Claudia Klüppelberg is a Professor and Chair of Mathematical Statistics at the Center for Mathematical Sciences, Technische Universität München (TUM). Her academic journey includes positions at ETH Zurich, University of Mainz, and TUM since 1997. She holds a Carl von Linde Senior Fellowship at TUM-IAS, focusing on Risk Analysis and Stochastic Modeling. Her research bridges applied probability, statistics, and their applications in finance and insurance, emphasizing extreme value theory, risk processes, and stochastic networks. She has received prestigious awards such as the New Frontiers in Risk Management Award (2007) and Cross of Merit (2001). Her work addresses real-world challenges in financial risk management, including systemic risk in networks and operational risk modeling. Her recent publications explore causal analysis of extreme risks in networks, max-linear models, and Bayesian networks for extreme events. She contributes to academic leadership as an editorial board member and advisor, promoting interdisciplinary stochastic sciences.
Prof. Dr. Carola Sauter-Louis serves as Head of the Institute of Epidemiology (IfE) at the University of Rostock's Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. As a veterinarian epidemiologist with specialization in veterinary public health (Dip. ECVPH), she leads research on animal disease outbreaks and their socioeconomic implications. Veterinary Medicine Doctorate (Dr. med. vet.) Postdoctoral Degree (PD Dr.) European College of Veterinary Public Health (Dip. ECVPH) certification Her research focuses on African Swine Fever and Lumpy Skin Disease epidemiology, examining transmission dynamics in wild boar populations, environmental risk factors, and vaccine development. Recent work includes spatial analysis of outbreaks and economic impact assessments of animal disease control measures. Key publication trends show strong emphasis on: Disease seasonality and environmental drivers Epidemiological modeling of infection spread Wild boar population dynamics Cost-benefit analysis of veterinary interventions As an active participant in international science-policy conferences (ICASH, ISESSAH), she contributes to developing effective animal health surveillance systems through interdisciplinary collaboration.
Dr. Michael Thiel is a Senior Scientist at the Chair of Remote Sensing at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, affiliated with the Philosophische Fakultät and the Department of Remote Sensing within the Institute of Geography and Geology. His academic career includes leadership roles in projects like WASCAL, TelePAtH, and AgriSens DEMMIN 4.0, focusing on climate change impacts in West Africa, remote sensing applications for agriculture, and urban development analysis. He holds a PhD in Remote Sensing from the University of Trier (2013), specializing in SAR data texture analysis for urban area characterization. His research integrates satellite data with geospatial tools to study land use dynamics, climate adaptation strategies, and environmental conservation across Africa and Central Asia. Key research areas include: Climate change impacts on agriculture and urban systems Remote sensing of land cover/land use changes Satellite-based monitoring of soil sealing and impervious surfaces GIS applications for sustainable resource management Decision support systems for climate-resilient agriculture His 2025 publications highlight advancements in spatial decision support systems for West African agriculture, climate adaptation strategies in urban areas, and the use of Earth observations to assess maize cropping systems' vulnerability to climate variability. Recent work also addresses rural industrialization effects on migration patterns and biodiversity conservation. Dr. Thiel is affiliated with organizations like the African Studies Association Germany and serves on the advisory board of the AWARD - One Planet Fellowship. He contributes to international collaborations such as the Climate Change and Land Use Graduate School at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana). His research outputs include over 50 peer-reviewed articles since 2007, focusing on remote sensing techniques for environmental monitoring, urban dynamics analysis, and agricultural sustainability in developing regions.
Judith Josupeit (Dr. rer. nat.) is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany. She specializes in human factors research within virtual reality environments, focusing on interindividual differences in cybersickness susceptibility and physiological indicators of VR-induced discomfort.
