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Future Forum on the Ocean

ZFO Members

Background

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Work

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Members PDF

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Members

Prof. Dr. Hans Burchard (Executive Board, Speaker)

Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde

Research interests:

  • Hydro- and sediment-dynamic processes in the coastal ocean
  • Mixing and exchange flows in estuaries
  • Development and analysis of simulation models for the coastal ocean
  • Turbulence closure modelling
Hans Burchard is a physical oceanographer whose scientific focus is on hydro- and sediment-dynamic processes in the coastal ocean and estuaries, as well as on numerical ocean modelling. He is the developer of the water column model GOTM (www.gotm.net), which comprises a collection of turbulence closures used in many ocean models. He co-developed the coastal ocean model GETM (www.getm.eu), whose adaptive vertical coordinates enable highly accurate simulations of the coastal ocean. Hans Burchard is deputy head of department at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Warnemünde and professor at the University of Rostock, where he teaches "Ocean and Atmosphere" in the Physics master's degree program.
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Dr. Gesche Krause (Executive Board)

Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research

Research interests:

  • Science-Policy-Interaction
  • Process and impact research
  • Protection and use of marine resources
  • Human-nature relations
Dr Gesche Krause is a social scientist working at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, Germany. She studied at the universities of Kiel and Greifswald (Germany) and received her PhD in philosophy from Stockholm University (Sweden). In addition to working for several years in various private sector companies, she conducted long-term social science research on the Amazon in Brazil, as well as in Indonesia on the Spermonde Archipelago. Since 2013 she works at the AWI, where her research focuses on knowledge transfer processes and evaluation, the interactions between science and stakeholders in marine (resource) systems, as well as the impacts of science on social processes.
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Dr Heike Link (Executive Board)

University of Rostock

Research interests: 

  • Biodiversity, ecosystem function, relationships with resources
  • Ecology of the marine benthic communities
  • Polar regions
  • Measurements of ecosystem function
  • Characterising the ecological importance of benthic habitats in the Arctic and Southern Oceans
  • Nutrient fluxes at the sediment-water interface
  • Benthic-pelagic and pelagic-benthic coaction
  • Benthic invertebrates
Heike Link is a marine ecologist and scientific coordinator at the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Research of the University of Rostock. She conducts research in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem function. Her research interests include the ecology of marine benthic communities, nutrient fluxes at the sediment-water interface and the characterisation of the ecological importance of benthic habitats in the Arctic and Southern Ocean.
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Prof. Dr Martin Visbeck (Executive Board)

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

Research interests:

  • The role of the ocean in climate variability
  • Variability of regional ocean circulation
  • Deep water formation in subpolar regions
  • Lateral exchanges through mesoscale eddy processes
  • Long-term global ocean observations
  • The North Atlantic Oscillation and its impact on the ocean
  • Climate variability in the tropical Atlantic Ocean
  • Bottom water formation in Antarctica
  • ADCP observations in oceans and coastal areas
  • Dynamics of oxygen minimum zones
Martin Visbeck is an expert on sustainable development in the ocean. He leads the research unit "Physical Oceanography" at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. He is also a professor at the Kiel University. Martin obtained his diploma in physical oceanography here in 1989 before working as a doctoral student at the Institute of Oceanography at CAU. As part of his scientific work at GEOMAR, the oceanographer led numerous expeditions with the Maria S. Merian and the METEOR, on which he investigated climate variability in the tropical Atlantic, among other things. Martin is a member of the Science Council of the Federal Republic of Germany since 2022.
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Prof. Dr. Ulrich Bathmann

Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde

Deputy of the Strategy Group:: Coastal research

Research interests:

  • Geosystem Sciences
  • Biogeochemical cycles
  • Ecology of marine plankton and zooplankton

 

Ulrich Bathmann is a biological oceanographer at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW). The scientist's academic training began at The Kiel University, where he obtained his PhD. As part of his PhD, Bathmann conducted research at the Dalhousie University in Halifax (Canada) before returning to Kiel and eventually moving to the Alfred Wegener Institute. The oceanographer is at the IOW since 2011. His research interests include zooplankton and marine plankton ecology, biogeochemical cycles, and Earth system sciences.
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Prof. Dr. Johanna Baehr

University of Hamburg

Research interests:

  • Climate modelling
  • Ocean circulation
Johanna Baehr is a professor at the University of Hamburg, where she leads the Climate Modelling Department at the Institute of Oceanography. The physical oceanographer is interested in large-scale ocean circulation and its role in the climate system. As an aid to her research, Baehr uses numerical models to investigate the time scales of the variability of oceanic parameters.
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Dr. habil. Tanja Bogusz

University of Hamburg

Deputy of the Strategy Group:Social & Cultural Science

Research interests:

  • Marine Social Sciences
  • Science Studies
  • Cultures of knowledge
  • Social and societal theories
  • Collaborative research methods

 

Tanja Bogusz (Dr. habil.) is a sociologist and researcher at the Center for Sustainable Society Research (CSS) of the University of Hamburg, as well as a founding and board member of the professional society Science and Technology Studies in Germany (STSinG).
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Dr.-Ing. Leif Christensen

German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence

Research interests: 

  • Autonomous marine systems
  • Robotics
  • Autonomous navigation in unstructured / harsh environmental conditions
  • AI
After obtaining his diploma degree in computer science in 2008, Leif Christensen did his PhD at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Bremen in the field of artificial intelligence for autonomous robotic systems. A passionate sailor since his youth, he has been leading the Maritime Robotics Group at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence - Robotics Innovation Center (DFKI - RIC) since several years. He was leading various projects in the past, both in the field of maritime applications and space robotics. His experience includes probabilistic robot navigation with a special focus on maritime applications. He is currently a member of the International Advisory Board of SENAI/CIMATEC Brazil and is a reviewer for several journals in the field of robotics and for the European Space Agency.
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Dr Ute Daewel

Helmholtz Centre Hereon

Research interests:

  • Interactions between biological and physical processes in the ocean
  • Individual-based transport models
  • Ecosystem dynamics
  • mass transfer
Ute Daewel is a geoscientist at the Helmholtz Centre Hereon in Geesthacht. Her research interest is the investigation of interactions between biological and physical processes in the ocean. To this end, she develops and uses complex three-dimensional numerical models. On the one hand, these are individual-based transport models (IBM) for simulating, for example, fish larvae in the ocean. On the other hand, she works with ecosystem models that can be used to investigate long-term changes in marine primary production as well as material and energy flows in the marine food network.
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Dr Gabriel David

Braunschweig University of Technology

Research interests:

  • Coastal development
  • Ecosystem-based coastal protection
  • Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research
Since completing his doctorate at Leibniz Universität Hannover August 2021, G. David has been leading the junior research group "Future Urban Coastlines". This interdisciplinary group investigates the exposure and vulnerability of urban coastal communities to hydraulic marine hazards (e.g. increased storm waves or rising sea levels) with the aim of developing new approaches for climate change adaptation and coastal protection. Following the research focus of the "Technische Universität Braunschweig" within the research cluster "City of the Future", the group brings together young scientists from different disciplines to address geo-ecological, structure-based, spatial and socio-political issues in coastal engineering.
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Prof. Dr Anja Engel

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

Research interests: 

  • The biological carbon pump and the carbon cycle in the ocean
  • The microbial turnover of organic material
  • Climate change and anthropogenic stressors
Anja Engel received her PhD in Kiel in 1998 and subsequently worked at the University of Southern California Santa Barbara, the Alfred Wegener Institute and Stony Brook University. Since 2011, she is a Professor of Biological Oceanography at the Kiel University and works at GEOMAR, where she leads the Marine Biogeochemistry Research Unit and the Microbial Biogeochemistry working group. Her research focuses on the marine carbon cycle, in particular the coupling between microbial production and degradation processes in the water column and at the ocean-atmosphere interface. Her work investigates the effects of climate change and other anthropogenic influences such as eutrophication and plastic pollution.
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Dr Dorothee Hodapp

Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity

Research interests:

