I am an environmental hydrologist specialised in the modelling of water quantity and quality under current and future condition. My main aim is to help mitigate and prevent water quality problems caused by us humans such as overfertilisation with nitrogen or pollution by persistent organic pollution. I develop and apply novel modelling approaches that allow evaluating and refining the spatio-temporal characterisation of water quantity and quality. This is particularly relevant in the context of global change, as the impact of anthropogenic activities on our water resources might be delayed by years to decades and can often not be attributed to individual activities. Hence, we need powerful modelling tools to predict both the immediate and long-term effects of anthropogenic activities and to develop solutions for sufficient water of good quality for humans and ecosystems in future.
My particular reserach interests are (1) characterising organic pollution (e.g., Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances; PFAS), and (2) developing water quality models that take into account the transport times of pollutants through the subsurface (i.e., the transit times) and learn from environmental tracers (i.e., tracers for sources and transport processes of water and contaminants that can be naturally found in the environment).
I am also a big supporter of more diversity in the geosciences and STEM in general.