In a meeting on April 20, 2012, the Joint Science Conference (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz, GWK) issued a recommendation to the federal states hosting the following three institutes to request an evaluation by the German Council for Science and the Humanities regarding their scientific quality and transregional significance. This is to decide whether these research institutes should in future be funded as Leibniz institutions by both the federal government and the Länder:

• National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) from the University of Bamberg,
• DWI from the RWTH Aachen (DWI),
• Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT).