Untitled - The Future Ocean

1.2.2.3 Cluster Concept and Long-Term PerspectiveRather than forming a separate research unit, the Cluster will be fully integrated into the Universityand will function as a virtual institute to strengthen multidisciplinary cooperation between thevarious faculties and research institutes of CAU and the participating Leibniz Institutes. It willaugment, focus and enhance marine-oriented research and education in Kiel and will provideadditional interfaces to the general public, stakeholders, non-governmental and scientificorganizations as well as marine-oriented industries (Fig. 1).Figure 1: Cluster structureA strategic instrument of the Cluster will be the establishment of new Junior Research Groups(JRG’s) in key interdisciplinary research areas (A1 - B6 in Fig. 2 and Table 1). These JRG’s willaugment the expertise provided by the well-established research groups of the proponents. Thepositions of the group leaders will be endowed with “tenure-track” positions and thus have theoption of being converted to permanent positions (W2/W3) based on a review of merit. The Clusterwill provide the JRG’s with resources and personnel as well as scientific support through theestablished research groups of the proponents. The commitment of CAU to establish additionalpermanent faculty positions in key Cluster research areas implies that the Cluster will have a longtermstrategic impact on the fabric of the University. Both the Cluster proponents and the JRG’sleaders will be members of the Cluster. They will be eligible to benefit from Cluster resources and7