Publication date 24 June 2025

"Searching for Traces" series: The BayCEER watering can

The University of Bayreuth is celebrating its 50th anniversary - a perfect moment not only to celebrate, but also to take a look at the history of the university. Students on the History in Science and Practice Master's course, supervised by the Institute of Franconian Regional History, have spent the past few weeks searching for traces. They have researched objects that tell the story of the university in a special way. The BayCEER watering can kicks off the series.

This green watering can is more than just a gardening tool. It is a symbol of growth, research and community. It was used to inaugurate the BayCEER, the Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Research, in 2004. A plant was symbolically watered at the time to celebrate the start of the research center. It still stands today - well cared for and ready for use - in the Ecological-Botanical Garden of the University of Bayreuth.

Alana Steinbauer, Head of the BayCEER office, proposed the watering can for the 50-year project "Searching for Traces". Since joining the BayCEER team in the fall of 2023, the watering can has accompanied her in her work. It is always clearly visible above her desk. For her, the watering can is a piece of living history and a symbol of how the research center has grown over the years.

Today, BayCEER brings together around 30 research groups from the biological and geosciences. Almost 100 researchers are working on current environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. The importance of the center has grown with the challenges of our time, just like the plant that was once watered with that watering can.

This symbolic power remains associated with this unique object even after more than 20 years. Smaller watering cans are still presented as gifts to guest speakers today. In this way, the idea of growth is passed on across generations of researchers and fields of research.

Objects wanted!