MICMoR partners

MICMoR Research School is hosted by the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU) of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). KIT, a higher education and research organisation with about 8,800 employees and 20,000 students, was established in October 2009 through a merger of University of Karlsruhe (founded in 1825) and Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (founded in 1956) within the Helmholtz Association. It is the largest research and university education institution in Germany, and has established excellent international research and teaching in natural sciences and engineering. One of KIT’s key competence areas and research foci is climate and environmental research, organised in its Climate and Environment Center, to which IMK-IFU is affiliated.

Research activities pursued by IMK-IFU in Garmisch-Partenkirchen concentrate on the influence of anthropogenic activities on the chemical composition of the earth’s atmosphere and the resulting impacts on the environment. These environmental issues are studied comprehensively from their cause to the effects in the atmosphere, the terrestrial hydrosphere and the biosphere, using experimental and modelling approaches. IMK-IFU consists of 7 research groups, i.e. Ecosystem Matter Fluxes, Bio-Geo-Chemical Processes, Regionalization of Fluxes, Atmospheric Variability and Trends, Regional Coupling of Ecosystem-Atmosphere Processes, Climate and Water, and Complex Terrain. It is home to six leading scientists holding teaching chairs or other professorial appointments, supported by over 30 scientists with long standing experience in climate change research and university education. Currently 35 PhD candidates from countries all over the world receive scientific training in an internationally connected research environment at IMK-IFU.

KIT sets standards in teaching and promotion of young scientists, and hosts various Graduate Programmes to support scientific careers such. Karlsruhe House of Young Scientists (KHYS) is a central service and coordination institution for all doctoral and postdoctoral researchers at KIT and responsible for the KIT-wide quality management of the doctoral phase. It provides general information, counselling and mentoring and offers an extensive range of transferable skills training possibilities. The Graduate School for Climate and Environment (GRACE) is a Helmholtz Graduate School for PhD candidates of the KIT Center for Climate and Environment. It provides a coherent framework for the qualification of doctoral candidates in the field of environmental research. GRACE offers highly specialised and interdisciplinary knowledge and encourages the establishment of international networks through trips abroad, summer schools and courses.

Since its inception in 1868, Technische Universität München (TUM) has established its reputation as a foremost academic institution with 6 Nobel prizes and many other prestigious awards, and has repeatedly been ranked as the number one German research university. TUM covers a wide spectrum of fundamental and applied research ranging from engineering, natural sciences, including life and medical sciences, to economics. Today TUM comprises 13 faculties with more than 24,400 students (about 20 percent international), 437 professors, and roughly 8,000 staff.

In TUM's Centre for Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan with its Departments of Ecology and Ecosystem Management, and Plant Sciences, core research topics include biotechnology and genetic engineering, biogenetic raw materials, nutrition and food products, sustainable land use, eco-system research and ecology. Life and Food Sciences, Land Use and Environment are future-orientated fields of research that are at the centre of 21st century scientific interest.

TUM has successfully established two Graduate Centers to support graduate training, i.e. TUM Graduate School and since March 2010, Graduate Center Weihenstephan (GZW) at TUM's Centre for Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan. The TUM Graduate School with its structured research training and mentoring programme for all TUM PhD candidates is an innovative approach to German doctoral education, living up to highest international standards. Through a wide range of interdisciplinary advanced training courses, training in transferable skills and general services, the TUM Graduate School and its corresponding Graduate Centers (to which PhD candidates need to be enrolled) encourage networking amongst doctoral candidates and emphasize interdisciplinarity, international orientation and exchange thereby offering doctorates the opportunity to break the boundaries of their faculties. Graduate Center Weihenstephan (GZW) administers the Graduate Programme accompanying the dissertation work of doctoral candidates from the Centre for Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan. GZW provides general information and counselling on doctoral programmes, mentor search, research stays abroad, and career possibilities for PostDocs.

The Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich (LMU) is one of the leading research universities in Europe, founded in 1472. The university has approximately 700 professors and 3,300 academic staff members, conducting research and teaching of some 47,000 students (15% international) in 18 faculties that cover all areas of knowledge, from humanities and cultural sciences, to law, economics and sociology, or medicine and the sciences.

