Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation becomes a full member
Press release from 07/06/2011
The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) has been elected a full member of the German Research Foundation (DFG). This was decided today at the DFG's General Assembly in Bonn. For Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, this decision is a great success and a confirmation of the path taken in recent years. "The DFG membership of the SPK is recognition of its importance for research in the humanities and social sciences. It will strengthen the SPK's position in the German research landscape in the long term and will also have an important internal impact on the institutions."
Following a multi-stage review process, an ad hoc committee of the DFG had visited the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation on 28 January 2011 and then unanimously recommended its admission to the DFG. The DFG justified today's decision by stating that independent research achievements are recognisable in each SPK institution, which justify the classification of the SPK as an "institution of research of general importance" in the sense of the DFG's statutes. Furthermore, the SPK institutions provide an outstanding infrastructure for research. Previously, only the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (SMB) were members of the DFG; this could now be extended to the SPK as a whole.
Within the SPK, research topics are developed from the collections and holdings of the institutions. This collection-based basic research follows the logic of the law establishing the SPK and is enshrined in its mission statement. In addition, new fields of research are constantly being identified, not least through the wide range of national and international collaborations. According to the DFG, the SPK has a positive effect on universities and other research institutions as an important networking centre. For example, the SPK is involved in two clusters of excellence and various other research alliances and large collaborative projects. The SPK also has particular potential in the recovery of expertise in the so-called "small subjects", which are in danger of being lost at the universities.
With its internationally outstanding museums, libraries, archives and research institutes, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation is one of the largest cultural and scientific institutions in the world. The collections and holdings of the five SPK institutions form a unique archive of knowledge. The acquisition of third-party research funding has doubled in the last three years. Furthermore, the number of guest researchers and scholarship holders from all over the world has increased significantly. With the help of its own scholarship programme, the Foundation has been able to further expand its global network of researchers and experts in a wide range of fields of knowledge.
The SPK will continue to intensify its research activities and global networking in the coming years. Membership of the DFG is of central importance to the Foundation in order to be able to play an active role in shaping the scientific landscape in Germany.