European Land-use Institute
The European Land-use Institute (ELI) is a multilateral cooperation platform of 55 partner institutions in 15 European and 4 extra-European countries that is funded since 2011 by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).
Special expertise of ELI lies in in "integrated land use", comprising land management, land use planning and land use policies.
The partners in ELI agreed to build up a long-lasting cooperation in form of a virtual institute that provides partnering, technical support and excellence building to each partner and that enhances inter- and trans-disciplinary research and methodological development. This cooperation agreement is a formal, but voluntarily signed contract of the ELI partners to structure our cooperation in form of a virtual pan-European institute and to regulate the contributions of the partners to the institute and the benefits partners receive from it. Our cooperation is built on European projects (Framework programs / ERA Nets) and on institutional means (financial, infrastructural, in-kind contributions) of our partners.
Within our cooperation structure, complementary thematic areas are identified which support connecting best the competences of our ELI partners within ELI and with other networks. ELI contributes currently as endorsed project to the Global Land Project (GLP) and cooperates with International Association of Landscape Ecology (IALE), International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), Ecosystem Service Partnership (ESP) and German Alliance for Agricultural Research (DAFA).
Coordinated at the head-quarters at ZEF, the ELI working structure includes three member bodies, the Member Council, the Scientific Board and the Practical Advisory Board. The Member Council is the decision making body in ELI considering all fundamental decisions on the structure, cooperation form and further development of the institute. The Scientific Board is responsible for profiling the ELI and for deciding upon the actual and future cooperation topics of ELI. The Practical Advisory Board ensures that an exchange between science and major actors in integrated land use practice is given.
Based on this partnership, ELI bundles, provides and networks scientific and financial resources to boost integrated research, development, education and further education in its excellence area.
ELI profile 2015 (3.9 MB, PDF)