In 2011, due to the financial support from the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation totalling 3.8 million euros until the end of 2020, the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), the Faculty of Biology at the University of Mainz, the Mainz University Medical Center, and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research jointly established the International PhD Programme (IPP).

The context and aims of funding.

Being able to attract talented young scientists is among the most essential prerequisites for a strong research environment. To do so, the IPP has laid the cornerstone of providing doctoral students with excellent conditions for conducting research and an excellent training programme. At the same time, it has created a vigorous network aimed at encouraging joint research and teaching initiatives.

Funding focused on core activities and scholarships.

The Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation provided the IPP with financial resources to perform its core tasks. These include advertising internationally for open doctoral positions and the programme, conducting the selection processes in Mainz, organising and operating the education programme, as well as administrative work. Much of the funding went toward remunerating the doctoral students.

Over 260 junior scientists from 50 countries came to Mainz.

Since the IPP was established, it has attracted a continuously increasing number of highly qualified applicants from around the world. It has attracted over 260 doctoral students from 50 countries to Mainz (as of December 2020).

Since its establishment, the IPP has also served as an impetus for further joint initiatives aimed at training new generations of scientists in Mainz. The IMB and the Faculty of Biology at the University of Mainz, for instance, have together established GeneRED, a new research endeavour financed by the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, whose doctoral students are integrated into the IPP.

In November 2021, the IPP was evaluated for the second time by a panel of renowned scientists and experts in the field of postgraduate education – and very positively so. The panel found the IPP to be an internationally competitive programme, which is comparable to the most reputed PhD programmes in Europe. It has contributed significantly to shaping the life sciences landscape in Mainz and serves as a major platform for interdisciplinary collaborations across individual institutions.

An opportunity for renewal at the Faculty of Biology in Mainz.

In 2013, the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation pledged a major donation amounting to 50 million euros to the University of Mainz. This funding was intended to enable the University to implement a plan to reorient its institutional strategy for the future of its Faculty of Biology. The University of Mainz had developed this strategy within the scope of the German Universities Excellence Initiative funded by the federal and state governments.

BioZentrum I (photo: Peter Pulkowski/ JGU)

The context and aims of funding.

One challenge in implementing this strategy was that the University wanted to attract further eminent scientists to Mainz. The donation from the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation enabled the university to offer scientists the best possible conditions for conducting research, and thereby to quickly develop new and promising areas of biological research.

By providing the University of Mainz with the means to offer research conditions and financial support which are competitive and attractive by international comparison, the funds were thus intended to help it compete for the best scientific minds available worldwide. The donation’s second aim was to offer excellent training to new generations of scientists at the Faculty of Biology. Together with a first major donation earmarked for the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB), this second donation was meant to help the University of Mainz establish itself as an excellent and internationally renowned centre for life sciences research.

Clear framework conditions to ensure research freedom and quality.

The basic principles of cooperation between the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation and the University of Mainz were governed by a written agreement. According to the agreement, the foundation undertook to donate 50 million euros within a period of up to 10 years. In return, the University of Mainz undertook to build a new Faculty of Biology building, with financial assistance from the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation had no influence on the research direction of the Faculty of Biology, which also appointed new professors in a fully independent manner. Additionally, the scientists of the University of Mainz were free to decide how and where the results of their research were used and published, as the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation had no rights to them.

The Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation supported a research consortium in cardiovascular medicine at the University Medical Center Mainz with a total of around 5.8 million euros. The aim was to strengthen basic medical research in this area and, in particular, to support junior group leaders. The overall goal of the research consortium was to investigate novel risk factors for cardiovascular disease that were previously poorly understood and to elucidate their mechanisms of action on the organismal and on the molecular level. In the long term, the findings should enable new ways to prevent and to treat cardiovascular disease.