Prof. Dr. Anita Kirmer is Acting Professor of Vegetation Science at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Anhalt), Department 1: Agriculture, Nutritional Science and Landscape Development, Bernburg campus, Germany. Since 2019 she has also been a Privatdozentin (private lecturer) at TU Berlin . Her career combines research, teaching and applied restoration practice focused on biodiversity enhancement in farmland, ecological restoration of grasslands and post-mining landscapes, and climate-adapted land management. Education & Career Path 1994 – Diploma Biology, University of Hohenheim 2003 – Dr. rer. nat. (Geobotany), Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg 2017 – Habilitation & Venia legendi in Applied Biodiversity Research, TU Berlin 2021-present – Acting Professor of Vegetation Science, Hochschule Anhalt Research Focus Prof. Kirmer’s work centres on restoring biodiversity in degraded ecosystems , especially: Long-term experiments on species-rich field margins and wildflower strips in intensive farmland. Developing best-practice methods for restoring open habitats (grasslands, fringes, post-mining slopes). Climate-change adaptation strategies in viticulture and grassland management. Knowledge transfer between science and practice for green-sector professionals. Research Funding & Projects She currently leads or co-leads numerous large, externally funded projects: AgriRestore (DFG, 2024-2029) – ecosystem restoration across scales for biodiversity & climate resilience. Grassworks (BMBF, 2021-2024) – multi-region assessment of successful grassland restoration concepts. LIFE VineAdapt (EU LIFE, 2020-2025) – sustainable viticulture adapting to climate change. TEAM#UP & TRAIN#ER (Erasmus+, 2022-2027) – vocational excellence in ecological restoration training. Further projects funded by DBU, ELER, BMBF, EU Interreg, etc. Scientific Output & Recognition Prof. Kirmer has authored >100 peer-reviewed publications, co-edited international handbooks (e.g., Guidelines for Native Seed Production and Grassland Restoration , Cambridge Scholars), and published practical guides widely used by practitioners. She is active in the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) and the Ecological Society of Germany (GfÖ). Laboratories & Collaborations She heads activities within the KAT Competence Center LIFE SCIENCES at Hochschule Anhalt and collaborates with >30 national and international partners (e.g., TU München, Leuphana Lüneburg, Thünen Institute, Universities of Alicante & Greifswald, NINA Norway, Czech Academy of Sciences).
Prof. Claas Nendel is a Professor at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), leading the Ecosystem Modelling and Landscape Modelling groups within Research Area 4 'Simulation and Data Science'. His work focuses on agroecosystem dynamics, climate change impacts, and crop modelling integration with remote sensing data. Research interests include: Simulation of crop-water-nutrient interactions Climate adaptation strategies for European agriculture Remote sensing applications in agricultural monitoring He has pioneered the MONICA model for agroecosystem simulation and contributed to AgMIP global crop modelling initiatives. Recent studies emphasize soybean and wheat system resilience under climate change, irrigation mapping via satellite fusion, and drought risk assessments. Awards include his role as Past ESA President (European Society for Agronomy). Key projects involve: Intercropping systems optimization Grassland mowing detection via Sentinel time series Soil organic matter dynamics under no-till practices His work bridges field experimentation with large-scale modelling to address agricultural sustainability challenges.
Gerd Gleixner serves as a Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany, and holds an Associate Professor position at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. His primary affiliation is with the Department of Biogeochemical Processes (BGP), where he leads research on molecular-scale biogeochemical cycles. His research focuses on molecular biogeochemistry , particularly the origin, turnover, and stability of soil organic matter, carbon transport in plant metabolism, and biodiversity's role in biogeochemical cycles. Key projects include the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) and Aqua Diva, examining ecosystem processes across spatial and temporal scales. His work integrates isotopic techniques with molecular analyses to understand carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Analysis of his 2021-2023 publications reveals strong emphasis on plant-soil-microbe interactions , paleoclimate reconstruction using biomarkers, and dissolved organic matter characterization . Methodologically, his work bridges field observations with advanced analytical techniques including mass spectrometry and isotope ratio measurements. 2022 Top Scientists (Environmental Sciences; #527 worldwide, #36 nationally) 2016 Thuringian Research Prize for Basic Research Gleixner actively mentors through the International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles, which he has led as Spokesperson since 2017. His research involves significant international collaborations, particularly in Tibetan Plateau studies and Amazon basin research. Current laboratory work centers on molecular-level analyses of organic matter using state-of-the-art facilities at the Max Planck Institute.
