December 2021

Karin Ingold

Karin Ingold was elected by the Scientific Committee as the new Vice-President of the OCCR. Karin is a professor of political science and heads the OCCR group "Policy Analysis with a Focus on the Environment". On her new role, she says: “The OCCR is a unique center that promotes a variety of disciplines, conducts cutting-edge research and delivers relevant results for science and society.

An important task for me is to increase the visibility of the center also for the social sciences.” Karin’s main research interests are: Policy Analysis, Policy Process Theory, Instrument Design, Environmental Policy and the Application of Social Network Analysis.

Unchanged budget

The future of the OCCR looks bright. After completion of the self-evaluation and a discussion with the university executive board, it is clear: the OCCR will receive a new grant agreement and it will be able to operate with an unchanged budget in 2022. The new contract will be signed in February 2022.

New research groups

The OCCR welcomes new research groups and their PIs. Eduard Davin (see People section) leads the Climate Scenarios for Sustainable Development group and is based at the Wyss Academy for Nature. Charlotte Blattner (see People section) leads the Climate Change and the Law: Challenges in Practice and Legal Theory group. After many years, she is the first OCCR member of the Faculty of Law. Andreas Zischg is the new leader of the Geomorphology, Natural Hazards and Risk Research group. He will continue and strengthen the work initiated by his predecessor, and he will remain a member of the Mobiliar Lab's management.

Closer cooperation with WSL

The OCCR is strengthening its cooperation with the Dendroscience Division of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL. Following up on earlier cooperation with Ulf Büntgen and David Frank, Georg von Arx has become a new member of the OCCRs Paleoecology group. His research interest are: intra- and inter-annual growth of trees; shrubs and non-woody plants; anatomical properties; water and carbon relations; dendroecology; dendroclimatology; forest ecology; and plant ecology.

New dissertations funded

­The Alfred Bretscher Fund for Climate and Air Pollution Research at the University of Bern is committed to promoting scientific research. Among others, it supports two new, interdisciplinary dissertation projects at the Oeschger Centre: The first project is entitled "Agricultural adaptations to increasing drought extremes and their feedbacks on catchment hydrology". It is supervised by Annelie Holzkpämfer (Climate and Agriculture group), Bettina Schaefli (Hydrology group), and Christoph Raible (Earth System Modelling - Atmospheric Dynamics group). The second project examines the effect of compound events on human health. It is supervised by Ana Vicedo (Climate Change and Health group), Olivia Romppainen (Mobiliar Group for Climate Impact Research), and Stefan Brönnimann (Climatology group).

New funding for paleoecology projects

­The Paleoecology group has received funding of CHF 600’000 for two new projects which last until 2022. The first one is called “Palaeoecological reconstruction of past land use activities at Lake Lucerne” (PIs: Petra Boltshauser-Kaltenrieder and Willy Tinner). The project is funded by the Canton of Lucerne (Kantonsarchäologie Luzern) in collaboration with the University of Basel (Prof. Oliver Heiri). The second project is on “Reconstruction and simulation of fire sensitivity and susceptibility of tree species in the Canton of Bern” (PIs Christoph Schwörer and Willy Tinner); it is funded by the Wyss Academy for Nature, in collaboration with the Canton of Bern (Amt für Wald und Naturgefahren).

The Bug Network

­In 2021, the Bug Network (BugNet) was launched as a global initiative to assess the impact of invertebrate herbivores and pathogenic fungi on plant communities and ecosystems and how this impact varies across broad climatic gradients. Within this framework, a team from the OCCRs Community ecology group has completed a large field campaign to assess plant, invertebrate and pathogen communities in Switzerland, Romania, and Greece. Moreover, a number of international collaborators have contributed data on these organisms from their regions in countries including India, Finland, Australia, UK, France and Spain. In a next step, the Community ecology group now uses results from this project to scale up with future climate predictions. The researchers aim to determine which plant and invertebrate communities may be at risk under increased impacts from climate change.

