News from around the Institute of Geosciences
Inaugural lecture on deep earthquakes as a mystery from the depths by Prof. Marcel
At the Dies Academicus of the 2025/26 winter semester, Prof. Marcel Thielmann presented the current theories and hypotheses on deep earthquakes in his lecture and explained how modern computer simulations can help to understand the physical processes responsible for these phenomena.
Climate monitoring by the University of Bonn at the Bundeskunsthalle
The working group Climate Monitoring led by junior professor Leonie Esters from the Department of Meteorology at the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Bonn is contributing to the exhibition ‘Expedition Weltmeere’ at the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn.
Institute participation at DIE EXZELLENZUNIVERSITÄT BONN LÄDT on the topic Storms, Heat, Floods – Extreme Weather
On November 19, Prof. Dr. Andreas Hense, PD Dr. Petra Friedrichs, and Junior Professor Dr. Leonie Esters represented our institute at the event “The Excellence University Bonn Invites You: Storms, Heat, Floods – Extreme Weather” and presented their research to a broad audience.
Field days in the module ‘Geophysical Data Evaluation and Field Exercise’, WS 25/26
In beautiful November weather, the Environmental Geophysics Working Group successfully held this year's field days for the bachelor's module ‘Geophysical Data Analysis and Field Exercise’. As part of the event, prospective geophysicists from the University of Bonn gained their first practical experience with the various geophysical measurement methods used for non-invasive exploration of the subsurface.
Licensing workshop Hamburg
In November 2025, KlimaOER organised a workshop on licensing OER materials in Hamburg. Presentations on topics such as ‘(Copyright) Legal Foundations of Open Educational Resources’, ‘Licensing in Practice in the OER Context’ and ‘Licence Management and Compliance’ gave workshop participants a deeper insight into the topic of licensing.
Celebrating Excellence: Yohanes Ginting Honored with DAAD Prize at the 2025 International Days
Yohanes Ginting, a PhD student at our institute received the prestigious DAAD Prize during the International Days of the University of Bonn. The DAAD Prize is an award presented by the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) in recognition of Yohanes outstanding academic achievements and social and community engagement.
Visit to the Geophysics Department on Science Day at Beethoven Gymnasium Bonn
As part of Science Day, pupils from Beethoven Gymnasium Bonn visited the Geophysics Department of the Institute of Geosciences today, accompanied by their physics teacher, to gain exciting insights into the world of Earth system physics.
OERcamp 2025 Hannover
At the beginning of October, some of our team took part in OERcamp 2025 in Hannover. The aim of the camp is to facilitate exchange between participants. We gained many new insights through exciting workshops and lectures. Ellen Arimond gave a workshop on OEP on our behalf, and we also began the first test phase of our best practice example there.
Joost Hase receives doctorate in geophysics with ‘summa cum laude’
We congratulate Joost Hase, who today received his doctorate in geophysics with ‘summa cum laude’.
Double degree in geophysics successfully launched
The double degree programme in geophysics was successfully launched in the winter semester 2025/26 and marks an important milestone in the cooperation between the Universities of Bonn and Padua.
Osmium in the Mantle: Prof. Ambre Luguet’s Latest Contribution in Elements
"Elements" explores every 2 months a theme of broad and current geochemical interest and is dedicated to a "non-expert scientist and non-scientist" audience.
Award-winning: The “Children in the Climate Crisis” project is a model of sustainability
On August 28, 2025, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German UNESCO Commission presented the “National Award – Education for Sustainable Development.”
Research campaign at a tropical peat swamp forest in Indonesia
In early April 2025, Yohanes Ginting, a PhD student in the Climate Monitoring Group, conducted a fieldwork campaign in a tropical peat swamp forest in Indonesia.
Dr. Anna Zoporowski is awarded the Teaching Award of the University of Bonn!
The University of Bonn has honored Dr. Anna Zoporowski from the Meteorology and Geophysics teaching unit at the Institute of Geosciences in the Earth Sciences department and 13 other lecturers for their outstanding commitment with the Teaching Awards 2025. The prize recipients were chosen by students themselves. Professor Klaus Sandmann, Vice Rector for Teaching, Learning and University Development presented the prize certificates at a ceremony on the Hofgarten lawn in Bonn as part of the Universitätsfest attended by over 7,000 people.
Dr. Anna Zoporowski is a lecturer in the Meteorology and Geophysics teaching unit at the Institute of Geosciences in the Earth Sciences department and teaches modules such as “General Geophysics”, “Mathematical Methods in Geophysics”, “Introduction to Geophysics”, “Tectonophysics” and numerous additional courses with great commitment to students on the B. Sc. Meteorology and Geophysics, M.Sc. Physics of the Earth and Atmosphere, B.Sc. Geosciences and M.Sc. Geology. In her role as course manager and student advisor for the Meteorology and Geophysics teaching unit, she also provides outstanding support and guidance to students with competence, passion and commitment. Dr. Anna Zoporowski also coordinates international student exchanges in the teaching unit.
