data, software, know-how and other resources to the cooperation. In 2021, a Strategic Advisory Board was appointed to accompany the development and further orientation of the consortium with an expert view from the outside. The members of the board are professionals in research, practical nature conservation and data archiving. Since October 2025, the consortium has been granted further funding for a second project phase.
Lead
Applicant institution:
Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM), University of Bremen
Spokesperson:
Prof. Dr. Frank Oliver Glöckner
Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM), Universität Bremen & Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Participating Individuals
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Members of co-applicant institutions
- Anton Güntsch, Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin (BGBM), Free University of Berlin
- Brigitta König-Ries, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU)
- Aletta Bonn, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU)
- Barbara Ebert, German Federation for Biological Data (GFBio)
- Ramin Yahyapour, IT‑Service & Research Centre Göttingen (GWDG)
- Alexander Goesmann, Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU)
- Lorenz Reimer, Leibniz Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ)
- Uwe Scholz, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)
- Ortrun Brand, Philipps University Marburg
- Stefan Seifert, Bavarian State Collections of Natural History (SNSB)
- Jens Stoye – Bielefeld Institute for Bioinformatics Infrastructure (BIBI), University of Bielefeld
- Birgit Gemeinholzer, University of Kassel
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Members of participant organisations
- Janine Felden, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
- Hubert Höfer, Arachnologische Gesellschaft e.V. (AraGes)
- Tina Astor, National Monitoring Centre for Biodiversity (NMZB)
- David Eichenberg, National Monitoring Centre for Biodiversity (NMZB)
- Jakob Katzenberger, Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA)
- Sina-Victoria Barysch, German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure e.V. (de.NBI e.V.)
- Henrique Pereira, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)
- Steffen Caspari, Red List Centre (RLZ), German Aerospace Center (DLR)
- Klaus Wimmers, Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN)
- Bernhard Grau, General Directorate of the Bavarian State Archives (GDA)
- Daniel Kurzawe, Göttingen State and University Library (SUB), University of Göttingen
- Claus-Jürgen Conze, Gesellschaft deutschsprachiger Odonatologen e.V. (GdO)
- Fabian Herder, Gesellschaft für Ichthyologie e.V. (GfI)
- Christian Ammer, Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ)
- Gerwin Kasperek, Biodiversity Research Information Service (BIOfid), Goethe University Frankfurt
- Wolfgang Müller, Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies gGmbH (HITS)
- Alexander Harpke, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ)
- Stephan Karger, Hessian Agency for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology (HLNUG)
- Adrian Paschke, Institute for Applied Informatics (InfAI)
- Holger Beer, Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) – Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants
- Sandra Hagel, State Office for Environmental Protection Saxony-Anhalt (LAU)
- Marcel Seyring, State Office for Environmental Protection Saxony-Anhalt (LAU)
- Hans-Peter Grossart, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB)
- Jana Moser, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL)
- Ralf-Uwe Syrbe, Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IÖR)
- Oliver Zielinski, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW)
- Peter Grobe, Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB)
- Nicolas Dittert, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT)
- Jens Kattge, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC)
- Mareike Petersen, Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science (MfN)
- Stefan Munzinger, NABU|naturgucker.de non-profit cooperative (eG)
- Florian Jansen, Network Phytodiversity Germany e.V. (NetPhyD)
- Jakob Fahr, Lower Saxony Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation Agency (NLWKN)
- Alexander Bach, RWTH Aachen University (RWTH)
- Timo Mühlhaus, RPTU University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU)
- Stefanie Hennecke, Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment (SenMVKU)
- Camillo Kitzmann, Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment (SenMVKU)
- Hanieh Saeedi, Senckenberg Society for Nature Research (SGN)
- Hubert Höfer, State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe (SMNK)
- Joachim Holstein, State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart (SMNS)
- Anja Reineke, National Centre for Environmental and Nature Conservation Information at the German Environment Agency (UBA)
- Tom Grünberger, Independent Institute for Environmental Issues e.V. (UFU)
- Michael Zschiesche, Independent Institute for Environmental Issues e.V. (UFU)
- Florian Leese, Aquatic Ecosystem Research, University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE)
- Miguel Dario Mahecha, Leipzig University
- Christian Wirth, Leipzig University
- Sascha Buchholz, Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research and Applied Ecology (CIBRA), University of Münster
- Malte Rehbein, University of Passau
Strategic Advisory Board
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- Prof. Dr. Lars Bernard, Dresden University of Technology
- Dr. Christian Böhm, Federal Ministry of Education and Research
- Dr. Guy Cochrane, Europäisches Nukleotidarchiv (ENA), UK
- Klaus-Jürgen Conze, Society of German-speaking Odonatologists e.V. (GdO)
- Prof. Dr. Alexandra-Maria Klein, University of Freiburg
- Dimitris Koureas, PhD, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Netherlands
- Dr. Andreas Krüß, Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, National Biodiversity Monitoring Centre
- Deborah Paul, Prairie Research Institute Illinois, USA
- Prof. Dr. Felicitas Pfeifer, Darmstadt University of Technology
- Dr. Pelin Yilmaz, University of Duisburg-Essen
- Prof. Dr. Klement Tockner, Senckenberg Society for Nature Research (SGN), Frankfurt am Main
Our partners
The partners of the consortium include research institutions, associations, natural history societies, state offices, civil society initiatives and other institutions from the field of nature conservation. The common goal is to develop a joint approach to make biodiversity data available for research and practice.
