The Dresden Model

The MPI-CBG has a unique non-departmental structure in which the Directors together with all other Research Group Leaders (RGLs) are members of Faculty. The principal values of our Dresden Model are that all RGLs are completely independent, there are no departments, Directors share their resources and decide on them collectively, all RGLs are involved in selecting new RGLs, and there are centralized Services & Facilities.

The basic guidelines with regard to governance are that resources (money, personnel, space) are decided upon by the Directors collectively while other decisions are made by the Faculty. As much as is possible, the MPI- CBG strives to provide standard allocations of resources including standardized layout of laboratory space. This both provides for enormous cost effectiveness but also saves time and avoids wasted effort once optimal solutions have been identified.