Prof. Dr. Rupert Klein, a professor of mathematics at Freie Universität Berlin, heads the research group at Freie Universität. He is also the spokesperson for the collaborative project. The participating institutions are Technische Universität Berlin, the University of Potsdam, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, the Zuse Institute Berlin, the Leibniz Institute in Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V., and the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam.

The scientists involved in the "Scaling Cascades in Complex Systems" CRC are aiming to develop multi-scale modeling and simulation techniques that enable efficient prediction and quantification of relevant outcomes. A relevant target size is, for example, the frequency of earthquakes, the diffusion of drugs across biological membranes, or the distribution of heavy precipitation events in Germany. Within the CRC there are researchers working in a total of 16 different projects.

Collaborative Research Centres are institutions established at universities with DFG funding. They enable researchers to pursue innovative, scientifically ambitious, complex, long-term research by concentrating and coordinating the resources available at a university. The CRC program aims to make an essential contribution to the profile of the participating universities. The promotion of young scientists and gender parity also play an important role.