The Meteorological Institute (MIM) is part of the Faculty of Physics of LMU and offers the full spectrum of meteorological education in bachelor, master and doctoral programmes. Research topics include atmospheric radiative transfer, remote sensing of clouds and aerosols, predictability of weather and climate using stochastic theory, numerical modelling and data analysis. The institute maintains close collaboration in research and teaching with the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, covering topics such as climate modelling and climate change, satellite meteorology, aerosol and cloud physics, climate impact of air traffic.

The Department of Geography belongs to the Faculty for Geosciences of LMU and consists of a staff of 9 professors and approximately 35 permanent research staff and covers the full palette of geographical research and education (physical and social science) with degree programmes at the bachelor, master and doctoral level. The Department places its special research emphasis on regional sustainability research with large research projects in remote sensing, regional climate change impact studies and hydrologic modelling in mountain regions.

The Graduate Center-LMU is the central coordination and support unit for doctoral studies at LMU and a service point for questions and information on existing PhD programmes. It assists in developing an appropriate infrastructure for new structured doctoral programmes, and offers advice and assistance to doctoral programmes. It also offers interdisciplinary training of transferable skills.

The University of Augsburg (UNA) started with teaching and research in October 1970. Today it includes 7 faculties with a total number of approximately 16,000 students. The Faculty of Applied Computer Science was founded in 2003, comprising of the Institute of Computer Science and the Institute for Geography. It offers first-class under-graduate, graduate and PhD programmes in the corresponding disciplines that are both application-oriented and research-driven. UNA's Institute for Geography participates in the Elite Graduate Programme Global Change Ecology, jointly with the Universities of Bayreuth and Würzburg, as part of the Elite Network of Bavaria (ENB).

The faculty is committed to basic and applied research in Computer Science and Geography. Foci in Geography include geoinformatics, climate research, hydrology, and environmental research. The latter field implies close inter-disciplinary co-operation with the Environment Science Centre (WZU) at UNA. Both the Institute for Geography and the WZU are actively involved in the Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus. Main emphasis in Physical Geography is on Climate Dynamics and Climate Change as reflected in corresponding research projects. UNA's Institute for Geography and KIT/IMK-IFU are linked by the joint position as division head (IMK-IFU) and Chair for Regional Climate and Hydrology (UA) of Prof. H. Kunstmann.

The University of Bayreuth, one of the youngest German universities, was established in 1975. It has since developed to a full-spectrum university (currently approximately 9500 students – 8% international, 200 professorships and 1200 academic and research staff) including a dense net of cooperation and exchange with international universities and research organisations. The University of Bayreuth offers a wide range of traditional and innovative degree programmes at the bachelor, master and doctoral level. With its 6 faculties, including the sciences, arts and engineering, and various research centres the University of Bayreuth has also set out to form links and cooperations between different disciplines and faculties.

The interdisciplinary Bayreuth Centre of Ecology and Ecosystem Research (BayCEER) is a central research unit of the University of Bayreuth. It seeks to promote research in sustainability, protection and remediation of natural resources, as well as knowledge transfer to stakeholders. Concentrations in research include: ecosystem functioning, biodiversity, environmental toxicology and bioremediation, and climate research. In cooperation with university departments, BayCEER integrates current topics in ecology and the environment into interdisciplinary courses. Furthermore, BayCEER is the point of contact and collaboration partner for government agencies, industry, societies and educational institutions. BayCEER has about 60 members (PostDoc, Professors) and some external members.

The University of Bayreuth and especially BayCEER highly encourage and support Masters and Graduate training programmes. E.g. BayCEER participates in TERRECO (Complex TERRain and ECOlogical Heterogeneity), a DFG funded international graduate research school. BayCEER is also the lead institution of the Global Change Ecology Masters Programme within the Elite Network of Bavaria programme. This programme has achieved high international visibility, with applicants from over 30 countries. It prepares participants for an interdisciplinary M.Sc. degree, but contains a "fast-track" option to the doctoral degree programme. The structured PhD programme PEER (PhD program for Ecology and Environmental Research) is part of the Bayreuth Graduate School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (BayNAT) starting in autumn 2009. It educates graduate students in Ecology and Environmental Research, a designated focus at the University of Bayreuth. Over 200 scholars and scientists in 25 research groups in the fields of Biology and Earth Sciences carry out work related to these themes. Research ranges from the structure and function of ecosystems, biodiversity assessments, and nature conservation to climate research and issues of environmental pollution and restoration ecology.