ESA honours OCCR project

­The European Space Agency ESA honours a project by the OCCRs Climatology group. In a news item entitled “COP26 fuels interest in satellite data” on its website, ESA refers to a new 40-year, global time series of snow cover measurements and writes: «Long term environmental monitoring using satellite data and remote sensing emerges as key contributors to climatological research after two weeks of negotiations at the COP26 climate talks. Satellite data from operational and non-operational ESA missions provide long-term Earth observational records, giving essential context to current climate variability. (...) Recent research by the Remote Sensing Research Group (RSGB) and the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern, used existing Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data to explore the disproportionate regional effect of the climate emergency on seasonal snow cover.”

A variety of outreach activities

In recent months, the work of various OCCR researchers has been included in media releases and online articles by the University of Bern. It highlighted for example a publication on the significance of volcanic eruptions for the collapse of Chinese dynasties, in which Michael Sigl (Past volcanism and climate impact group) was involved. A study by Lukas Fesenfeld (Policy Analysis and Environmental Governance group) showed that the most important actors in German environmental and economic policy would like the next German government to adopt a much more ambitious climate policy. And a study involving Marvin Bundo and Ana Vicedo (Climate change and health group showed that mentally ill people suffer particularly from the consequences of climate change. The Urban Climate Bern project (Climatology group) was featured in the online journal "uniaktuell". Finally, the magazine "Unipress" portrayed Charlotte Laufkötter (Earth System Modelling – Biogeochemical Cycles group).

Events

Plenary meeting on 15 February 2022

The next OCCR Plenary Meeting Spring 2022 will take place on 15 February 2021, 14 – 17 h. Save the date! Details on time and location will be announced in due time.

Beating the Heat

On 28 January 2022, a conference on urban climate and impacts will take place in Bern. The event will be organized by the OCCRs Climatology group and will cover urban climatology and related disciplines. It is called “Beating the Heat” and will not only offer an opportunity to present findings from past and on-going research projects, but also aims to provide a platform for networking and strengthening the exchange of the Swiss research and service community, with a focus on the multifaceted interactions between cities, climate (change), and human health. See the conference website for the program and registration procedure.

Federal Square Bern, Switzerland
Federal Square Bern, Switzerland

3rd International Bachelor Summer School

After two very successful editions, the OCCR and the World Trade Institute (WTI) at the University of Bern jointly organize a 3rd International Bachelor Summer School for Climate Change Research. It is entitled “Confronting Climate Change – from Science to Policy” and takes place from 8 to 19 August 2022. The event aims to bring together highly motivated, open-minded bachelor students (semesters 4 to 6) from different fields of study, and who are interested in Climate Change Research.

Swiss Climate Summer School 2022

The Swiss Climate Summer School 2022 is entitled “Extreme Weather and Climate". It will take place from 28 August to 2 September in Grindelwald, Switzerland. The call for the Summer School has been launched, the deadline for applications is 16 January 2022. OCCR Postdocs and PhDs don’t forget to register! Recall that the OCCR covers the costs for the Summer School for all Postdocs and all the PhDs enrolled in the Graduate School. The Summer School 2023 will be on the “Climate-Water-Energy-Food-Nexus”.

Online Conference “Adventure of Science 2021”

“Adventure of Science: Women and glaciers in Central Asia” (an Inspiring Girls Expedition) organized an online event to promote the World Science Day and women’s role in science. The event was co-organized by OCCR member Helga Weber (Climatology group) in co-operation with the UNESCO Almaty cluster office. The conference wrapped up this years’ Adventure of Science at home program with a series of presentations by invited international female scientists and professionals. Topics addressed were climate change and mountain ecology, citizen science and environmental protection, as well as gender equality in science. The successful, transdisciplinary event with about 100 registered participants, reached 400 additional people via a Facebook livestream.

People

Charlotte Blattner joins OCCR

Charlotte Blattner

Charlotte Blattner, who leads the new OCCR group Climate Change and the Law: Challenges in Practice and Legal Theory is a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the Faculty of Law, Institute of Public Law at the University of Bern. Her areas of expertise are climate law, animal law, and environmental law.
She studied law at the University of Basel, specializing in international law and international trade and economic law.

In 2016, she obtained her doctorate at the interface of international and animal law with the dissertation project “Protecting Animals Within and Across Borders: Extraterritorial Jurisdiction and the Challenges of Globalization”. Charlotte researched and taught at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Law School. She is the co-author of the book She is the co-author of the book "Animal Labour: A New Frontier of Interspecies Justice?". In her habilitation (postdoctoral lecture qualification), she deals with “the complex and urgent challenges that climate change poses to Swiss constitutional and administrative law”. Charlottes Website reads: “I hope to spur a broader discourse about the scholarly and practical rapprochement of animal law and environmental law. This approximation becomes increasingly important as climate change begins to pervade our everyday lives and environmental pollution and degradation become realities that can no longer be denied.”

Eduard Davin joins OCCR

Eduard Davin

Edouard Davin, who leads the new OCCR group Climate Scenarios for Sustainable Development, is an Associate Professor with the Wyss Academy for Nature at the University of Bern. His research focuses on the role of the terrestrial biosphere in the climate system. In particular, he works on a better understanding of land use and climate interactions and their implications for climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Edouard completed his PhD in 2008 at the "Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement" (LSCE) in Paris. He then worked as a PostDoc at ETH Zurich where he was promoted as tenured senior scientist in 2015. Edouard was the Lead Author for the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land and drafting author of the Summary for Policymakers.

Charlotte Laufkötter receives Eccellenza

Charlotte Laufkötter (Earth System Modelling – Biogeochemical Cycles group) has received a highly competitive Eccellenza Professorial Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation SNFS. Eccellenza enables researchers to conduct an independent project at assistant professor level with their own team. “This is an essential stepping stone for those seeking a permanent professorship", reads an SNFS media release. In her Eccellenza project, Charlotte Laufkötter will investigate the ocean's biological carbon pump. The results will enhance our understanding of the impacts of climate change.
Read a profile story on Charlotte Laufkötter.

Doina Radulescu: Op Piece in NZZ

Doina Radulescu (Climate Economics: Energy, Technological Change and International Cooperation group) has contributed an opinion piece to the leading Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The article is entitled “When electricity becomes scarce: more security of supply by balancing supply and demand”. It advocates that measures which address electricity shortages should not only consider the supply or demand side, but also at the question of how to improve the simultaneous balancing of electricity supply and demand.
Read the full article (in German) in the press section of our website.

Success for Sandra Brügger

Sandra Brügger, a former OCCR member (Paleoecology group) who now has a PostDoc position at the Desert Research Institute in Reno, USA, reaps the fruit of her dissertation in Bern. One of her articles, called “1’000 years of glacial ice reveal ‘prosperty and peril’ in Europe”, goes back to her work on an ice core from Colle Gnifetti. The publication was honoured with a media release by the American Geophysical Union. It reads: “Europe’s past prosperity and failure, driven by climate changes, has been revealed using thousand-year-old pollen, spores and charcoal particles fossilized in glacial ice. This first analysis of microfossils preserved in European glaciers unveils earlier-than-expected evidence of air pollution and the roots of modern invasive species problems.”

New visiting scientist Boris Vannière

Boris Vannière

Boris Vannière is a new visiting scientist with the Paleoclimatology group. He is Director of Research at CNRS Université de Franche-Comté in Besancon, France. He serves, among other community efforts, as a member of the Steering Committee of PAGES, and he is the director of the International Paleofire Network. His research interests focus on the reconstruction of postglacial forest fires as well as Mediterranean environmental history (climate, erosion, land use). Contact.

Researchers who have recently joined the OCCR:

David Krummen is a new PhD with the Climate Change and the Law: Challenges in Practice and Legal Theory group. His research interests are in human rights-based climate litigation.