  • Biodiversity change
  • Ecosystem functions, statistics
Dorothee Hodapp studied geoecology in Potsdam and then completed a master’s degree in statistics at the University of Otago (New Zealand). After completing her PhD in marine biodiversity, she now conducts research at the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg (HIFMB). She is particularly interested in quantifying spatio-temporal changes in biodiversity and how these affect the stability and functioning of ecological communities. For her research, Dorothee uses empirical, observed and modelled biodiversity data.
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Dr Moritz Holtappels

Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research

 Research interests:

  • Physical mass transport and biogeochemistry of the oceans
  • Carbon and nutrient cycles
  • Bentho-pelagic mass exchange
  • Transfer of knowledge and transdisciplinary research
Moritz Holtappels is a scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, where he conducts research in the Bentho-Pelagic Processes department. This combines marine science with observational ecology to study the structure and dynamics of polar animal communities in their natural environment and in response to climate change. Beyond his expertise in the natural sciences, Holtappels is interested in transdisciplinary research as well as the transfer of knowledge to society.
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Dr Tatiana Ilyina

Max Planck Institute for Meteorology

Portrait of Tatiana Ilyina

Research interests:

  • Oceans in the Earth System
  • Biogeochemistry, carbon cycle

 

Tatiana Ilyina is a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. There she conducts research in the Department of the Ocean in the Earth System and works on the carbon cycle and other biogeochemical topics. Before joining the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in 2010, Ilyina worked as a post-doctoral researcher in oceanography at the University of Hawaii in Manoa.
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Dr Kerstin Jochumsen

Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency

Research interests:

  • Physical Oceanography
  • In-situ measurement method
  • Currents and water masses in the Atlantic
Kerstin Jochumsen is leading the Marine Physics and Climate Unit of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency in Hamburg since 2018. She has been conducting research there since 2010, previously as part of her PostDoc in Experimental Oceanography. The scientist's academic career started at the University of Bremen where she did her doctoral research (2003-2007) on currents and water masses in the tropical Atlantic. From 2007 to 2010, Jochumsen worked as a research associate on her own DFG project involving the analysis of model data in the tropical Atlantic.
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Prof. Dr Torsten Kanzow

Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research

Deputy of the Strategy Group:: Ocean circulation and climate

Research interests:

  • Ocean currents
  • Oceanography of the Polar Regions
  • Ocean-Icesheet interaction
  • Sea level
Torsten Kanzow leads the Department of Climate Sciences and the Physical Oceanography of the Polar Seas of the Alfred Wegener Institute. He is also a professor at the University of Bremen. He conducts research on ocean currents, the oceanography of the polar regions, Ocean-Ice sheet interactions and sea level. As part of his work at the AWI, Kanzow was part of the MOSAIC expedition (2019-2020) in the Arctic and led another research expedition with the "Polarstern" in 2022.
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Dr Johannes Karstensen

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

Deputy of the Strategy Group:: Ocean Observations

Research interests:

  • Optimised design and use of ocean observations
  • Role of the ocean in the Earth's climate system
  • Influence of ocean dynamics on biogeochemical processes
Johannes Karstensen is a physical oceanographer at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. He completed his academic training at the University of Hamburg, where he received his doctorate in physical oceanography in 1999. He then conducted research in the USA and Chile before going back to GEOMAR in 2002, where he works in the research area of Ocean Circulation and Climate Dynamics. Johannes has also been involved in numerous projects of the European Union and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
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Prof Dr Sabine Kasten

Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research

Research interests:

  • Marine Geochemistry
  • Early diagenesis in dynamic depositional environments
  • Diagenetic alteration of palaeoceanographic proxies
  • Biogeochemical processes and mineral formation in gas hydrate and methane-rich environments
Sabine Kasten is a scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, where she conducts research in marine geochemistry. In particular, she is interested in early diagenesis in dynamic depositional environments, diagenetic alteration of palaeoceanographic proxies, and biogeochemical processes and mineral formation in gas hydrate and methane-rich environments. She also teaches at the University of Bremen in the field of geosciences.
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Dr Alice Lefebvre

University of Bremen & MARUM

Research interests:

  • Sediment dynamics in shallow water
  • Hydrodynamics, sediment transport and geomorphology
  • Submerged dunes in rivers, estuaries, channels and deeper environments
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Science

 

Alice Lefebvre studied geology and oceanography in Bordeaux (France) and Southampton (UK), where she also completed her PhD. She is now a scientist at MARUM - Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen. Her research interest is the interaction between geomorphology, hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics. In recent years, she has studied the complex relationship between large underwater dunes and currents. Her research now extends to morphodynamics and sediment transport in deeper waters. Her methods include a combination of field measurements, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations. Alice is also the mother of three children in a European family and very interested in advancing values of equality, diversity and inclusion in academia.
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Dr Dorit Liebers-Helbig

German Oceanographic Museum

Research interests: 

  • Exhibition coordinator
  • Digital media in the museum
  • Participatory formats for Marine-Human Relations
  • Curator for birds, focus on phylogeography
Dr Dorit Liebers-Helbig studied biology in Jena, Dublin as well as in Toronto where she did her doctorate in association with the Hiddensee ornithological station. After a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, she started working at the German Oceanographic Museum Stralsund in 2004. Her work focuses on the conception, planning and realisation of various exhibition formats including the permanent exhibition "The Baltic Sea" in the OZEANEUM, the special exhibition "From the Deep Sea to the Polar Regions" in the MEERESMUSEUM and several annual themes such as NO NOISE SEA. Currently, the focus of her work is on digital communication formats and participatory projects on the future handling of the seas and oceans.
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PD Dr Joke Lübbecke

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

Research interests:

  • Physical Oceanography
  • Tropical climate variability
  • Changing ocean variability in climate change
Joke Lübbecke is a physical oceanographer at GEOMAR in Kiel. After receiving her PhD from Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel in 2010, she did postdoctoral research at NOAA PMEL in Seattle, USA. From 2014 to 2020, she was a junior professor at GEOMAR and the Kiel University. Her research focuses on mechanisms of tropical climate variability and their changes under the influence of global warming.
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Prof Dr Elda Miramontes

University of Bremen & MARUM

Research interests:

  • Oceanographic and sedimentary processes in the deep sea
  • Gravity-driven processes and the development of submarine channels
  • Paleoceanographic reconstructions
  • Plastic pollution
Elda Miramontes studied marine sciences at the University of Vigo (Spain) and completed her PhD in marine geosciences at the Ifremer and the Université de Bretagne Occidentale (France), where she was also a postdoctoral researcher. Since 2019, she has been a junior professor of sedimentology at the Department of Geosciences at the University of Bremen and a member of the MARUM Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences. The main goal of her research is to better understand the processes that control recent sedimentation in deep-sea environments to improve palaeoreconstructions based on sediment archives. She also studies the distribution of plastics in the marine environment and the processes that transport them to the seabed to better describe their impact on the environment.
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Dr Christian Müller

Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources

Deputy of the Strategy Group:: Mineral resources

Research interests:

  • Exploration of marine mineral deposits
  • Environmental impacts of future deep-sea mining
  • Geological structure and energy resource potential of the continental margins
  • Marine seismic measurement procedures and method development
  • Geological potentials of the CO2-Storage

 

Dr Christian Müller has been the lead of the "Marine Resource Exploration" department at the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in Hannover since 2017. After completing his doctorate in geophysics at the Kiel University, he moved to Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources where he initially conducted research on gas hydrates and the structural geology of active and passive continental margins. Afterwards, he worked for several years on the geological potential for CO2 storage in Germany. Currently, his work focuses on the occurrence and use of marine mineral resources (manganese nodules and polymetallic sulphides) as well as marine structural geological and geophysical investigations in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and North Atlantic.
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Dr Sophie Paul

GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel

Research interests:

