The Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research in Wilhelmshaven is an independent research institute of the State of Lower Saxony since 1938. It reports directly to the Ministry of Science and Culture and researches the closely interwoven development of settlement, landscape, and vegetation in the coastal zones of northern Germany and its neighboring landscapes covering the last 12,000 years from the postglacial period to the present. The institute values close interdisciplinary collaboration between natural and cultural sciences. In particular, this includes the disciplines of coastal and quaternary geology, soil science, geophysics, landscape and settlement archeology, historical geography, archaeobotany, and vegetation history. The investigations are mainly funded by research grants, that were competitively applied for at private foundations and national or international funding institutions. The results of the projects are mainly published in the institute’s own journals or monographs. In addition, the employees publish their research in peer-reviewed national and international journals of different disciplines.