Our picture of the week (photo: ZEW) shows a typical situation at one of the professional training seminars at the Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim. The new seminar programme for October 2010 to June 2011 is now available. Along with topics from the field of economic research like the interpretation of economic data, econometrics or the Social Return on Investment, the programme offers a course on soft-skills for scientists or employee motivation for management personnel. Some of the seminars will be held in English. Employees of universities, colleges and public research institutes as well as ministries and public authorities may participate at reduced rates. The new seminar programme together with further information is available online: http://www.zew.de/en/expertenseminare/expertenseminare.php.

The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community, known as the Leibniz Association, is the umbrella organisation for 86 institutions conducting research or providing scientific infrastructure. Some 7,100 scientists and scholars work in the humanities and social sciences, economics, spatial and life sciences as well as in mathematics, the natural and engineering sciences and in environmental research. Altogether, ca. 16,000 people are employed at Leibniz Institutes, which have an annual budget of 1,3 billion euro.

Characteristic of the Leibniz Association is the enormous diversity of themes addressed by the institutes as well as its decentralised organisational structure: by far the majority of institutes are scientifically and organisationally independent. They conduct strategic, theme-based research and constantly strive for academic excellence and social relevance.

In this way, the Leibniz Association makes direct reference to its eponym, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who was the epitome of a great universal scholar. It is in this spirit that the non-university research institutes and the service facilities adopt an interdisciplinary approach. They provide scientific services and the relevant infrastructure and cooperate with universities, institutions belonging to other science organisations and commercial enterprise.

In a word:
Theoria cum praxi: science for the benefit and good of humankind.

You will find further information about the Leibniz Association under About us.

Visit Institutions for an overview of all the institutions in the Leibniz Association.