Dr. Michael Rzanny is a Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany, working within the Department of Biogeochemical Integration and the Biod.AI.versity Observation & Integration research group. His work focuses on leveraging technology and citizen science to advance ecological research. Email: mrzanny@... Location: Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany Dr. Rzanny's research spans several critical areas in ecology and biodiversity science. He specializes in plant phenology , using citizen science data and machine learning to monitor and predict plant life cycle events across Central European forests and grasslands. His work also explores multitrophic interactions , examining how plant diversity affects predator and herbivore specialization in complex ecosystems. Additionally, he contributes to digital taxonomy through mobile apps like Flora Incognita and Flora Capture, which enable automated plant species identification using smartphone technology. His research extends to functional diversity in grassland ecosystems, analyzing how species richness impacts ecological multifunctionality and food web stability. Dr. Rzanny's publications demonstrate a strong trend toward integrating automated image analysis with ecological monitoring . His work on phenological dynamics combines observational networks, citizen science databases, and land surface models to understand climate change impacts on plant communities. He has developed methodologies for leaf shape analysis using deep learning, validated through geometric morphometrics. His projects like Flora Incognita and Flora Capture emphasize the potential of mobile applications in transforming biodiversity research and public engagement with natural environments.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joachim Denzler is a Professor leading the Chair for Digital Image Processing (Lehrstuhl für Digitale Bildverarbeitung) at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. His research spans computer vision, machine learning, medical imaging, and remote sensing applications across diverse domains including biomedical analysis, environmental monitoring, and facial recognition systems. His research interests focus on explainable AI, causal discovery, physics-informed neural networks, and bias mitigation in deep learning models. He has made significant contributions to fine-grained classification, concept activation vectors, and privacy-preserving techniques in facial recognition. His work often bridges theoretical computer vision with practical applications in medical diagnostics, environmental science, and infrastructure monitoring. His recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward causal discovery methods, physics-informed neural networks, and addressing bias in machine learning systems. His work spans both theoretical advancements in model interpretability and practical applications in medical imaging, environmental monitoring, and infrastructure safety. The interdisciplinary nature of his research is evident from collaborations with ecologists, neuroscientists, and civil engineers. Best Paper Award at International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR) 2024 Prof. Denzler actively mentors numerous PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, with frequent co-authors including Maha Shadaydeh, Niklas Penzel, Gideon Stein, and Tim Büchner appearing as first authors on significant publications. His laboratory has secured research funding across multiple domains including medical imaging, environmental monitoring, and AI safety. His work on CausalRivers represents a major contribution to benchmarking causal discovery methods with real-world time series data. The Chair for Digital Image Processing maintains strong industry and clinical partnerships, particularly in medical imaging applications for facial palsy analysis and neonatal care. Prof. Denzler's team has developed novel techniques for dam deformation monitoring using remote sensing data and created advanced methods for analyzing plant diversity effects on ecosystem functioning.
Dr. Christian Klassert is a researcher at the Department of Economics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, where he serves as co-speaker of the Working Group Social-Science Water Research. His work spans international water security projects focusing on Jordan, India, and Germany. Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Economics, UFZ (since 09/2021) Previous Positions: Researcher at UFZ (2017-2021), Researcher at Leipzig University (2014-2017), Research Assistant at UFZ Bioenergy Department (2011-2014), Visiting Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University (2022-2023) Dr. Klassert holds a PhD in Economics from Leipzig University (2021), where he received summa cum laude honors for his thesis on decentralized private water service provision in intermittent supply systems in Jordan. He also earned a European Master in Law and Economics and LL.M. from the Universities of Hamburg, Ghent, and Haifa, and a German academic law degree from Mainz University where he ranked second in his state-wide examination. His research combines coupled human-natural systems modeling, agent-based modeling, and econometrics to assess water security impacts of unequal urban water access and agricultural droughts. Klassert contributes to major international projects including the Jordan Water Project, FUSE Project in India's Upper Bhima Basin, and agricultural drought adaptation research through UFZ Graduate Schools AGRI-TRANSFORM and Thirsty Cities. His interdisciplinary approach integrates economic, social, and environmental dimensions of water security challenges. Analysis of his publication record reveals a strong focus on urban water security, particularly examining informal water markets, household water demand under intermittent supply, and the water-energy nexus. His work increasingly incorporates climate change impacts on water resources and agricultural systems, with a growing emphasis on equity dimensions of water access and infrastructure planning. The geographic scope of his research spans the Middle East (particularly Jordan), South Asia (India), and Europe (Germany). Dr. Klassert received the UFZ Research Award in 2022 for his interdisciplinary work assessing future water crisis risks in Jordan. He serves as a reviewer for prestigious journals including Nature Water, One Earth, and Water Resources and Economics, and co-chairs the Working Group Human Systems Modeling within the MultiSector Dynamics community of practice. His research is supported through multiple international projects including the UFZ Graduate Schools AGRI-TRANSFORM and Thirsty Cities, Future Earth project NexusFootprints, Belmont Forum projects FUSE and Jordan Water Project, and BMUB project JordanCap. These projects involve extensive international collaboration with research institutions in Germany, the United States, Jordan, and India. Klassert's work is conducted within the Department of Economics at UFZ, which focuses on interdisciplinary environmental economics research. His projects often involve close collaboration with stakeholders through workshops and participatory approaches, particularly in the Food-Water-Energy Nexus research in Amman, Jordan and Pune, India.
Prof. Michael Beer is the Executive Director of the Institute for Risk and Reliability at Leibniz University Hannover. He holds a professorship in the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodetic Science and serves on the Faculty Council. His research focuses on structural reliability, uncertainty quantification, and risk analysis with applications in civil engineering systems. He leads the Collaborative Research Centres (CRC) 871 and 1463, addressing regeneration of complex capital goods and offshore megastructure design, respectively. His work integrates machine learning, Bayesian methods, and stochastic modeling to address challenges in seismic vulnerability, geotechnical systems, and reliability-based design optimization. Beer is also a member of the Leibniz Research Centre Energy 2050, emphasizing interdisciplinary energy systems research. Beer's research interests span probabilistic modeling of dynamic systems, uncertainty propagation in engineering systems, and data-driven methods for reliability assessment. His recent publications emphasize computational methods for reliability, machine learning applications, and seismic risk analysis. He actively contributes to academic leadership roles, including editorial boards and research center management.
