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GRK 2501:  Translational Evolutionary Research

Subject Area Zoology
Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
Term since 2020
Website Homepage
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 400993799
 
We are currently living in the Anthropocene, an era shaped by human impact on the global earth system. As a consequence, human-induced natural selection and the resulting evolutionary processes underlie many current challenges of societal concern and are of particular relevance for many of the UN 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs). For example, the usage of antibiotics or anti-cancer drugs in medicine, of pesticides in agriculture, or wildlife harvesting in nature directly change natural selection and thereby affect the evolution of organisms. To date, however, evolutionary insight is widely neglected in the current research on these applied challenges and the development of sustainable solutions. At the same time, research on human-induced natural selection has the potential to enhance our general understanding of the process of evolution. Therefore, the overarching aim of our TransEvo RTG is to train early career researchers in two main competences: On the one hand, the use of concepts from evolutionary biology to enhance our understanding of current challenges in applied fields and, on the other hand, the use of the novel insights obtained to enrich our understanding of evolution. The RTG TransEvo promotes the translation of evolutionary thinking into three applied fields: medicine, food production, and wildlife conservation. Although evolutionary theory is occasionally considered for applied problems, this is usually done independently in the distinct applied fields, often using different approaches and concepts – in spite of similar underlying selection processes. Our TransEvo RTG specifically brings together these overlapping research approaches, in order to achieve added insights into the applied challenges. The training of the doctoral researchers is explicitly interdisciplinary and organized in tandem projects. Each of these consists of two subprojects that address a related problem, yet use distinct albeit complementary study approaches, directly generating potential for synergistic interactions. The tandem projects are interconnected at various levels, thereby producing a stimulating, collaborative research network for doctoral researchers. The training further relies on a structured program that includes rotations, seminars, retreats, workshops, and various courses. Our TransEvo RTG also offers dedicated training for young postdocs, directly after their doctorate, representing a career group that is often neglected by the available educational programs. The offered training assists them to acquire the necessary leadership and management skills on their path to scientific independence. In consideration of the numerous applied problems with an evolutionary basis, we foresee an increasing need of scientists with an interdisciplinary skill set, capable of translating insights from fundamental research into distinct applied fields. Our TransEvo RTG promotes early career researchers with the needed competences and experiences.
DFG Programme Research Training Groups
 
 

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