Climate change and limited natural resources are threatening global food supplies and our natural ecosystems. CEPLAS is addressing these challenges through innovative fundamental research. How can plants and their associated microorganisms – known as microbiota – be adapted to environmental changes, such as a lack of water and nutrients. Microorganisms are of vital importance to plants, helping them to absorb nutrients and protecting them from pathogens.
Funding has now been secured for the third phase of the Cluster of Excellence. In the first two phases (2012–2018 and 2019–2025), CEPLAS researchers discovered molecular mechanisms that influence complex traits such as plant growth, metabolism and interactions between plants and microorganisms.
In the third, seven-year funding period, the CEPLAS scientists want to decipher how these plant traits are influenced by environmental factors. The Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben will be involved in the consortium for the first time. It will contribute to the cutting-edge research within CEPLAS with one of the largest gene banks, state-of-the-art phenotyping platforms that allow plant traits to be analysed automatically in large quantities under various conditions, and expertise in crop genetics and genomics.
Prof. Dr. Maria von Korff Schmising from the Institute of Plant Genetics at HHU and spokesperson for CEPLAS: “The Cluster of Excellence CEPLAS aims to understand the genetic and molecular basis of plant traits so comprehensively that growth and yield can be predicted precisely in different environments.”
Co-spokesperson Prof. Dr. Bart Thomma from the University of Cologne adds: “We will use these predictions to develop new approaches for the targeted design of plants with new traits, including enhanced cooperation with the microbiome, and improved adaptation to environmental variation and resource scarcity.”
HHU President Prof. Dr. Anja Steinbeck thanks all those who have helped to make CEPLAS a success for more than a decade. Their commitment has now been recognised with the successful application for a third funding period: “CEPLAS has had a lasting impact on HHU’s profile. The cluster has enabled us to establish a strong scientific structure. This includes the Plant Environmental Adaptation Centre (PEAC) currently under construction in Düsseldorf where future environmental conditions can be simulated and the interaction between plants and the environment can be studied under precisely controllable and dynamically variable environmental conditions.”
About the CEPLAS research programme
The CEPLAS researchers want to analyse the interactions between complex plant traits that influence the yield and adaptation of plants to limited resources and changing environmental conditions. They are investigating the genetic basis of plant traits and how the environment influences these to this end. The researchers want to predict which genetic traits of a plant and its associated microbes enable optimal growth under defined environmental conditions.
They are for example exploring how plants release certain substances such as sugar via their roots in order to attract helpful microorganisms. A whole armada of such helpers enables the plants to protect themselves against diseases and to grow better and achieve higher yields even when nutrients are scarce.
In addition to research, CEPLAS runs a comprehensive programme to support early career scientists from as early as the bachelor’s degree level. Doctoral researchers receive intensive supervision in a graduate school and the Cluster of Excellence also offers programmes for postdoctoral researchers and junior research group leaders. These support early career scientists in the next steps in their career as independent researchers or prepare them for a career outside academic research.
Four new professorships will be established at HHU during the third CEPLAS funding period, in the fields of synthetic biology, data science and plant-environment interactions. One of these will be a joint appointment with the IPK. In addition to the new PEAC research building, further open spaces and trial fields will be set up to investigate crops in real-life settings.
Dr. Céline Hönl, Managing Coordinator of CEPLAS: “One important aim of CEPLAS is to bring our research to the wider public and to actively involve them through citizen science projects. We plan to set up a new such project together with the Department of Social Sciences (Communication and Media Studies) at HHU.”
Excellence competition of the federal and state governments
From 2026, a total of 539 million euros will be made available every year to fund the Clusters of Excellence as part of the Excellence Strategy. Calls for proposals for the funding lines are published regularly.
A total of 98 full applications were submitted for Clusters of Excellence. A panel of experts mainly comprising scientists working abroad reviewed these on behalf of the German Research Foundation and the German Science and Humanities Council. On 22 May 2025, it was announced that funding would be provided for 70 of these projects. The clusters approved in the new funding period can begin their work from 1 January 2026.
In addition to this funding, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia will additionally support each Cluster of Excellence with an additional 900,000 euros every year. In the case of joint clusters like CEPLAS, each participating university in North Rhine-Westphalia will receive 450,000 euros.