OER
OER stands for Open Educational Resources. In short, this means learning materials that are available to everyone free of charge.There are learning materials in all conceivable subject areas and levels that are provided with open licenses: the so-called Creative Commons or CC licenses. This means that the materials can be used, shared, edited, mixed, stored and reproduced.
Joost Hase awarded the ABC/J Research Prize 2025 for Early Career Scientists
Joost Hase from the Geophysics Section at the Institute of Geosciences at University of Bonn has been awarded the second place in the ABC/J Research Award 2025 for Early Career Scientists. His work is entitled “Model inference and uncertainty quantification in complex resistivity imaging”. In his research, he is developing new methods for model-based inversion and uncertainty quantification in complex resistivity imaging (CRI) - a method for imaging electrical properties of the subsurface using induced polarization (IP).
European Geoscience Union in Vienna
The EGU (European Geoscience Union) took place in Vienna at the beginning of May: an international conference by and for 20,000 geoscientists, most of whom took part on site, but also online. Among others, a few people from our institute went there and informed themselves and networked in the most diverse sub-areas of meteorology.
Survey on the start of studies in meteorology
In a national survey, we are shedding light on the expectations, hopes and challenges of first-year meteorology students. Our aim is to better understand what drives young students - and where they need support. The results will provide valuable insights into how to make the start of their studies more successful.
Successful interim evaluation of Jun.-Prof. Dr. Leonie Esters
We congratulate Jun.-Prof. Dr. Leonie Esters, Junior Professor of Climate Monitoring, on successfully passing the midterm evaluation of her tenure track professorship.
New interim professor
We are pleased to welcome our new interim professor, Dr. Christoph Renkl, who joined the institute in the Meteorology Section on March 15th.
Prof. Dr. Marcel Thielmann introduces himself as the newly established Chair of W2 Geophysics/Geodynamics
Welcome to Prof. Dr. Marcel Thielmann! He took over the newly established Chair of W2 Geophysics/Geodynamics on March, 1st 2025 and introduces himself in this news post:
"I am a geodynamicist with a focus on developing and applying mathematical and computational models to understand the physical processes that control deformation of the Earth’s surface and interior. I am particularly interested in the interplay between processes on different scales. Current research projects range from deep earthquakes, flow of complex fluids through porous media, the rheology of Earth's lower mantle and the interaction between deep Earth processes and surface deformation."
Welcome to the Geophysics Section and the Institute of Geosciences!
„Open Source Tools“ – Our second workshop
How do I create animations for my OER module? How do I separate an image from the background for my new logo? How do I put a voice recording over an educational video - and all in the spirit of OER? In conversations at OER conferences, within our team and with the OER community, we have learned that we at KlimaOER are not the only ones who have asked ourselves these questions. In order to gain an overview ourselves and share it with the community, we organized an online workshop on open source tools.
Planning competition: Children in the climate crisis
The Erasmus+ project Children in the Climate Crisis is organising a planning competition until 15 March 2025. All information on participation and prizes can be found here!
OER Festival - Session report
How can formulas be made accessible for everyone? This question was the focus of our session at the OERcamp 2024. In addition to an introduction to digital accessibility, the exchange with participants from different disciplines provided valuable new impulses - from technical solutions to interdisciplinary project ideas.
OER Festival - learning, networking, sharing
From November 18 to 20, 2024, the OER Festival took place in Essen, combining the ORCA.nrw conference and the OERCamp. The event offered space for professional exchange, joint problem-solving and the development of new approaches in the field of Open Educational Resources (OER).
Work Mode Off – Meteorology and Geophysics at work
In order to give students on the Meteorology and Geophysics course an insight into the diverse career opportunities in this field, a series of lectures has been launched in which people who work in this field talk about their work lives.
Field days in the Applied Geophysics module, WS 24/25
Once again this winter semester, we held our three field days in the mug515 / BW56 Applied Geophysics module at the beginning of November.
Welcome to the new parent-child office of the Meteorological Institute!
All information about the parent-child room such as equipment, booking etc. can be found here.
Digital accessibility - what to consider when creating your content
As in the real world, accessibility and inclusion play an important role in the digital world. This is not just about the usability or comprehensibility of content; accessibility should also be considered in the design of text and images.
“Digital inclusion” - our first workshop
How can OER content be made as accessible as possible? We addressed this question during the two-day workshop in Bonn in the form of an interactive presentation. We were supported by the CIMND* department of the Asta of the University of Bonn. During a museum visit to the Haus der Geschichte, we looked at different forms of presentation and how inclusive they are designed.