Research
The IfL is tasked with visualising social change and preparing information about sustainable and regionally balanced development concepts. As a member of the Leibniz Association and as the only non-university research institute for geography in Germany, the institute brings together basic research and knowledge transfer (research programme).
With its approximately 80 members of staff, the institute conducts research on current spatial developments in Germany and Europe, with a particular focus on Eastern Europe. Within the “Historical Geographies” research area, the IfL reconstructs the evolution of new methods and systems of thought in geography. For that, the Archive for Geography at the IfL and the Central Geographical Library are important research infrastructures.
In order to convey the results of his research, the IfL is purposefully using cartographic illustrations. The Institute is continually developing the high technical standard of his map production. And, as a society and as researchers, it is thinking about how, in an age of progressive digitisation, we will present, exchange or share geographic information by means of maps in the future.
The scientific focus is on five fields of research: