03.08.2024

Graduations in the Working Group

We are very pleased to announce that Corinna Gall and Steffen Seitz have both finished a further stage in their careers and formally completed their dissertation and habilitation, respectively.

After Corinna had already successfully defended her dissertation last year with a great presentation, the final step now followed by the official graduation ceremony of the University of Tübingen. Numerous newly qualified doctoral students attended this ceremony in the ballroom of the new auditorium which was accompanied by musical performances of the academic brass quintet and a ceremonial speech by Prof. Dr. Kramer entitled „Jenseits des Konflikts. Grundzüge einer Rhetorik der Verständigung“

Steffen finalized his habilitation in Physical Geography and Geomorphology shortly after. His work on "Vegetation and Erosion - How do plant canopies and biological soil crusts affect soil translocation?" has provided valuable insights into the influence of plant traits and biodiversity on splash erosion, the impact of mosses and biological soil crusts on soil erosion and has formed the basis for knowledge transfer into new methods of erosion control on managed soils.

Steffen's final habilitation lecture, “Source or Sink? Soils as carbon reservoirs in climate change” demonstrated his expertise on the crucial role of soils in mitigating climate change and showed that he can communicate this knowledge to a broad audience in an understandable way. With this achievement, Steffen has acquired the venia legendi (licence to teach) in Physical Geography and Geomorphology.

To celebrate, we hosted a delightful barbecue in the Institute's garden, where Steffen received many great gifts: The first edition of the very famous soil science book Scheffer & Schachtschabel, the official challenge cup for successful habilitation candidates, and a very prestigious PD hat, among others.