Earth Sciences

Are you interested in a doctorate in Earth Sciences?

Decide on your key research area within the Department of Earth Sciences.

With the disciplines of oceanography, meteorology, geophysics, geology, soil sciences, and geography, the Department forms the core of the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) that has been newly established at the Universität Hamburg.

The following topics form the core of the CEN’s research program until 2020:

• Causes and impacts of climate changes in the earth system
• Impacts of sea level changes on costal regions
• Energy flux as a communicator of earth system changes
• Element cycling at boundary layers of the earth system
• Marine ecosystem services and their management
• Urban areas in global change
• Energy landscapes
• Climate change and society – Processes and sustainable scenarios
• Emerging issues: Soil Resources in Environment and Climate System, Food Transitions, Climate and Geo-risks
• Climate and earth system models

The interdisciplinary orientation and a global network of the versatile research activities in addition to the successful involvement in the Cluster of Excellence Climate, Climatic Change, and Society (CliCCS) have earned the department international aknowledgement for its climate, environment, and earth systems research. 

These focus on the following key research areas:

• Sensitivity and Variability in the Climate System
• Climate-Related Dynamics of Social Systems
• Sustainable Adaptation Scenarios

Please see the department website if you are interested in learning more about the people or the organization behind the research. For information on the key research areas, please see the webpages of the individual working groups:

• Institute of Geography
• Institute of Geology
• Meteorological Institute
• Institute of Geophysics
• Institute of Oceanography
• Institute of Soil Science
• Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography
• Reseach Unit Sustainability and Global Change

 The Universität Hamburg offers a doctorate in cooperation with the following non-university institutions:

• Alfred-Wegener-Institut - Helmholtz centre for polar and marine research (AWI)
• Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht - Centre for Materials and Coastal Research (HZG)
• Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI)