Press release 2021/071 from

As part of its spring sessions, today the Wissenschaftsrat (German Council of Science and Humanities) made its funding recommendations for new research buildings as part of a federal and state programme. The reviewers were impressed by a joint proposal from Leipzig University and the Free State of Saxony: they gave the green light to the Global Hub project, which will see a new complex built at Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz, in the very heart of Leipzig, by 2026. The building will provide offices for almost 500 humanities scholars and social scientists, but also a variety of opportunities for exchange and knowledge transfer.

The research building will be the new home for several institutions at Leipzig University: the Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe), the Graduate School Global and Area Studies, the Global and European Studies Institute, the Institute of African Studies, and the Institute for the Study of Religions. The new building of the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) will be constructed in the immediate vicinity and the Forum Recht is also planned; the University’s Faculty of Law will be based there in the future.

The Wissenschaftsrat has the task of assessing applications for funding for research buildings and recommending to the Joint Science Conference of the Federal Government and the Länder (GWK) which of the projects should be implemented. The GWK is expected to make its final funding decision in the summer. The Global Hub will cost around 34 million euros in total. The federal government will contribute 50 per cent.

“I am delighted at the positive vote for our new research building, the Global Hub, and congratulate everyone who was involved in the application,” said Rector Professor Beate Schücking. “It is by no means a matter of course that a new building for research in the humanities should be included in the programme of the Federal Government and the Länder. Once again, we see that globalisation research is one of the great, clearly visible strengths of our university. The new building will give it a further boost, which is particularly good news for the promotion of early career researchers: the Global Hub will eventually be home to more than 150 doctoral researchers.”

The application required conceptual work on the part of the research centre – work that will now be continued in a more targeted manner, as ReCentGlobe director Professor Matthias Middell explained: “We are of course excited about the prospect of the new centrally located building at Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz, but we are also pleased about this recognition for Global Hub’s academic and organisational concept. We’ll start working on implementing it as the building takes shape.” 

Event information:
ReCentGlobe will hold its first annual conference next week. Parts of it will be streamed live on YouTube. The programme includes a panel discussion on the Global Hub research building with the Rector of the University, Professor Beate Schücking, the Deputy Mayor for Building and Urban Development of the City of Leipzig, Thomas Dienberg, and ReCentGlobe director Professor Matthias Middell.