  • Use of rare earths and Nd isotopes as tracers in marine systems (seawater, chemical sediments)
  • Trace metal cycling during early diagenesis in marine sediments
Sophie Paul is a scientist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, where she conducts research in the Paleo-Oceanography unit in the field of ocean circulation and climate dynamics. Her special interests are the application of rare earths and Nd isotopes as tracers in marine systems (seawater, chemical sediments) and trace metal cycles during early diagenesis in marine sediments. She was educated in Bremen and Edinburgh, where she studied the field of environmental sciences before completing her doctorate in geosciences at the Constructor University (formerly Jacobs University).
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Prof Dr Gregor Rehder

Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde

Research interests:

  • Environmentally relevant gases in the marine environment, in particular greenhouse gases, methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide
  • Inorganic carbon cycle
Prof. Dr. Gregor Rehder is the head of the Institutional and Behavioural Economics Group at the Centre for Tropical Marine Research. He is mainly interested in institutions in the sense of rules that enable the coast and the sea to be managed in an economically, socially and ecologically sustainable way. To this end, it is central to understand the behaviour of people within these institutions. These aspects are considered in the working group in various areas, such as aquaculture, marine pollution, sea level rise, tourism or fisheries. Methodologically, essentially qualitative or experimental research approaches are pursued.
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Prof. Dr Achim Schlüter

Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research

Research interests:

  • Institutions (rules) for the sustainable use of tropical marine coastal ecosystems and their transformation
  • Emergence and promotion of cooperation in the shared use of the coast and the sea
  • Behaviour of people as central actors in the socio-ecological system of coast and sea
Head of the Institutional and Behavioural Economics Group at the Centre for Tropical Marine Research. He is mainly interested in institutions in the sense of rules that enable the coast and the sea to be managed in an economically, socially and ecologically sustainable way. To this end, it is central to understand the behaviour of people within these institutions. These aspects are considered in the working group in various areas, such as aquaculture, marine pollution, sea level rise, tourism or fisheries. Methodologically, essentially qualitative or experimental research approaches are pursued.
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Prof. Dr Torsten Schlurmann

Coastal Research Centre, Leibniz University of Hanover

Research interests:

  • Effects of climate change on coasts and estuaries and their adaptation
  • Development and proof of effectiveness of Nature-based Solutions (NbS)
  • Offshore Wind and Marine Renewables: Digital twins for impact assessment in the marine environment
Torsten Schlurmann is Professor of Hydraulic and Coastal Engineering at Leibniz Universität Hannover. He also leads the Coastal Research Centre (FZK). Schlurmann studied civil engineering at the University of Wuppertal, where he also completed his doctorate and habilitation. In this context, he completed several research stays at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in India. Since 2007, he is leading the Ludwig Franzius Institute for Hydraulic, Estuarine and Coastal Engineering at the Leibniz University and conducts research in the fields of coastal protection, risk and flood management, offshore wind energy and the development of maritime technologies, among others.
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Dr Jörn Schmidt

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)

Research interests: 

  • Marine and Fisheries Ecology
  • Marine social-ecological systems
  • Co-production of knowledge, including consideration of indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge
  • Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research
  • Sustainability research
Jörn is currently Chair of the Science Committee of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. He is also an associate professor at the Dalhousie University's Marine Affairs Program and a senior researcher at the Kiel University's Center for Ocean and Society. He has worked in the Baltic and North Seas, as well as in Senegal, Cabo Verde, Haida Gwaii (Canada), Sitka (USA) and Peru. Jörn is a member of the Expert Group and German Focal Point for the World Ocean Assessment and a member of the High-Level Stakeholder Advisory Board of the Empowering women for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development project. He has also co-developed serious games (www.ecoocean.de, www.go-jelly.de).
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Prof Dr Peter Schupp

University of Oldenburg

Research interests:

  • Chemical ecology
  • Microbial ecology
  • Biodiversity of marine invertebrates
  • Ecotoxicology
Peter Schupp is a professor at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. There he conducts research in the field of chemical and microbial ecology, marine invertebrate biodiversity and ecotoxicology. In this context, he investigates secondary metabolites from marine invertebrates and associated bacteria for their ecological function and potential pharmaceutical properties. The species communities of the North Sea and coral reefs, especially biodiversity hotspots in the Indo-Pacific, are at the forefront of his chemical-ecological and biodiversity research. Before moving to Oldenburg, he was the director of the University of Guam Marine Laboratory, USA.
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Prof. Dr Thomas Schweder

