Institutional cooperation with universities: DIfE and University of Potsdam

The DIfE cooperates with the University of Potsdam and works in particular with the Institute of Nutritional Science (IEW). A large number of the department heads at DIfE are jointly appointed with the University of Potsdam. Scientists from the DIfE participate in the courses offered in the master's degree programs in Nutritional Science and Toxicology at the IEW and offer students a broad range of topics for bachelor's and master's theses. The joint PhD seminar promotes the exchange of young scientists from both institutions. Numerous researchers from DIfE are pursuing their doctorates at the University of Potsdam and take advantage of the associated opportunity to become members of the Potsdam Graduate School (PoGS), which offers them a wide range of continuing education opportunities.

In the field of research, DIfE and IEW cooperate in the competence cluster of nutrition research "NutriAct". In addition, DIfE is working on a sub-project in the DFG research group "TraceAge", which is coordinated by IEW. The cooperation is promoted by the spatial proximity on the joint "Research Campus Nutrition and Health". This allows IEW to draw on DIfE infrastructures and DIfE to draw on IEW's analytical unit. Both institutions are striving to jointly further develop the campus in such a way that their respective focal points in terms of content and structure complement each other well and offer them optimal opportunities for cooperation.

DIfE is also linked to the University of Potsdam through the Faculty of Health Sciences, which was established in 2018. This faculty is jointly supported by the three universities, the University of Potsdam, the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, and the Brandenburg Theodor Fontane Medical School.

The state of Brandenburg endows the faculty with 16 professorships, two of which are to strengthen the nutritional science department of the University of Potsdam. It is planned that the professorship for epidemiology will be a joint appointment with the DIfE.

Under the cooperation agreement, some senior scientists from DIfE are co-opted with the Faculty of Health Sciences (secondary membership).