Activities in the Research System
Institutional responsibilities
2019 – 2021 Dean, Division (Fachbereich) of Biology/Chemistry/Pharmacy, Freie Universität Berlin
2015 – Founder, Coordinator of Doctoral Program ‘Biodiversity, Evolution, Ecology’ at Freie Universität Berlin
2015 – 2019 Dean of Research, Division (Fachbereich) of Biology/Chemistry/Pharmacy, Freie Universität Berlin
2015 – Member of Council, Division (Fachbereich) of Biology/Chemistry/Pharmacy, Freie Universität Berlin
2013 – 2020 Co-Coordinator, Integrated Research Training School Biocommunication: Mechanisms and consequences of information storage and retrieval in plants and microbes, Berlin/ Potsdam
2012 – Member, Faculty Committee on Teaching and Education (Biology), Freie Universität Berlin
2012 – Head, Admissions Committee, and Coordination of MSc Program ‘Biodiversity, Evolution, Ecology’ at Freie Universität Berlin
Reviewing activities/ commissions of trust
2024 – Member, DFG (German Research Foundation) Permanent Senate Commission on the Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems
2021 – Member, DFG (German Research Foundation) Permanent Senate Commission on Fundamental Issues of Biological Diversity
2021 – Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment
2020 Member, DFG Early Career Scientists Academy ‘Agroecosystems 2020’
2015 – 2024 Member, BioMove DFG Research Training Group
2014 – 2017 Scientific Advisory Board, member; Platform for biodiversity, ecosystem monitoring and research in South Ecuador, Marburg, Germany
2013 – Board, chair; Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research, Berlin
2012 - 2023 Scientific Advisory Board, Collaborative Research Center ‘Priming and Memory of Organismal Responses to Stress’, Berlin
2010 – Scientific Advisory Board, member; Berlin Center for Genomics in Biodiversity Research, Berlin
2010 – 2014 Editorial Board, PLoS One
2009 – 2018 Scientific Advisory Board, member; Dahlem Center of Plant Sciences, Berlin
2008 – 2021 Editorial Board, Ecology and Ecological Monographs
2004 – 2014 Editor-in-Chief, Pedobiologia – International Journal of Soil Biology; since 2014 continuing as member of Editorial Board
Academic Distinctions
2025 Distinguished Scientist, Chinese Acadamy of Sciences
2025 Fellow, Theoretical Sciences Visiting Program, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
2022 Elected Member, Academia Europaea – The Academy of Europe
2021 Elected Member, German National Academy of Science - Leopoldina
2019 Elected Fellow, Ecological Society of America
2018- Clarivate Analytics ‘Highly Cited’ Researcher (2017-2022)
2016 Dahlem Research School (FU Berlin), Award for Excellent Supervision of PhD students
2016 ERC Advanced Grant
2012 Elected Full Member, iDiv – German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
1989 – 1997 German National Merit Scholarship (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes)
