About us
Research association of three institutes of the
Leibniz Association
The GWZ - Geisteswissenschaftliche Zentren Berlin e.V. is an association of three research institutions of the Leibniz Association. The GWZ are made up of
The GWZ are one of the leading non-university institutions in the humanities. With a research budget of around 16 million euros per year (2024, including third-party funds), almost 230 employees at two locations in Berlin, it has earned numerous successes in prestigious research competitions, enjoys many national and international collaborations, and can count on four joint professorships with universities in Berlin.
The GWZ are also a member of the BR50 - an association of non-university research institutions in Berlin.
OUR CENTERS
Humanities
Centers Berlin e.V.
History
The history of the Humanities Centers Berlin
On the basis of recommendations made by the Science Council in 1991 and 1994, the state of Berlin - after four years of preliminary work in the Fördergesellschaft Wissenschaftliche Neuvorhaben mbH, which was set up and supervised by the Max Planck Society - initiated the founding of the Humanities Centres Berlin at the end of 1995 in the legal form of a registered association recognized as a non-profit organization. The state transferred to the association the sponsorship of three research institutions that had already had a long history as central institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR: the Center for General Linguistics, Typology and Universals Research (ZAS), the Center for Literary Research (ZfL) and the Center for Modern Oriental Studies (ZMO). The GWZ began its activities on January 1, 1996.
Admission to the Leibniz Association
Following comprehensive evaluations by the German Science and Humanities Council (WR) and the Leibniz Association, and on the basis of decisions by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) on April 18, 2016 and April 13, 2018, the centers were included in the joint research funding of the federal and state governments in accordance with Art. 91b of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany as research institutions of supraregional importance and national science policy interest as of January 1, 2017 (ZAS, ZMO) and January 1, 2019 (ZfL). Since then, they have been part of the Leibniz Association.
Research and quality assurance
Like all institutions of the Leibniz Association, the ZAS, ZfL and ZMO will continue to be externally evaluated on a regular basis, at least every seven years, in order to demonstrate that they carry out convincing research in the fields of science, project research and consultancy. These evaluations are carried out by the Senate of the Leibniz Association, which bases its decision on the judgement of independent and internationally recognized experts. The ZAS and ZMO underwent their first re-evaluation in 2022, and the ZfL in 2024.
For a detailed overview on the history of the GWZ, please see the 2021 brochure "25 years of the Berlin Humanities Centers" .
