Keynote Speakers

I am a chemist by trade. I finished my PhD at the University of Glasgow in 2012 and a PostDoc at the University of Birmingham in 2016 specializing in organic geochemistry using stable isotope signatures, specifically δ¹³C and δ²H ratios, and biomarkers to reconstruct Icelandic and North Atlantic Holocene climate.

I am the head of the stable isotope laboratory (BGC-IsoLab) at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry since 2016. The laboratory specializes in δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, δ²H and δ¹⁵N analyses of diverse samples, especially atmospheric CO₂ and CH₄. As part of the World Meteorological Organization-Global Atmospheric Watch (WMO-GAW) community the BGC-IsoLab serves as Central Calibration Laboratory for isotope measurements of atmospheric CO₂ and provides the required standards to the community. Additionally, we work closely together with other isotope standard producers, e.g., IAEA and USGS to continually increase the amounts of available isotope standards and to improve their value assignment.

I am a Research Scientist in the Department of Geology at University of Maryland (UMD). Broadly, my research projects focus on isotope geochemistry and its applications in biogeochemistry, and atmospheric chemistry. After receiving my Ph.D. from UCLA, for my postdoctoral projects at UMD (as a President's Postdoctoral Fellow and then an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow) I continued my research path in isotope biogeochemistry of methane using clumped isotopes. My NSF project was a collaboration between several departments and centers at UMD and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

My current research is on theoretical study using Ab initio calculations of Kinetic Isotope Effects (KIE) for reaction of isotopologues of methane with •OH, Cl•, and O(1D) in order to improve the constraints for monitoring atmospheric methane cycle. My professional research goal is to use recent advances in isotope geochemistry combining with other techniques to resolve the uncertainties of the global methane budget.

Dr. Caroline Buchen-Tschiskale studied Agriculture and Environmental Management (B.Sc) and Environmental and Resource Management (M.Sc.) at the University of Gießen and holds a PhD in Geoecology from the Technical University Braunschweig.

Since 2021, she is the head of the stable isotope laboratory at the Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture in Braunschweig. Her research focuses on improving our understanding of biochemical cycles through the use of stable isotopes. As a passionate soil scientist, Caroline also works on various interdisciplinary projects dealing with nitrogen, in particular gaseous losses and carbon turnover in mineral and organic soils. She is an active member of the soil gases working group in the German Soil Science Society (DBG) and the German Association for Stable Isotope Research Association (GASIR) is responsible for the training and further education of young scientists.

Jan Kaiser is Professor of Biogeochemistry in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia. He joined UEA in 2006, following postdoctoral work at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics and the Department of Geosciences at Princeton University. Jan holds undergraduate (Universities of Hamburg and Bremen) and doctoral degrees in Chemistry (Max Planck Institute for Chemistry/University of Mainz). 

He has 26 years’ experience in stable isotope measurements of atmospheric and marine gases and aerosols (nitrous oxide, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrate, chlorofluorocarbons). He has conducted laboratory, field and theoretical research on kinetic isotope fractionation by chemical, physical and biological processes, and led the development of numerous methods for isotope and gas ratio analysis. He as an active member of the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in two task groups on isotope-related quantities and terminology, in its Interdivisional Committee on Terminology, Nomenclature and Symbols and in the Commission on Physicochemical Symbols, Terminology, and Units.

Martin Vollmer is a research scientist at Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology) in Dübendorf. His research focuses on halogenated trace gases in the atmosphere and their role in stratospheric ozone depletion and global warming.

He has been involved in the development of sophisticated instrumental technologies to allow detecting a growing suite of halogenated substances at ultra-low atmospheric concentrations. He was the first to publish a series of new substances in the atmosphere, among which are the recently introduced hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), a class of compounds, which is currently intensively debated because of their harmful decay products. Martin Vollmer's long-term measurements at the Jungfraujoch research station and within the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) provide the basis for regional and global emission estimates for emission verification and compliance with international regulations.

Dr. Christof Lorenz’s research focuses on making environmental data more accessible, interoperable, and reusable. Together with his team, he builds and connects research data infrastructures, develops FAIR and open data services, and advances best practices in research software engineering (RSE) and research data management (RDM). He also promotes open and reproducible science, provides training, and engages with scientific communities to ensure that data, tools, and methods are widely shared and applied.

He holds a Dipl.-Ing. in Geodesy and Geoinformatics from the University of Stuttgart and a PhD in Climate and Environmental Sciences from the University of Augsburg. In addition to coordinating national and international projects, he contributes to initiatives such as the Nationale Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI), the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), and the European Geosciences Union (EGU), where he currently serves as Vice-President of the Division for Earth and Space Science Informatics.