Benedikt Soja

Benedikt Soja serves as Assistant Professor of Space Geodesy at ETH Zurich since 2020 and holds the position of Deputy Head at the Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry within the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Geodesy and Geoinformation, TU Vienna (2016)
• Diplom-Ingenieur (MSc) in Geodesy and Geophysics, TU Vienna (2013)

Research Interests: Dr. Soja specializes in space geodesy with emphasis on machine learning applications for geodetic data analysis, space weather monitoring, and ionosphere/thermosphere modeling. His work integrates artificial intelligence to advance real-time geodetic techniques and satellite mission data interpretation, particularly focusing on space weather event detection and geodetic space weather research.

Scientific Awards:

• SNSF Starting Grant (2024)
• Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award of the EGU Geodesy Division (2019)
• Friedrich-Robert-Helmert Prize for best Ph.D. thesis at GFZ Potsdam (2016/2017)
• Stipend of Excellence (Austrian Federal Ministry, 2017)
• Promotio sub auspiciis Praesidentis rei publicae (2017)
• NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow (2016)
• Bernd Rendel prize for Geosciences (2015)

Advising and Grants: Leading research funded by competitive grants including the prestigious SNSF Starting Grant (2024), Dr. Soja mentors graduate students in space geodesy while directing projects on AI-driven geodetic analysis. His leadership in international geodetic organizations demonstrates significant research impact despite limited public details on specific advisees.

Labs and Teams: Chairs the GGOS Focus Area on AI for Geodesy (2023-present) and previously led the International Association of Geodesy's Inter-Commission Committee on Theory Joint Study Group for Machine Learning in Geodesy (2019-2023), directing collaborative research on geodetic space weather monitoring and real-time analysis techniques.