Academies and German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina

The seven German Academies of Sciences and Humanities in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Göttingen, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Mainz and Munich with over 1,400 full and corresponding members in the most diverse disciplines have joined forces in the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities.

The basic budget of the Academies is funded exclusively by the Länder. They are a science forum and place to cultivate science, in particular interdisciplinary reflection and the production of knowledge across disciplinary lines. They are mediators in scientific conflicts and social conflicts in connection with the evaluation of science and are a contact point for international scientific cooperation. An important task of the Academies is the Academy Programme, which is co-financed in equal shares by the Federal Government and the Länder (target 2006: about €43.3 million). The Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities coordinates this programme, which promotes long-term research projects both in the humanities and in the natural sciences.

The German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina in Halle, an international scientific-medical society of scholars, is financed by the Federal Government (represented by the BMBF) and Land Saxony-Anhalt in a ratio of 80:20.