State Ministry of Science and the Arts provides doctoral program funding at FAU for a further four years.
Within the framework of its Elite Network of Bavaria, the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts (StMWK) has approved funding for a further phase in the international doctorate program Measuring and Modelling Mountain Glaciers and Ice caps in a Changing Climate (IDP M³OCCA). The Institute of Geography at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is coordinating the interdisciplinary collaborative project involving researchers from several different locations.
The program involves researchers from FAU, the Technical University of Munich, the Microwaves and Radar Institute at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen, and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BAdW). Their aim is to develop innovative methods and technologies to provide a more accurate large-scale assessment of the extent of global glacial retreat and reduce existing uncertainty. The researchers are using methods based on artificial intelligence, for instance to analyze extensive satellite data or improve physics-based process models.
They are also continuing to develop pioneering technologies such as radar tomography and geophysical models to allow more accurate forecasts. “By doing so, we hope to link glacial retreat to permafrost studies in the areas that will become free of ice in the future,” explains program speaker Prof. Dr. Matthias Braun, Professorship for Geography (Remote Sensing and GIS). “In addition to these analyses, we will use a combination of remote sensing data, models and extensive on-site measurements to gain reference data.”
The program
From June 2026, the Elite Network of Bavaria is providing funding for nine doctoral candidates for a period of four years. The new funding will also cover a postdoctoral position, in order to pave the way for graduates from the current funding phase to launch their career in academia. M³OCCA prides itself on taking an international and interdisciplinary approach, and provides its early career researchers with additional training in a structured program accompanying their subject-related education. In addition to the doctoral candidates sponsored by the Elite Network of Bavaria, doctoral candidates from other funding lines, such as junior research groups, are specifically encouraged to become involved in the international doctorate program in order to create a broader academic and thematic basis and encourage lively academic exchange.
To the MOCCA websiteFurther information:
Prof. Dr. Matthias Braun
Professorship for Geography (Remote Sensing and GIS)
Phone: +49 15224203365
matthias.h.braun@fau.de
Franziska Temme
Institute of Geography
Phone:+49 9131 85 22506
franziska.temme@fau.de