Ulman Lindenberger is Managing Director (2006-2009, 2016-2019, 2025-2027) and Director of the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. He concurrently serves as Co-Director of the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research. He holds honorary professorships at Freie Universität Berlin, Universität des Saarlandes, and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Education includes a Dipl.-Psych. from Technische Universität Berlin (1985), Dr. phil. from Freie Universität Berlin (1990 summa cum laude ), and Habilitation in Psychology (1998). His research examines: Behavioral and neural plasticity across lifespan Brain-behavior relationships Lifespan developmental theory Multivariate developmental methodology Formal models of behavioral change His publications focus on cognitive aging patterns, neural plasticity mechanisms, and methodological innovations in lifespan psychology. Research demonstrates consistent themes: neurocognitive dedifferentiation in aging, dopaminergic modulation of cognition, and environmental influences on brain plasticity. Awards include: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (2010) Fellow of Royal Society (2025) Foreign Member of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2023) Mentoring Award of German Psychological Society (2011) He has supervised over 50 doctoral students and secured major grants including DFG collaborative projects, BMBF initiatives (Berlin Aging Study I/II), EU Horizon 2020 (LIFEBRAIN), and Max Planck Society strategic funds. Leads multidisciplinary teams at Center for Lifespan Psychology and Max Planck UCL Centre, coordinating international projects like COBRA (Cognition, Brain, and Aging) and SYNAPSE.
Prof. Dr. Kai Arzheimer is the Department Head of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. He holds the academic rank of Professor and specializes in domestic politics, political sociology, and the study of right-wing parties. His research focuses on the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Euroscepticism, populism, and electoral behavior. Arzheimer has been a key figure in analyzing the East-West divide in German politics and the socio-cultural dimensions of political secularism. He teaches advanced seminars on social movements, populism, and Euroscepticism, including courses like 'Social Movements' (BA/MEd) and 'Populism, Euroscepticism and Attitudes towards Foreign Policy' (MA). His work bridges electoral sociology with methodological innovations, such as developing scales for measuring political secularism and assessing polling accuracy. Recent research highlights include studies on the correlation between far-right attitudes and Islamophobia, critiques of historical explanations for radical-right support, and analyses of local context effects on populist voting. Arzheimer's publications span high-impact journals like Party Politics and Electoral Studies , reflecting his commitment to both theoretical and empirical political science.
Xiao Bi, M.Sc. , is a Tutor and researcher at the Professorship for Environmental Sensors and Modeling at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) . He is based in room N1506B and contributes to atmospheric pollution research through instrument development, data analysis, and teaching in environmental sensing. Research Focus : Development of NO 2 and air pollutant sensors using CAPS technology, analysis of ground-based and satellite data during the COVID-19 pandemic, and implementation of in-situ and mobile measurement systems in Munich. Teaching Role : Tutor for Lab Courses on Innovative Atmospheric Sensing Devices, Advanced Seminars in Environmental Sensing, and Joint Practical Courses on Electromagnetic Sensors and Measurement Systems. His publications (2018–2022) highlight trends in atmospheric pollution monitoring , sensor technology for greenhouse gases, and machine learning applications in artificial olfaction. Notable collaborations include work with Prof. Jia Chen and Frank Keutsch . Xiao Bi has been recognized with the Hans Fischer Fellowship , underscoring his contributions to urban environmental research and sensor innovation.
Prof. Dr. Uwe Schlink is a leading Professor at the Institute of Meteorology, University of Leipzig, and Senior Researcher at the Department of Urban & Environmental Sociology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ. His work focuses on urban climate research , thermal comfort , urban air quality , and statistical modelling with Bayesian inference. He leads the working group on urban climate and personal exposure, bridging environmental science with societal resilience. Affiliation: University of Leipzig (since 2009) and UFZ (since 2013) Research Themes: Urban heat islands, personal exposure to environmental stressors, statistical climate models, and health impacts of air pollution His research spans environmental health , urban climatology , and resilient city planning , with significant contributions to understanding thermodynamic interactions between urban structures and climate. He has pioneered methods for high-resolution land surface temperature analysis and green infrastructure performance in mitigating heat stress. Recent publications (2023-2025) highlight his work on PM2.5-bound PAH exposure , anthropogenic heat impacts in Beijing, and Asian plateau climate dynamics . Collaborative projects address urban heat stress , green roofs , and health-focused urban planning .
