As a rule, a Priority Programme (SPP) receives funding for a period of six years. Researchers submit corresponding applications for research grants in a specific subject area for which an invitation to tender has been issued. A particular feature of the Priority Programme is the nationwide collaboration between its participating researchers.
Priority Programmes Coordinated by Leipzig University
The Infrastructure Priority Programme 1294, Atmospheric and Earth System Research with the “High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft” (HALO), has received DFG funding since 2017. One of the project coordinators is Professor Manfred Wendisch of Leipzig University’s Institute for Meteorology. The HALO research aircraft is used to study atmospheric and geophysical processes. The focus is on answering questions of climate and environmental science.
Priority Programme 2361, On the Way to the Fluvial Anthroposphere, explores the interactions between human societies and pre-industrial floodplains in Central Europe. The core research question of this Priority Programme is the extent to which humans have had an influence on changes to floodplains, and since when. Leipzig University, the University of Tübingen and the Technical University of Darmstadt developed the framework programme together. Christoph Zielhofer from the Institute for Geography at Leipzig University is coordinating the first period.
Professor Jens Meiler from the Institute for Drug Discovery coordinates the new priority program on “Artificial Intelligence for the Design of Functional Proteins,” which is scheduled to start in 2026. The aim of the new priority program is to address the challenges of AI-based design of new proteins with tailor-made functions. In particular, new AI methods will be developed that take into account the chemical and biophysical properties of polypeptide chains in order to design functional proteins.