MES4 Individual Research Project: Groups and Topics
The MES4 Individual Research Project is an opportunity for students to work on a small project within a research group covering different aspects of Environmental Sciences.
You need to be proactive about securing a project. If you are interested in a particular research topic we recommend you contact the relevant researchers as early as possible and explore with them what your project might look like. The scope of the project needs to be appropriate for a 10 ECTS module and should include all the elements of research work, namely the review of relevant literature, the formulation of testable hypotheses, the application of analytical and statistical methods, planning and structuring of experiments and relevant work in the lab. At the end, you will summarise the results of all these components in a project report in the form of a small research publication.
The following list provides an overview of possible research groups and associated topics. Please note that this is by no means an exhaustive list. If you have other ideas or contacts, we would encourage you to pursue those as well.
Once you have a research project, please submit the project topic and the name of your supervisor on Moodle.
For more ideas and potential contacts you could also check out what else is going on in the area of environmental sciences at the University of Vienna by browsing the webpages of the Environmental Research Network (ERN). The ERN is a platform for environmental research conducted across all disciplines at the University of Vienna.
| Group | Topics | People |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE - Environmental Geosciences | The role of mineral surfaces in the preservation of organic carbon in soil | Stephan Kraemer |
| EDGE - Environmental Geosciences | The role of mineral surfaces in the preservation of DNA | Stephan Kraemer |
| EDGE - Environmental Geosciences | Cromium contaminated paddy soils | Stephan Kraemer |
| EDGE - Environmental Geosciences | Transport of organic contaminants, microplastics and tire wear in water and soils | Thilo Hofmann Thorsten Hüffer |
| EDGE - Environmental Geosciences | Biotransformation of organic contaminants | Michael Zumstein |
| EDGE - Environmental Geosciences | Impact of nanoparticles on contaminant relocation and toxicity | Frank von der Kammer |
| Bio-Oceanography and Marine Biology | Microbial Oceanography Fungal and Biogeochemical Oceanography | Gerhard Herndl Federico Baltar |
| Molecular Systems Biology | Systems Theory in Ecology and Biology Molecular plant-microbe interactions Structural and functional plant cell biology | Wolfram Weckwerth Stefanie Wienkoop Ingeborg Lang |
| Archaea Biology and Ecogenomics | Archaea Ecology and Evolution Genomic and proteomic studies of ammonia oxidizing thaumarchaeota Cultivation of novel lineages of archaea Virus defense and CRISPS-mediated RNA degradation in Sulfolobus solfataricus | Christa Schleper
|
| Geoecology | Peatland Carbon Cycling Turnover of greenhouse gases Wetland ecology and management | Stephan Glatzel |
| TER – Terrestrial Ecosystem Research | Microbial carbon use efficiency and nitrogen use efficiency Linkage between plant and microbial functioning and ecosystem processes Soil as a complex system Plant-soil interactions | Andreas Richter Wolfgang Wanek Christina Kaiser |
| DOME – Division of Microbial Ecology | Sulfur cycle – evolution of sulfur microorganisms Nitrification, Comammox, and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria Molecular host-microbe crosstalk; Fine-scale microbial diversity and the individuality of the microbiom | Alexander Loy Holger Daims Jillian Petersen |
| ENGAGE – Geomorphological Systems and Risk Research | Landslide Research Natural hazards and Risks Soil erosion in agricultural catchment systems Human impact on fluvial systems Erosion and Sedimentdynamics, Biogeomorphology, Permarfrostdegradation in High Mountain Environments (Eco-)geomorphic effects of large wood in river systems | Thomas Glade Ronald Pöppl Philipp Marr Janek Walk |
| Atmospheric Transport Processes | Aerosol transport, greenhouse gas transport, heat transport, microplastic transport, and moisture transport Paleoclimate Lagrangian Modeling | Andreas Stohl |
| Environmental Geophysics | Quantification of soil/rock architecture and predictions of hydrologic parameters Biogeochemical processes at fluid-rock interfaces in Earth’s near surface Discerning anthropogenic changes in hydrologic states Architecture and functions of carbonate critical zones | Chi Zhang |
| Koellensperger Lab | Metabolomics Lipidomics Metallomics | Gunda Köllensperger |
| Urban Studies | Implementation of the UN Sustainability Goals in cities Human-environment-technology interactions in cities | Kerstin Krellenberg |
| Bioactivity and Molecular Mechanisms | Doris Marko | |
| Global Exposomics and Biomonitoring | Impact of food and ennvironment-related molecules on human health and disease from a global perspective | Benedikt Warth |
| Environmental Psychology | Reciprocal relationship between humans and the environment Zero pollution of Persistent, Mobile substances LimnoPlast – Microplastics in Europe’s Freshwater Ecosystems Preventing Plastic Pollution Blue Communities in South East Asia | Sabine Pahl |
| Aerosol Physics and Environmental Physics | Airborne aerosol measurement; long range transport and process characterization; Microphysical and optical properties of mineral dust, black carbon and volcanic ash; effects of absorbing aerosols on radiation budget, clouds and atmospheric dynamics; aerosol effects on air transport system and emissions from air traffic Heterogenous nucleation processes; nanoparticle dynamics; condensation processes in aerosol systems; chemical characterization of nanoparticles | Bernadett Weinzierl Paul Winkler |