Research Operations BW Green Labs
In October 2025, three sustainability projects at Heidelberg University received funding as part of the BWGreenLabs ideas competition launched by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts.
The aim of these initiatives is to systematically record consumption and waste disposal data in selected university laboratories. In the long term, this should significantly reduce energy and resource consumption in scientific operations. The three projects will initially receive funding totalling around £80,000 for a period of one year. The initiatives selected for ‘BWGreenLabs’ include projects from the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials, the Centre for Organismal Studies and the Neuenheimer Feld Central Division. By participating in the state's ideas competition, Heidelberg University is underlining its commitment to sustainability in research. The institutions were supported in their applications by the Heidelberg Centre for the Environment and the Rectorate.
Teilnehmende Einrichtungen
The project „Smart Green Labs – Datenbasierte Lösungen zur CO₂-Reduktion im Laborbetrieb" is being carried out at the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials (IMSEAM) under the direction of Prof. Dr. Eva Blasco. It aims to record resource consumption in detail during laboratory work and, based on this data, achieve an optimal reduction in the associated carbon dioxide emissions without significantly impairing research activities. Eva Blasco's team wants to develop a methodology that can be transferred to other experimental research institutions in order to create a general approach to reducing the carbon footprint in scientific operations.
The project „Gläsernes Institut – Transparente Ressourcennutzung durch digitale Dokumentation und Vernetzung“ is based at the Centre for Organismal Studies (COS). Prof. Dr. Suat Özbek and his team are working on a platform that enables transparent, sustainable and shared use of resources within the COS. A centralised and intuitive software solution will be used to digitally record and document existing equipment, chemicals and biological reagents, as well as the scientific infrastructure, and make them accessible to all COS employees. The aim is to avoid wasting resources, prevent duplicate purchases and promote internal cooperation within the centre.
The third successful initiative is titled „Analyse und Optimierung der Beschaffungswege im Hinblick auf anfallende Verpackungsreststoffe und deren ökologische Auswirkungen“. This transformation project at Heidelberg University is led by Georg Maier, administrative director of the Neuenheimer Feld central division, and aims to systematically record the packaging generated during the procurement of consumables in pilot facilities. Based on this data, opportunities for optimising procurement processes from a sustainability perspective will be developed. The central department provides laboratory and other services for scientific research on the Neuenheimer Feld campus.