Facts and Figures

The GFZ was founded on 1 January 1992 as the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (Potsdam Geoscience Centre). 

It was initially a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Großforschungseinrichtungen (AGF) (Working Group of Large Research Institutions), which was further developed to become the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres in 1995 (named after the Potsdam physicist and physician Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)).

Since 1995, the GFZ has been one of meanwhile 18 research centres belonging to the Helmholtz Association, Germany's largest research organisation. It is part of the Helmholtz Research Field ‘Earth and Environment’. The seven centres in this Research Field are working on the joint research programme ‘Changing Earth – Sustaining our Future’ for the period 2021-2028.

As of 1 January 2023, the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS, formerly IASS) is embedded into the administrative structures of to the GFZ and now also conducts research under the umbrella of the Helmholtz Association.

As of December 31, 2025, 1,637 people work at the GFZ (including RIFS). 38% of all employees have international citizenship, coming from 80 countries.

The employees are connected to and working with us in various ways:

• 1,203 people are employed by the GFZ (48% women) in the areas of research, technology, and administration. This includes 173 trainees, student assistants, and research assistants.
• 434 people are guest scientists and former GFZ employees who are still affiliated with the center, utilizing the GFZ’s infrastructure for collaboration in joint research projects and related endeavors.

Both groups – employed staff as well as guest scientists – collectively include 220 doctoral candidates whose dissertations are supervised by the GFZ.

GFZ has its headquarters in the Albert Einstein Science Park on the historic Telegrafenberg campus in Potsdam. There are three other locations in Potsdam.

In addition, GFZ has three branch offices:

• the A. Schmidt Observatory for Geomagnetism in Niemegk (Brandenburg)
• the Oberpfaffenhofen site near Munich (due to its proximity to the German Space Control Centre (GSOC) of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen)
• the deep laboratory at the Continental Deep Drilling Project (KTB) in Windischeschenbach (Upper Palatinate/Bavaria)

Annual Budget 2024 | Actual data:

81,3 Mio. € million institutional funds provided by the Federal Government (90%) and the State of Brandenburg (10%)

of which GFZ:                             72,8 Mio. €
of which RIFS:                              8,5 Mio. €
Third-party funding:                 40,0 Mio. €

Total:                                              121,3 Mio. €

Annual Budget 2025

€ 81,9 million institutional funds provided by the Federal Government (90%) and the State of Brandenburg (10%)

of which GFZ: € 73,4 million
of which RIFS: € 8,5 million
€ 40,2 million from third-party funding

Total: € 122,1 million