Leibniz Institutes engage in capacity-building and science diplomacy through international collaborations with researchers within and from countries of the Global South, in cooperation with German development agencies and their foreign branches, and by means of running research stations.

With their local partner institutes and in the context of research collaborations, Leibniz Institutes contribute to improving academic education and research, and to solving pressing global challenges. They thereby forge and consolidate international networks which are to make a positive contribution to the respective countries.

The Leibniz Association performs important development work by training international junior researchers from countries of the Global South by means of political consulting and via the transfer of knowledge and technology. Numerous Leibniz institutes have also specialised in collaborating with researchers from emerging and developing countries – such as in biodiversity research, socio-ecological sustainability research, infection research, agrarian research and in the context of historical institutes and research museums.