Integrated Climate and Earth System Sciences

Climate change is the subject of much discussion in most societies. Global warming impacts islands and coastal regions as sea-levels rise, rising temperatures affect arctic and alpine regions and lead to thawing in the permafrost; drylands expand due to drought and fire and changes in the temperate zone affect land use and food security.

Detailed knowledge of these individual processes is crucial but not always sufficient to grasp the Earth and climate system as a whole. It takes the combined disciplines of the natural sciences, social sciences, and economics to understand, predict, and mitigate climate change as well as to develop adaptation scenarios.

Interdisciplinary education and research at SICSS

SICSS is committed to interdisciplinary and research-oriented education in climate and earth system science. SICSS brings together students and doctoral candidates from different disciplines and with different areas of expertise. This fosters integrated and innovative training. SICSS prepares you to work as an expert in various fields of climate change: As a researcher in the natural and social sciences or economics or as a consultant in national and international organizations. We conduct intensive discipline-specific and interdisciplinary research, provide individual support and supervision, and boast an international environment that makes working here especially inspiring.

All of our programs begin with an introductory overview of the disciplines covered by the climate sciences. The interdisciplinary curriculum is complemented by courses focusing on particular research skills required for a career in Earth and climate system sciences. These include scientific writing, giving presentations, and leadership. Other research skill courses focus on programming, computer languages, modeling tools, and visualization. Finally, there are courses on good scientific practice and intercultural training.

Interdisciplinary Research at SICSS:

Governance

Besides the Doctoral Program, SICSS hosts also a Postdoc Program and a Gender Equality / Diversity Program. All three programs are coordinated and controlled in the Early Career Committee ECC. Currently, the ECC has the following members:

Prof. Dr. Annette Eschenbach, Academic Head of SICSS
Prof. Dr. Johanna Baehr, Lecturer / Advisor, CEN / CLICCS
Prof. Dr. Simone Rödder, Lecturer / Advisor, CEN / CLICCS
Prof. Dr. Felix Ament, Lecturer / Advisor, CEN / CLICCS
Prof. Dr. Matthias Hort, Lecturer / Advisor, CEN
Dr. Alexandra Franzke, Head of SICSS Office
Dr. Berit Hachfeld, Coordination SICSS Doctoral Program
Dr. Sebastian Zubrzycki, Coordination MSc ICSS and Gender Equality and Diversity
Dr. Ulf Beckmann, Coordination WiSo Graduate School
Dr. Florian Mundt, Coordination IMPRS, MPI-M Hamburg
Dr. Matthew Johnson, Postdoc Representative CLICCS
Clara Scheuber, Doctoral Representative SICSS

The ECC meets twice a year.