University of Bremen: AvH Research Award for Excellence Chair Maria Kanakidou

Professor Kanakidou had already been selected for the important Alexander von Humboldt Research Award in 2019. In 2020 she should be officially awarded it. Due to the pandemic, this event was postponed – now it finally took place.

For her research stays associated with the award, Maria Kanakidou chooses the Laboratory for Modeling and Observation of the Earth System (LAMOS) headed by Professor Mihalis Vrekoussis, whose laboratory is located at the Institute for Environmental Physics at the University of Bremen and works closely with the MARUM Cluster of Excellence. Mihalis Vrekoussis has also been hosting Maria Kanakidou in the university’s Excellence Chair program since 2020.

Close cooperation with the university on two levels
The fact that the top researcher maintains her close connection to the University of Bremen on two levels shows how attractive the university is for her – winners of the Humboldt Research Award are free to choose the institution in which they carry out their scientific work. The laudatory speech about the award winner said: “Maria Kanakidou is a leading international scientist who is known for her cutting-edge research in the fields of atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemical cycles and climate. Her innovative studies have fostered international collaborations in the study of volatile organic compounds, oxygenated organics, including organic nitrates, chlorofluorocarbons, organic aerosols, and nutrients.

Maria Kanakidou is Professor of Computational Environmental Chemistry and Director of the Environmental Chemical Processes Laboratory (ECPL) in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Crete. As a Professor of Excellence at the University of Bremen, she contributes to research on climate change and pollution with the aim of assessing the impact of anthropogenic emissions on the climate and ecosystems within the Earth system in a carbon- and nitrogen-based economy.

Together with host Professor Mihalis Vrekoussis (IUP and MARUM) and the two Professors John P. Burrows and Justus Notholt (both IUP) – they provide satellite and ground-based remote sensing observations – Maria Kanakidou develops and uses a unique modeling framework that combines traditional and modern Modeling tools combined with earth observation data products. In doing so, they advance the optimization of estimates of surface flows, i.e. the emission or deposition of greenhouse gases and other climate-relevant pollutants. These are required to assess their impact on the climate and ecosystems, using earth system models.