Topic of Call for Proposals: Cluster of Excellence OceanFloor
Project Title: Governing the Invisible, the Vast and the Complex: Linking Local Maritime Histories, Microbial Marine Life and Emerging Global Scale Effects
Participating Schools: IV, V

This booster unit has set itself the task of analysing little studied environmental influences on the ocean floor from a humanities and social sciences perspective. Researchers from the OceanFloor Cluster of Excellence will work together with the Institute of History, in particular the research team of the Academies Programme's Prize Papers Project, and the Institute of Social Sciences, which is involved via the Marine Governance Group of the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB).

The researchers will examine historical socio-economic events, such as the effects of colonialism and the associated environmental destruction on the carbon cycle. Another focus of the project is microbial aspects of the carbon cycle. So far, most political initiatives have concentrated on regulating CO2 emissions, thus addressing just one aspect of the cycle. However, there is still a lack of awareness in the public debate of the decisive role of marine microorganisms in the conversion of carbon dioxide in the carbon cycle.

The group aims to shed light on both aspects – the effects of early modern globalisation on the carbon cycle and how "invisible" marine microorganisms influence political decision-making processes.