My teaching scope

In my opinion, there is an urgent need to train students in interdisciplinary approaches beyond classic boundaries of scientific fields, especially during basic courses at the start of their education. I purposefully contribute to this objective, by preparing students for emerging challenges, and by giving them qualifications required for non-academic career paths.

Contributions at the university and research institute level illustrate my track record in this respect, with courses on geomorphology, environmental seismology, geospatial data analysis and management, and GFZ-internal and EGU-wide workshops on soft skills.

I have aimed at supporting the career development of students at national and European level, with a focus on shifting the depressing gender imbalance, building of networks and providing access to research tools.

Currenty, I contribute to the "geo"-component of the B.Sc. Ecosystem Management degree course at the Georg-August-University Göttingen. In close relation with my research scope, I welcome student's initiatives to ask for thesis opportunities. I am happy to advice and help developing theses themes of timely environmental relevance, including topics like:
Flood impact in central Euope, climate change affected coastal dynamics, hazards and transients in mountains, biogeomorphology and habitat changes due to landuse dynamics. If you want to learn more about these general topics, just contact me or come to my office.		 Im Moment trage ich vor allem zur "Geo"-Komponente des B.Sc. Studiengangs Ökosystem-Management, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen bei. Eng mit meiner Forschung verbunden freue ich mich über studentische Anfragen zu Abschlussarbeiten. Ich helfe gern bei der Entwicklung und Betreuung von Themen mit gesellschaftlicher Relevanz und Aktualität, wie zum Beispiel zu:
Hochwasserimpakt in Mitteleuropa, Klimawandelauswirkungen auf Küstendynamik, Gefahren und Transienten im Hochgebirge und Habitatveränderungen durch Landnutzungswandel. Wenn Sie mehr über diese generellen Themen erfahren möchten, kontaktieren Sie mich oder kommen Sie im Büro vorbei.


Courses I give

Courses I gave



Theses I offer

If you (1) are interested in the dynamics that are currently shaping the planet we live and also live from, (2) want to (learn to) work quantitatively, using state of the art field equipment and software tools, (3) willing to develop your own research strategy, and (4) keen on integration into active research programmes, then take a look at the figure below. I am constantly offering theses and student projects that fall into the 3D space defined by one of the Topics on the x-axis, use one or more of the Methods on the y-axis and operate in one of the Regions on the z-axis, feel free to contact me for possible thesis opportunities. A wide range of combinations is possible, see below for a crisp example.

The example above works on a hydrological or groundwater problem, using GIS methods, and focusses on the Ahr Valley as region of interest. Such a combination could, for example work on the detection of tile drainage systems from high resolution DEMs, to improve our knowledge on where headwater catchments are drained, how this changes flood wave formation during extreme rain events, and which spatial patterns of tail drainage management occur. That hypothetic thesis would be part of the currently running HiLandEr research project, and help local decision makers to better judge future impact of extreme situations.

Theses I have supervised or co-supervised

  • 2024
    • Geophysical detection von earth worm activity under natural conditions (BSc thesis)
    • Comparative Spatial Analysis of AI: Evaluating ChatGPT and Google Gemini (BSc thesis)
    • Role of vegetation change for overland flow during extreme precipitation events - a model for the region Altenau (Oberharz) (BSc thesis)
    • Impact of extreme precipitation events on the flood protection concept of Göttingen (BSc thesis)
  • 2023
    • Agricultural soil protection measures balancing economy and sustainability - the example of the Seebirger See catchment (MSc thesis)
    • Geomorphologic indices, drainage evolution and possible recent tectonics of the Weser-Leine region (BSc thesis)
    • Impact of Burn Severity of Forest Fires on Soil Hydrophobicity in Temperate Forests (BSc thesis)
  • 2022
    • Hillslope failure due to stream undercutting: The 2021 flood event in the Ahr valley and resulting mass movements (MSc thesis)
    • River processes following the 2018 abnormal monsoon in the Kali Gandaki River, Nepal (BSc thesis)
    • Impact of radiation change due to riparian vegetation loss on the river ecoysystem in the Ahr Valley (BSc thesis)
  • 2021
    • Hydrometeorological anaysis of the water potential of researvoirs during climatre change, based on exampels from Northrhine Westphalia (MSc thesis)
    • GIS-based high intensity rain risk analysis in the urban area of Bonn (MSc thesis)
    • GIS-based analysis of desert pavement distribution in Namibia (BSc thesis)
    • Tree species selection for "forests of the future" on a bark beetle calamity area, lower middle Rhine reach (BSc thesis)
    • Impact of climate change on Alpine tourism: potentials and threatsw of glacial lakes in the Saas Valley, Switzerland (BSc thesis)
    • Criteria of successful water management (BSc thesis)
    • Detection of permafrost in a rock glacier by ERT (Hohe Tauern, Austria) (BSc thesis)
    • Structural change in the Ruhr region regarding spatial recycling and environmental protection (BSc thesis)
    • Identifying subarctic river thermal and mechanical ice break-up using seismic sensing (MSc thesis)