The Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Kiel (IFM-GEOMAR) was founded in January 2004 through the merger of the Institut für Meereskunde (IfM) and the Research Center for Marine Geosciences (GEOMAR). The institute is a member of the Leibniz Association and employs more than 750 scientific and technical staff.
The institutes’ mandate is the interdisciplinary investigation of all relevant aspects of modern marine sciences, from sea floor geology to marine meteorology. Research is conducted worldwide in all oceans.
The institute has four major research divisions: ocean circulation and climate dynamics, marine biogeochemistry, marine ecology and the dynamics of the ocean floor.In addition, IFM-GEOMAR contributes to the excellence cluster "The Future Ocean" and the collaborative research centres, SFB 574 "Volatiles and Fluids in Subducton Zones" and SFB754: "Climate-Biogeochemistry Interactions in the Tropical Ocean", funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG).
The Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences is associated with the University of Kiel in undergraduate and graduate teaching in the following fields: Bachelor in "Physik des Erdsystem" (Ozeanographie - Meteorologie - Geophysik) and Master courses in "Climate Physics: Meteorology and Physical Oceanography" and "Biological Oceanography".