The German Zoological Society (German: Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft; abbr. DZG) is a learned society in Germany, founded in 1890 at Frankfurt am Main. It is registered as a non-profit organisation (German: eingetragene Verein) based in Munich.[1]
The DZG represents German-speaking zoologists and corresponds with other regional and national zoological societies. It represents the interests of zoology among the scientific learned societies and can be consulted by politicians for advice. Membership is open to any zoologist or student of zoology; the DZG currently has about 1500 members.[2] It organises an annual meeting, which until 2004 was held during the week of Pentecost. However, as many universities no longer have a recess during that period, since 2005 the date of the meeting has been decided by the host university.
The DZG publishes its own scientific journal, Frontiers in Zoology, founded in 2004. It is published in cooperation with the online publisher BioMed Central. The DZG formerly published the Zoologische Anzeiger and Zoologische Jahrbücher, since discontinued.
The DZG awards several prizes to support or recognise scientific work.
The Karl Ritter von Frisch Medal is a scientific prize of the DZG. The Medal has been awarded every two years since 1980, to scientists who have distinguished themselves through outstanding zoological work that integrates knowledge from numerous biological disciplines. It is the most prominent scientific prize for zoology in Germany, with an award sum of 10,000 Euros.
List of medallists:[3]
The Dissertation Prize of the Horst-Wiehe-Stiftung has been awarded every two years at the DZG Annual Meeting since 1991, to an outstanding doctoral or habilitation thesis on a zoological subject. The prize sum is 2000 Euros (formerly 4000 Deutsche Mark).
The Werner Rathmayer Prize is a special prize for original work in zoology, within the Jugend forscht competition for young scientists. It has been awarded annually since 2004. The recipient receives a prize of 500 Euros and free admission to the DZG Annual Meeting in the following year.
The Society is a member of the Deutschen Nationalkomitee Biologie (DNK), representing the interests of life scientists in international organisations. It is also a member of the Verband Biologie, Biowissenschaften und Biomedizin in Deutschland e.V. (VBIO), which represents bioscientists in Germany.
→ main article: Jena Declaration
At its annual meeting in September 2019, the DZG approved and released the Jena Declaration, which stated that "the concept of [human] race is the result of racism, not its prerequisite." The Declaration was authored by Martin S. Fischer, Uwe Hoßfeld, Johannes Krause, and Stefan Richter.
The statement characterised the division of humanity into races as social and political stereotyping, resulting from and supported by an anthropological construct on the basis of arbitrarily chosen features like hair and skin colour. This construct has served to justify open and hidden racism and its consequences.[4]