Fiona Leu

Fiona Leu is a new PhD with the Climate Change and the Law: Challenges in Practice and Legal Theory group. Her research interests are in Law in the Anthropocene, Rights of Nature, mediative procedures, procedural law, new social theories, and New Legal Materialism.

Guochun Shi

Guochun Shi is a new PhD with the Atmospheric Processes and Radiometry group. She did her Master in Space Physics at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with a thesis entitled “Propagation Characteristics of Gravity Waves Excited by Deep Convection in Troposphere, Stratosphere and Mesosphere”. For her PhD she will study the dynamics of the middle atmosphere with a microwave radiometer.

Lison Soussaintjean

Lison Soussaintjean is a new PhD with the Past Climate and Biogeochemical Studies on Ice Cores group. Before studying climate sciences, she did a Master of Science in Atmospheric & Climate sciences and Glaciology at the Grenoble-Alpes University, France, with a thesis entitled "Development of a contamination-free extraction protocol for ammonium in order to investigate its sources in terrestrial ice cores and its presence in meteorites". Her research focus is on isotopic analyses of nitrous oxide (N2O) trapped in Antarctic ice cores, in order to differentiate the true atmospheric signal of this greenhouse gas from its in-situ production, allowing the reconstruction of past N2O concentrations in the atmosphere. The title of her PhD project is: “Quantification and correction of in situ production of N2O in ice cores”.

Christian Wirths

Christian Wirths is a new PhD with the Earth System Modelling – Climate Dynamics group. Before studying climate sciences, he did a Master in Physics at Heidelberg University with a thesis entitled "Forcing-induced climate response from the LGM to present day in an energy balance model". His research focus is on Antarctic Ice Sheet Modelling. The title of his PhD project is: “Simulating the last three million years of the Antarctic Ice Sheet”.

Amr Zaky

Amr Zaky is a new PostDoc with the Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimatology group. He will spend one year at the Institute of Geological Sciences and is supported by a Swiss Government Excellence Postdoctoral Scholarship for foreign researchers. Amr is a lecturer of Stratigraphy and Micropaleontology at Menoufia University (Egypt). He brought to Bern a series of exciting sediment cores from various lakes in the larger Nile Delta area and will use the cores to reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes of the last few thousand years including paleoclimate and the impact of the rich Egyptian cultures.

A warm welcome to all of you!

Researchers who have recently left the OCCR:

Chloé Bouscary, who started her PhD with the Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimatology group, continues her PhD project at the University of Lausanne.

Ashley Dinauer, who finished her PhD with the Earth System Modelling – Biogeochemical Cycles group, will start work in December at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with a fellowship of the US National Science Foundation.

Ling Fang, who finished her PhD with the Analytical Chemistry Research Group, now works as a Lecturer at the Northwest University in China.

Mussie Fessehaye, who did a PostDoc with the Climatology group, now works for the Asmara Mining Share Company in Eritrea.

Lukas Gegg, who finished his PhD with the Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimatology group, now does a PostDoc at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

Luyao Tu, who finished her PhD with the Lake Sediments and Paleolimnology group, now works as a PostDoc at the School of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, China.

Marina Morlock, who finished her PhD with the Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimatology group, now does a PostDoc at Umeå University, Sweden.

Valentin Nigg, who finished his PhD with Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimatology group, now works in the private sector.
 
Tanja Rechnitzer, who finished her PhD with the Climate ethics and philosophy of climate science group, has moved to Leibnitz University Hannover, Germany where she does a PostDoc.
 
This Rutishauser, who was a Scientific Staff member with the Climatology group, has started his own company called kontextlabor.
 
Emmanuele Russo, who finished his PhD with the Earth System Modelling - Atmospheric Dynamics group, now works as a PostDoc at ETHZ, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science.
 
Patricio Velasquez, who finished his PhD with the the Earth System Modelling - Atmospheric Dynamics group, now works as a PostDoc at ETHZ, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science.
 
 
All the best for your future career!

Recent journal publications by OCCR members

See all the publications by OCCR members.