Project overview

The GENAI-X project conducts research on the generalisability of AI models under constantly changing environmental conditions. Its goal is to enhance the understanding and prediction of environmental phenomena.

The FORUM communication and meeting center serves interdisciplinary exchange. With conference and meeting rooms, it is being built in downtown Jena.

The first transregional centre for quantum photonics at the universities of Jena, Stuttgart and Ulm offers around 50 scientists a cross-disciplinary and cross-location platform for research and exchange.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Wolfers took over the professorship for Artificial Intelligence in Neural Systems Imaging at Friedrich Schiller University Jena on October 1, 2025. His research develops AI methods to address neuroscientific questions and better understand complex brain diseases.

CZS Endowed Professor Uwe D. Zeitner was appointed to the University of Jena in May 2025. The professorship focuses on the adaptation of high-resolution lithographic processes to problems in optics.

In the CZS Young Investigator Group, Dr. Kevin Maik Jablonka researches polymers at the interface between materials science and data science. Since 2023, he has been group leader at the Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications.

JENAiNNOVATION aims to translate cutting-edge research into innovations and DeepTech startups. The goal is to create a cross-institutional innovation ecosystem with supra-regional impact and impulses for science, business, and society.

Dr. Desirée Leistenschneider is a chemist and researches batteries. She studied and completed her doctorate at TU Dresden. After a postdoctoral phase at the University of Alberta (Canada), she now heads a junior research group at the University of Jena.

CZS junior professor Andrea Pannwitz (tenure track) is researching a pioneering energy conversion process at the University of Jena and HIPOLE. The aim is to use solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into valuable compounds and produce hydrogen.

The Carl Zeiss Foundation supports 150 German scholarships at a total of 20 universities in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia, thus creating scope for young scientists in STEM subjects.