University of Greifswald

Research interests:

  • Bacterial physiology
  • Polysaccharide utilisation of marine bacteria
  • Metabolic interactions in marine invertebrate-bacterial symbioses
  • Microbial biotechnology
Thomas Schweder received his doctorate in Greifswald in 1994 and was afterwards a postdoc at the Standford University (USA). In 1996, he conducted research as a junior research group leader for molecular biotechnology at the University of Greifswald. Since 2001 he is the chairman of the board of the Institute of Marine Biotechnology and accepted in 2004 an appointment as a Professor of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the University of Greifswald. His research focuses on the physiology of marine bacteria. He works on molecular mechanisms of bacterial polysaccharide degradation especially during phytoplankton blooms. He also studies the physiology and interaction of bacterial symbionts in marine invertebrates.
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Dr Anne Sell

Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries

Research interests:

  • Demersal communities of the North Sea: biodiversity and ecology
  • Impacts of climate change and fisheries in North Sea ecosystems
  • Ecosystem approach to fisheries management: developing indicators of ecosystem status and function
  • Organisation and management of research cruises
Anne Sell studied biology in Kaiserslautern and Kiel before completing her doctorate at the Technical University of Dresden. She stayed several times at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in the USA, where from 2001 to 2002she completed her post-doc and also lectured, and supervised the "Semester at Sea" as a cruise leader. She started working as a scientist at the Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries in 2005. Her work there includes the interactions between fisheries, biodiversity and food webs, as well as changes in the oceans and marine organisms. In addition, she is part of the round table "Internationalisation of Education, Science and Research" in the BMBF's thematic cycle "Seas and Oceans".
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Prof. Dr Inna Sokolova

University of Rostock

Research interests:

  • Environmental physiology
  • Toxicology of marine organisms
Inna Sokolova is a professor at the University of Rostock. She completed her academic training in St. Petersburg, where she studied and earned her doctorate in zoology, as well as at the Alfred Wegener Institute and the University of Guelph (Canada). Today, Sokolova is an expert in environmental physiology and toxicology of marine organisms. She studies the adaptations of marine organisms to environmental stressors and the effects of environmental changes (both natural and anthropogenic) on marine populations.
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Prof Dr Helmuth Thomas

Helmholtz Centre Hereon

Research interests:

  • Chemical processes in the sea, especially in marginal seas (North Sea, Baltic Sea, Arctic Ocean)
  • Carbon cycle
  • Marine carbonate system
Helmuth Thomas is Professor of Marine Alkalinity at the Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Sea (ICBM) at the University of Oldenburg and the Helmholtz Centre Hereon in Geesthacht. The chemist studied in Düsseldorf, completed his diploma thesis at the Kiel University and his doctorate at the Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Warnemünde. He also conducted research at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Marine Research and at the Dalhousie University in Halifax (Canada), where he also held a professorship. Since 2021, Thomas has headed the Institute for Carbon Cycles at Hereon, where he founded the alkalinity working group as part of the Franco-German climate research initiative "Make Our Planet Great Again". The scientist's research on chemical processes in the ocean is intended to contribute to climate change management, among other things.
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Dr Ralf Weisse

Helmholtz Centre Hereon

Research interests:

  • Marine climate
  • Marine climate change
  • Storms, storm surges, ocean waves
  • Regional average sea level
  • Transferring knowledge into practice
Ralf Weisse is a scientist at the Helmholtz Centre Hereon in Geesthacht, where he is leading the "Coastal Climate" group since 2001. Before that, Weisse mainly did research at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. His research interests include all aspects of marine climate and marine climate change. In particular, he is interested in storms, storm surges, ocean waves or regional mean sea levels and how they vary and change in the past and in the future. The scientist's research also includes impacts of the marine climate, for example on the coast to answer the question of how society can adapt to the changes and to advance the translation of knowledge into practice.
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Prof. Dr Karen Wiltshire

