Workshop on Planning Societal Impact in the Earth and Environment Centers of the Helmholtz Association

Thursday 23 Oct 2025, 09:45 → 16:00 Europe/Berlin

Hamburg, Chile House GERICS

Henry Hempel, Lena Rölfer, Louis Celliers

This one-day workshop aims to critically assess and collaboratively advance the Helmholtz Center's approaches to measuring and planning societal impact derived from its scientific outputs. This perspective is developed through bottom-up input from scientists in Helmholtz Centers, in association with SynCom.

09:45 → 10:00 Welcome and Introduction

• Goal of the workshop
• Participant's focus on societal impact planning

Speakers: Dr Louis Celliers (Hereon/GERICS), Marie Heidenreich (SynCom/Helmholtz Erde & Umwelt)

10:00 → 10:45 Scientific input talks

1. 10:00 - 10:15 Dr. Lena Pfeifer - Ex post impact pathways (The LeNa project)
2. 10:15 - 10:30 Prof. Dr. Sina Leipold (tbc) - Narratives on societal impact (working title)
3. 10:30 - 10:45 Philip Bernert (RIFS) - Real-world laboratories

10:45 → 11:15 Coffee Break

11:15 → 12:00 Input talks from external consultancy/industry/finance/ministry

Beiersdorf (tbc), BMFTR (tbc)

12:00 → 13:00 Lunch Break and Networking

13:00 → 13:30 Definition of impact planning and concept for societal impact planning in PoF V as discussion basis

Speaker: Dr Louis Celliers (Hereon/GERICS)

13:30 → 15:30 Joint discussions on societal impact planning

World Café with 3 sessions (30 min each), hosted by Louis, Lena and Henry (note takers: Marcus, Marie & Kathi)
1. Current practices and barriers (Lena)
2. Narratives and visioning (Henry)
3. Tools and methods (Louis)

Possible outputs:
- joint E&E definition of societal impact planning plus short workshop report for Program Board and Management Board
- tool box for societal impact planning for 7 E&E Centres
- short text passage on societal impact planning for PoF V program proposal

Speakers: Henry Hempel, Dr Lena Rölfer, Dr Louis Celliers

15:30 → 16:00 Wrap-up and Next steps

• Goal: specific recommendations for societal impact planning in E&E in PoF V.
  Possible outputs:
• joint E&E definition and common understanding of societal impact planning plus short workshop report for Program Board and Management Board
• tool box for societal impact planning for 7 E&E Centres
• short text passage on societal impact planning for PoF V program proposal

=> strenghthen E&E Centers' ability to plan societal impact. (What are your ideas to strenghthen your work inside your respective Center and for collaboration among the 'impact units' of the 7 Centers?)

Speaker: Marie Heidenreich (SynCom/Helmholtz Erde & Umwelt)