The KIEL EARTH INSTITUTE

Kiel Earth Institute (KEI) is a virtual institution designed to research key issues of global change and its socio-economical consequences.

Globalisation of economic activities, the scarcity of natural resources, and a changing environment are challenges all modern societies have to face.

KEI aims at developing practical solutions for those challenges and communicating them actively to the society.
To develop courses of action to global challenges a solid cooperation of researchers from different disciplines and public and private decision-makers is needed. KEI provides the suitable platform for this cooperation. It will help to manage institutional or disciplinary boundaries.

KEI has three organizational tasks:

• It is a bridge between researchers and decision-makers, to enable a good knowledge transfer for identifying the relevant societal questions.
• It is a forum uniting scientific, economic and societal expertise.
• It is the voice that transports the results to the society

The idea for KEI emerged from an intensive cooperation between the GEOMAR | Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) within the scope of the cluster of excellence “The Future Ocean”. The KEI is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of Science, Economic Affairs and Transport of the State of Schleswig-Holstein. Bringing together research and decision-making for societal needs in the area of global change is the main task for KEI.

KEI offers:

• Identification of research questions calling for an interdisciplinary approach
• Initiation of research projects
• Management of interdisciplinary projects
• Application of research results in consultancy services
• Supporting the dissemination of research results in society