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research

Deputy of the Strategy Group:: Marine Protected Areas I Multi-use

Research interests:

  • Coastal ecology
  • Global marine research
  • Long-term data series Helgoland and Sylt Reede, Wadden Sea
  • Long-term ecological changes in the North Sea
Prof. Karen Wiltshire is the Deputy Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and Director of the AWI sites on Helgoland and Sylt. She teaches Shelf Sea Ecology at the Kiel University. Born in Ireland in 1962, Karen Wiltshire completed her master’s degree in environmental science at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1986. She then moved to the University of Hamburg, where she received her PhD in hydrobiology in 1992 and later also completed her habilitation. She worked as a scientist at GKSS (now HEREON) from 1987-1994 and at the University of St Andrews in Scotland from 1994 to 1997. She then accepted a research and teaching position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön and was an associate researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Karen Wiltshire has been researching and working at the AWI since 2001.
Born in Ireland in 1962, Karen Wiltshire completed her Master's degree in Environmental Science at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1986. She then moved to the University of Hamburg, where she received her PhD in hydrobiology in 1992 and later also completed her habilitation. She worked as a scientist at GKSS (now HEREON) from 1987-1994 and at the University of St Andrews in Scotland from 1994 to 1997. She then took up a research and teaching position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön and was an associate researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Karen Wiltshire has been researching and working at the AWI since 2001.
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Prof. Dr Christian Winter

Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel

Research interests:

  • Hydrodynamics, sediment dynamics and morphodynamics of sandy coasts
  • Dynamics of suspended sediment and liquid silt in estuaries
  • Formation, development and hydraulic effect of soil forms
  • Evolution of seabed habitats and impacts of human interventions
Christian Winter leads the Coastal Geology and Sedimentology working group at the Institute of Geosciences at the Kiel University. Since studying civil engineering and gaining a doctorate in geosciences, he has been working on various interdisciplinary issues in coastal regions. Using ship- and land-based field measurements and numerical modelling, the group is working towards a process-oriented understanding of the interrelationships between hydrodynamic and sediment dynamic processes, and their effect on seabed habitats. Basic or applied transdisciplinary research projects look at transport processes on many spatial and temporal scales: from the microscopic interaction of turbulent fluid movements to the mesoscale dynamics of landforms and beaches to the evolution of coasts over geological time scales.

Using ship- and land-based field measurements and numerical modelling, the group is working towards a process-oriented understanding of the interrelationships between hydrodynamic and sediment dynamic processes, and their effect on seabed habitats.
Basic or applied transdisciplinary research projects look at transport processes on many spatial and temporal scales: from the microscopic interaction of turbulent fluid movements to the mesoscale dynamics of landforms and beaches to the evolution of coasts over geological time scales.
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Prof. Dr Oliver Wurl

Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Sea at the University of Oldenburg

Research interests:

  • Interaction ocean - atmosphere
  • Biogeochemical processes at marine interfaces
  • Marine Technology
Prof. Dr. Wurl investigates the interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere, focusing in particular on the surface films of the oceans, which are only a few hundred micrometres thick. This area, also known as the sea-surface microlayer, is a habitat with extreme physico-chemical and biological conditions and global extent as well as significance, among other things for climate research. His group takes a multi- and interdisciplinary approach and develops its own technologies, such as a remotely operated catamaran, drifting measurement labs and micro-profiling probes. His work includes numerous expeditions from the tropics to the remotest polar regions to gain new knowledge in global matter cycles and climate change.
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Prof. Dr Oliver Zielinski

Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde

Research interests:

  • Marine sensor technology
  • Artificial intelligence (for environment and sustainability)
Oliver Zielinski is Professor of Earth System Research with the Maritime Systems profile line at the University of Rostock. He has also been Director of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) since March 2023. The expert in environmental physics of aquatic ecosystems and smart technologies was previously Professor of Marine Sensor Systems at the University of Oldenburg, where he founded the Centre for Marine Sensor Systems at the Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Sea (ICBM) and the Competence Centre "Artificial Intelligence for Environment and Sustainability" at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).
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Alumni 2020-2022

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