The roots of the Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg reach back as far as 1402 AD. Since then, many eminent scholars and scientists, 14 Nobel Laureates among them, have researched and taught in Würzburg. Today, Würzburg's university is counted among the medium-sized institutions of higher learning in Germany. At ten faculties, about 400 professors teach around 24,000 students. Würzburg University holds a position among the leading institutions in Germany – this is verified by the rankings of domestic and international research organizations and of international expert committees. On an international level as well, the University of Würzburg rates in the top bracket of academic institutions in many disciplines of science, for instance, in Biology, Medicine, Physics, and Psychology.

The University’s Institute for Geography and Geology collaborates with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) through the joint appointment of Prof. Stefan Dech to the Chair for Remote Sensing and as Director of the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) in Oberpfaffenhofen. The research group at the Department of remote sensing consisting of about 20 Post-Docs and PhD-students, has a profound expertise in optical, thermal, and microwave remote sensing, which is documented in numerous publications in respective research fields. Core research areas are land cover dynamics, ecosystem functions, biodiversity research and land management, also for mountainous regions. To analyse and monitor such processes, the department is continuously developing land cover parameters. Key parameters are land cover classifications, agricultural crop distribution and crop rotations, vegetation cover fractions, leaf area index, landscape metrics, net primary production, and evapotranspiration. Especially land cover parameters have a high potential for modelling in hydrology and climatology, for understanding ecosystem processes, and for impact assessments. The research is embedded in many international projects mostly in collaboration with DLR.

The University of Würzburg regards the promotion of junior academics as an essential responsibility. Establishing its Graduate Schools “Life Sciences”, “Science and Technology”, “Humanities”, and “Law, Economics & Society” in 2004 constitutes another milestone in this endeavor. These institutions provide doctoral candidates from all faculties with trainings of scientific and transferable skills and with the appropriate structures to continue and enhance their education.

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is Germany's national research center for aeronautics and space. Its extensive research and development work in aeronautics, space, transportation and energy is integrated into national and international cooperative ventures. As Germany's Space Agency, the German federal government has given DLR responsibility for the forward planning and implementation of the German space programme as well as international representation of Germany's interests. DLR’s mission comprises the exploration of the Earth and the solar system, research aimed at protecting the environment, and the development of environmentally-friendly technologies to promote mobility, communication and security. Approximately 7000 people work for DLR; the center has 32 institutes and facilities at 16 locations in Germany.

Foto: by DLR.

Three of DLR’S institutes are involved in MICMoR: the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IPA) and the Microwaves and Radar Institute (HR). All institutes support the development of future scientists, and offer positions for interns and diploma and doctoral candidates.

The German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) has facilities in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich and in Neustrelitz. Together with DLR’s Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF) DFD form the Earth Observation Center EOC, a competence center for earth observation in Germany. DFD supports science and industry as well as the general public. With its national and international receiving stations DFD offers direct access to data from earth observation missions, derives information products from the raw data, disseminates these products to users, and safeguards all data in the National Remote Sensing Data Library for long term use. Its geoscience research related to the atmosphere, global change and civil security facilitates access to products and approaches based on remote sensing and consolidates their utilization in scientific and public domains. DFD operates thematic user services, in particular the World Data Center for Remote Sensing of the Atmospheric (WDC-RSAT), and the Center for Satellite-based Crisis Information (ZKI). For a better understanding of climate change and global change and their influence on ecosystems and sustainable land management DFD develops methods for mapping crisis regions, models risk and vulnerability, and sets-up decision support systems for environmental and crisis-response activities. Furthermore value-added data products are generated, particularly relating to atmospheric trace gases and aerosols, geophysical and biophysical variables of terrestrial ecosystems, land use parameters, environmental indicators, and parameters of large population centers.

The Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IPA) is located at the DLR Campus Oberpfaffenhofen. It focusses on the research of the physical and chemical processes of the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The institute investigates the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere in the troposphere and stratosphere. The knowledge of dynamical, cloud physical, and chemical processes constitute the basis for many aerospace applications. On both, regional and global scales the relevant processes and changes of the state of the atmosphere are quantified and systematically investigated using remote sensing, research aircraft, and computational models. The research program of the institute is centered around weather and climate processes which are of strategic importance for the development of air traffic: wake vortices, weather information for on-time air traffic management as well as the climatic impact of aircraft emissions, contrails, and their effect on cirrus clouds. Novel lidar technologies are developed, tested and applied in order to obtain profiles of wind, ozone, and water vapour. These are fed into current projects of the European Space Agency (ESA). New sensors for the trace gases methane and carbon-dioxide are being developed. Innovative methods for the three-dimensional radiative transport and the processing of satellite data are used to determine the radiative properties of clouds. Research aircraft (Falcon, HALO) and model simulations provide important in-sights for research concerning troposphere and stratosphere from the polar regions right into the tropics. In the transport research area the emphasis lies on an evaluation of the environmental and climate impacts exerted by ships, trains, and automobiles.

Foto: by DLR.

The Microwaves and Radar Institute (HR) is located at the DLR Campus Oberpfaffenhofen. It contributes with its know-how and expertise in passive and active microwaves to the development and advancement of ground-based, airborne and spaceborne sensors. The focus of its research work is on the conception and development of new synthetic aperture radar (SAR) techniques and systems, as well as sensor-specific applications. The Institute‘s strength is the execution of long-term research programs with applications in remote sensing. In the last 5 years, the Institute has actively participated and also initiated several SAR missions and research programs that are decisive for its long-term strategy. Important examples are TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, F-SAR (new airborne SAR) and SAR-Lupe. It is also working on future remote sensing systems, such as Sentinel 1 (ESA GMES program), TerraSAR-X2 (follow-on to TerraSAR-X), HRWS (next generation X-band SAR with high-resolution wide-swath imaging), Tandem-L (L-band mission proposal in cooperation with NASA/JPL), BIOMASS and CoReH2O (ESA Earth Explorer mission candidates), VABENE (DLR project for traffic monitoring with radar) and the SAR-Lupe follow-on program. These projects are accompanied by research programs that ensure the Institute keeps a step ahead in the development of new research fields In line with the German space programme, the Institute works in close collaboration with the German space agency of DLR in Bonn, the European Space Agency ESA, the German industry, and the responsible ministries.

Helmholtz Zentrum München (HMGU), a National Research Centre for Environmental Health, with about 1600 staff, investigates chronic diseases which develop from the interaction of environmental factors and individual genetic disposition, by combination of the fields of biomedical and environmental research. The environmental research part focuses on the understanding of ecosystems toward the adaptation to global change constraints and possible effects on human health.

Research in the Institute of Soil Ecology (IBOE) focuses on the identification, prediction, and ecological evaluation of changes in biotic processes in soils resulting from anthropogenic activities. Research at IBOE is organized in groups focusing on: modelling of soil processes; functional microbe ecology of transformation in soils; interaction between organic pollutants and soil-plant systems; and substance flows in terrestrial ecosystems. The main aim is to investigate the impact of pollutants and land use on the soil as habitat, and the soil-regulated chemical balance and its impact on other environmental compartments like the atmosphere and water bodies. IBOE is closely linked to the Department of Ecology and Ecosystem Management of TUM, through the joint appointment of its director, Prof. J.-C. Munch, with the Chair for Soil Ecology at TUM. The final goal of adaptation of soil management toward global change constraints is pursued at the Research Farm Scheyern, with facilities for climate simulation and terrain analysis most ba non invasive analysis techniques. Scheyern belongs to the Alpine TERENO Observatory, a site of the Helmholtz-TERENO-Network.

Helmholtz Zentrum München places special value on the education and training of the young generation of scientists. As interdisciplinary research institution, the Center offers many outstanding work opportunities. The Center conducts research in more than a dozen scientific disciplines and is thus an attractive workplace for scientists. Approximately 430 doctoral students are trained at Helmholtz Zentrum München in joint programmes with Munich’s two elite universities. The Center's own Graduate School, the Helmholtz Graduate School Environmental Health (HELENA) offers graduate students optimal guidance and support.