Mission Statement
The mission of the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience is to conduct excellent fundamental brain research. The focus lies on the systems neuroscience level, at which we try to understand how the many neurons of the brain work together to bring about our conscious experiences and our behavior. To this end, the ESI researchers develop new scientific concepts and new recording and analysis methods to test them, often in collaboration with national and international partners. New insights and methods are disseminated through publications, workshops, conferences and teaching activities. The education of students, postdocs and guest scientists through transfer of knowledge and techniques is an integral component of ESI’s mission. Finally, the ESI supports the translation of insights and methods from its fundamental research to applications, in particular for medical purposes.
The Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience
On 12 September 2008, Dr. Andreas and Dr. Thomas Strüngmann founded the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience. The ESI has the legal form of a “gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (gGmbH)”, i.e. a non-profit corporation, with the Strüngmann brothers as “Gesellschafter” (partners). To finance the ESI, Dr. Andreas and Dr. Thomas Strüngmann founded the Ernst Strüngmann Foundation (ESF).
The ESI’s founding directors are Prof. Wolf Singer and Prof. Pascal Fries. In July 2009, Prof. Fries became the ESI’s first director and managing director. On 1 April 2011, when Prof. Singer assumed emeritus status at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, he joined the ESI as Senior Research Group leader. In October 2011, Dr. Ilka Diester joined the ESI as a Research Group leader. Three years later, she followed an appointment as a Professor at the University of Freiburg. In May 2012, Dr. Michael Schmid started his Emmy Noether group at the ESI.
Currently, the ESI comprises the department of Prof. Fries, the Senior Research Group of Prof. Singer as well as the Research Groups of Dr. Hermann Cuntz, Jean Laurens, Dr. Martin Vinck, Dr. Helene Schmidt, Dr. Rosanne Rademaker, and the Research Group jointly led by Dr. Martha Havenith und Dr. Marieke Schölvinck. In April 2021, David Poeppel took on the position of managing director.
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