I studied geography, soil science and archaeology at the Universities of Greifswald and Göttingen (Germany), graduating with a diploma in geography in 1996. This was followed by my doctoral thesis in physical geography in 2001 at the University of Greifswald and my habilitation thesis (postdoctoral lecture qualification) in geography in 2008 at the University of Marburg. From 2008 to 2009, I worked at acatech – the German National Academy of Science and Engineering, and since 2010 I have been a research fellow at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences at Potsdam. Here, I work on the staff of the Scientific Executive Board, I am responsible for corporate sustainability and engage in my research activities. My research interests relate to landscape dynamics under human impact and the long-term change of special compartments (relief, soil, vegetation, water) reflected by geoarchives (e.g. paleosols; alluvial, aeolian and colluvial sequences). My geographical focus is on Central Europe (formerly also on Tibet) concentrating on mountain and lowland areas. Current topics are historic environmental changes in the Central European uplands and Holocene changes of wetlands in the lowlands.