Prof. Dr. Brigitte Urban

Academic Qualifications

1978                              Doctorate at University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Department of Botany, Faculty of Natural Sciences; Thesis: "Environmental history of the Lower Rhine Basin during the Early Pleistocene"

1975                              Diploma (MSc) degree in Biology (Botany, Biochemistry, Environmental Geology, Soil Science and Prehistory) at Albertus- Magnus-University Cologne

Professional Career

Since 2013                    Chair of PhD Commission for Natural Science (Dr. rer. nat.) and Speaker of ´Promotionskolleg` of Faculty of Sustainability, Leuphana University LÜneburg

Since 2009                    University Professor for Ecology, Head of working group Landscape Change, Leuphana University Lüneburg

2005-2006                     Vice President of University of Lüneburg, International Affairs

2005-2009                     Professor of Soil Science and Biology at University of Lüneburg

Since 2005                    Honorary Professor of University of Tübingen, Faculty of Geosciences

2003-2004                     Dean of Faculty of Civil Engineering (Water Management & Engineering, Applied Computing)

2001-2002                     Vice President of University of Applied Sciences, NE Lower Saxony. Research, Science & Technology Transfer, International Affairs, 2^nd period

1996-1998                     Vice President of University of Applied Sciences, NE Lower Saxony. Research, Science & Technology Transfer, International Affairs, 1^st period

1985-2005                     Professor of Soil Science and Biology at University of Applied Sciences, NE Lower Saxony, since 2005 amalgamated with University Lüneburg

Since 1983                    Assistant Professor/lecturer at the Faculty of Geosciences, University of Tübingen

1979-1983                     Scientific assistant and postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Soil Science, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Bonn. Research project: "Vegetation and Soil Development on loess in Central Europe" (DFG). Set up of the Laboratory for Soil Biology and Palynology of the Institute of soil Science

1975-1978                     Research fellow at the Geological Institute, University of Cologne, Quaternary and Environmental Geology, Holocene and Pleistocene environmental history

Honors and Functions

Awards:

Award of Knowledge Transfer Prize 2014 of Leuphana University Lüneburg for outstanding and innovative accomplishments in the category ´Transfer of Scientific Research beyond the University and Application oriented Research with a Practical Relevance`.

Functions:

Member of the Board of Trustees of Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, LIAG, Hannover (Since 2008)

Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Board of Leibniz Institute for Applied Geosciences, (LIAG, former GGA) Hannover (2005- 2008)

Member of the Scientific Board of Acta Palaeobotanica, W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland