Master student profiles

Hi, I am Michael

My background:
BSc Economics
BSc Business Administration FH

My field of interest:
CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS

• Climate Economics
• Environmental Economics: Introduction
• Climatology I-III
• Energy Economics and Policy
• Climate Change Uncertainty and Risk
• Political Economy of Climate Change
• The International and European Law on Climate Change
• Climate Risk Assessment

My research focus:
Economical means to encourage ecologically sustainable behaviour.

Hi, my name is Eva

My background:
BA Environmental Studies (with focus on human and societal aspects)

My field of interest:
CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS

• Climate and Energy Policy
• Water Policy
• Political Economy on Climate Change
• Environmental Economics
• Statistics in Climate Sciences
• Policy Analysis I
• Palaeoclimatological and Palaeoecological Excursion

My master thesis:
"Cantonal Climate Adaptation Policies: How to explain differences regarding political answers in order to confront climate change consequences in their various forms?"

My internship ...
is with WWF Switzerland, division for politics. This practical experience builds on knowledge I have gained through my thesis and key courses such as Climate and Energy Policy or Policy Analysis I.

My affiliation:
Policy Analysis and Environmental Governance (PEGO) research group

I am Thomas Roelli

My background:
BSc Geosciences

My field of interest:
CLIMATE IMPACTS AND ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS

• Introduction to Climate and Environmental Physics
• Climate Risk Assessment
• Dynamics of Large-Scale Atmospheric Flow
• Statistical Methods for Climate Sciences I+II
• Environmental Economics
• Cloud Dynamics: Hurricanes

My research focus:
Modelling of natural hazards and their impact on infrastructure and humans. The models should be applicable with little professional knowledge and data input.

My master thesis:
"Implementation of a global shallow landslide model in CLIMADA: feasibility and reliability"

My affiliation:
Climate Impact research group

Hi, I am Angeline Favre.

My background:
BSc Biology (Specialisation in Plant Science)

My field of interest:
PALEOECOLOGY

• Advanced Plant Biology: Paleoecology
• Paleolimnology
• Climate History and Paleoclimatology
• Dendroecology
• Meteorology I
• Climate, water and agriculture

My research focus:
Reconstruct past changes of the alpine vegetation and treeline shifts at high elevations and compare palaeoecological evidence with archaeological findings.

My master thesis:
"Holocene vegetation history and human impact in the region of the Grand-Saint Bernard Pass in the Southern Alps"

My affiliation:
Paleoecology Group, Institute of Plant Science

Hi, I'm Duncan

My background:
MA in Social History

My field of interest:
HISTORICAL CLIMATOLOGY

• Introduction to Historical Climatology
• Climatology III
• Climate Risk Assessment
• Climate and Environmental Physics
• Introduction to Atmospheric Circulation and Modes of Variability
• Statistical Methods for Climate Sciences

My research focus:
Reconstruction of past weather and climate. I aim for a dynamical interpretation of past extremes and natural disasters, as well as an understanding of their link to society. Early instrumental data are of special interest.

My affiliation:
Department of Economic, Social, and Environmental History at the Institute of History

Hi, my name is Heather.

My background:
BA Hons Natural Sciences (Physics)

My field of interest:
ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS

• Weather and Climate Models
• Meteorology 3
• Cloud Microphysics
• Boundary Layer Meteorology
• Dynamics of Large-Scale Atmospheric Flow

My research focus:
Investigating the height of the planetary boundary layer. My project is linked to a cloud microphysics field campaign organised by ETH Zürich. We compare measurements from radiosondes, drones, a microwave radiometer and a ceilometer. After assessing different methods for determining the boundary layer height, we look into how this height changes over the course of the day and under different weather conditions.

My master thesis:
“Investigating the Planetary Boundary Layer Height at the CLOUDLAB Field Campaign Site”

My affiliation:
Institute of Applied Physics - Atmospheric Dynamics and Meteor Physics

Hi, I'm Patrick

My background:
BSc in Geography with minors in Physics, Mathematics and Earth Sciences

Fields of interest:
URBAN CLIMATOLOGY, MACHINE LEARNING, MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES

• Atmospheric Physics
• Remote Sensing in Climatology
• Urban Climatology Field Course
• Statistical Learning in Atmospheric and Climate Science (ETH)
• Applied Geodata Science I + II

My research focus:
Optimizing temperature monitoring networks to reliably identify and quantify urban heat islands in order to develop heat adaptation strategies.

My master thesis:
“From Biel to Beyond: Intercomperison of Machine Learning Approaches for Enhancing Low-Cost Device Networks to Monitor Intra-Urban Air Temperature Variability”

My affiliation:
Institute of Geography, Climatology Group

Hi, I am Sabine

My background:
BSc Geosciences

My field of interest:
CLIMATE IMPACTS AND FOREST ECOSYSTEMS

• Dendroecology
• Methods of Climate Reconstruction
• Stable Isotopesy
• Holocene Vegetation History of the Central and Southern Alps
• Quaternary climate change
• Statistical Methods for Climate Sciences

My research focus:
The application of dendrological (tree-rings) methods to study the reaction of trees to the environment, especially the impact of drought on tree mortality.

My master thesis:
Assessing drought-induced mortality of Pine and Beech

My affiliation:
Institute of Plant Science, Univ. Bern, and Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf

Hi, I am Dalila

My background:
BSc Geosciences and Environment (with a focus on human and societal aspects)

My field of interest:
CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

• Climate Sciences in Conversation with Climate Law
• Political Economy of Climate Change
• Environmental Policy 1 - Intellectual Roots of Environmental Protection
• Climate Economics: International Cooperation
• Energy Economics
• Philosophical issues in understanding climate change

My research focus:
The growing numbers of withdrawals by European Union Member States from the Energy Charter Treaty, a trade and investment agreement in the energy sector, increasingly viewed as a hindrance to the Paris Agreement and Net-Zero Goals. Through case studies of the European Union, Poland, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, my research identifies the role of key state and non-state actors in shaping climate governance. It also highlights the urgent need to rethink international treaties in a context of a climate crisis and offers insights into the interplay between trade and climate field.

My master thesis:
The Role of Non-Conventional Actors in Shaping Climate Governance: Cases Studies of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).

Hi, I'm Robbert

My background:
BSc in Physics, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands

My field of interest:
LAND-CLIMATE INTERACTIONS

• Nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation
• Atmospheric Physics
• Hydrological modelling
• Introduction to atmospheric circulation and modes of variability

My research focus:
Assessing the climate feedbacks of tropical agroforestry systems.

My master thesis:
"The Climate Adaptation potential of Agroforestry Systems in Peru - a modelling approach"

My affiliation:
Wyss Academy for Nature

Hi, my name is Carole

My background:
BA International Relations

My field of interest:
ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY

• Environmental Epidemiology applied to Climate Sciences
• Environmental Policy I & II
• International Environmental Law
• Economic Analysis of Extreme Weather Events
• Climate and Agriculture: Impacts and Adaptations
• Climate Solutions

My master thesis:
"Climate change and maternal health: modelling the impact of heat stress among subsistence farmers in The Gambia"

My internship:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, Geneva

My affiliation:
Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM); Research Group Climate Change and Health

Hi, I’m Max

My background:
BSc in Geology at University of Lausanne

My field of interest:
LIMNOGEOLOGY

• Paleolimnology
• Environmental Limnogeology
• Global Biogeochemical Cycles and Climate
• Weather and Climate Data Analysis
• Quaternary Climate Change

My research focus:
Using a multi-proxy approach, I study how internal processes — lake mixing, geochemical cycling, authigenic mineral formation — and external hydroclimate forcing shape the layered sediments of Lake Poso, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. By comparing these sediment records to the ModE-RA 600-year climate reanalysis dataset, I explore whether Lake Poso's sediments can be used to reconstruct past shifts in tropical rainfall and lake mixing over the last 1750 years.

My master thesis:
"Quantitative assessment of sedimentary and geochemical variability in a short core from Lake Poso (Central Sulawesi, Indonesia): Implications for regional climate drivers of the past ~1750 years"

My affiliation:
Sedimentary Geochemistry, Institute of Geological Sciences

Hi, I'm Sophie

My background:
BSc Geography

My field of interest:
PALEO-CLIMATE AND ICE CORES

• Glaciology and Ice Cores
• Climate and Environmental Physics
• Statistical Methods for Climate Sciences
• Quaternary Climate Change
• Arctic Terrestrial and Marine Climate History (wildcard)y
• Applied Glaciology (wildcard)

My research focus:
Aerosol transport onto the Greenland ice sheet.

My master thesis:
"Seasonality in physical and chemical properties of mineral dust in Greenland snow"

My affiliation:
Climate and Environmental Physics – Ice Core Group

Hi, my name is Isabelle

My background:
BA History, Minor Sustainable Development

My field of interest:
CLIMATE HISTORY

• Introduction to Historical Climatology
• Methods of Climate Reconstruction
• Climatology I-III
• Meteorology I
• Climate Risk Assessment
• Quaternary Paleoclimate and Paleoenvironment
• Earthquakes and Tsunamis: History, Theories and Perception in the 16th-21th centuries

My research focus:
Occurrence of weather- and climate-related data in one of the worlds first mass media - the Volkskalender, and changes of perception of natural catastrophes over time.

My master thesis:
"Swiss Volkskalender of the 18-19th Century – A New Source of Climate History".

My affiliation:
Department of Economic, Social, and Environmental History at the Institute of History

Hi, I am Anna Kulakovskaya

My background:
BA in World Economy and International Affairs

My field of interest:
CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS

• Environmental Economics
• Energy Economics and Policy
• Political Economy of Climate Change
• Energy Economics and Policy
• Resource Economics
• Climate and Energy Policy

My research focus:
Modelling of endogenous technological change in economic models of climate change and analyzing its impact on countries’ greenhouse gas emissions.

My affiliation:
Department of Economics

Hi, I am Moritz

My background:
BSc Environmental Science

My field of interest:
ATMOSPHERIC AND CLIMATE DYNAMICS

• Introduction to Climate and Environmental Physics
• Introduction to Climate Modelling
• Environmental Fluid Dynamics
• Introduction to Atmospheric Ciruclation and Modes of Variability
• Climate Risk Assessment
• Dynamics of Large-Scale Atmospheric Flow

My research focus:
Past and future changes of atmospheric dynamics and modes of variability in the Atlantic region (North Atlantic Oscillation, West African Monsoon). To investigate this, I use millenia-scale simulations of coupled atmosphere-ocean global circulation models (AOGCM).

My master thesis:
"Changing teleconnection patterns in the Atlantic from 850-2100 AD - Seasonality and the role of atmosphere-ocean-sea ice interaction"

My affiliation:
Climate and Environmental Physics