Research

Anna Gülcher

Computational Earth and planetary scientist interested in the physical requirement for a habitable planet. Her research focuses on – but is not restricted to – the interior and tectonic processes that shape rocky planets. Anna strives to put observations from geophysics, space, geology, and geo/cosmo-chemistry in a physics-based framework using state-of-the-art numerical modelling techniques. She is experienced in numerical modelling of both global-scale mantle convection and regional-scale tectonics and volcanism on Earth and Venus.

Marrick Braam

Marrick Braam

Modelling and theory of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres, including atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric dynamics, climate, energetic processes (flares, lightning), habitability, and observational consequences. Prebiotic chemistry and the origins of life in a planetary context.

Jonathan Grone

Astrobiology and modelling of biosignatures to detect life beyond earth, polarimetric and spectroscopic detection of homochirality as a biosignature, using extremophile microbes as proxies for potential icy-moon organisms. M.Sc. in biological oceanography and marine microbial ecology

Lisa Brandenburg

Astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life. Homochirality as a universal biosignature. Terrestrial extremophiles as a proxy for life beyond Earth. Spectropolarimetry for detection of circular polarization.

Jan Can Akin

Mathilda Fatton

Microbiology, first form of life and extremophiles associated to biosignatures on Earth and beyond Earth. Biosignatures database using spectro-polarimetry to detect homochirality associated to life

Valentin Bickel

Planetary geomorphology, ice and volatiles, machine and deep learning, object detection, image processing, remote sensing, soil- and terramechanics, solar system exploration

Francis Zong Lang

Detection and characterization of temperate, Earth-sized exoplanets around ultra-cool stars, instrumentation on SAIT-EX telescope. I am also interested in the BrainPol project - a novel visualization and intraoperative technique that uses spectropolarimetry to define tumor/healthy tissue boundaries.

Yann Alibert

General theory of planetary system formation, internal structure Bayesian analysis, use of machine learning tools to analyse observations and simulations. Main author of the first and second versions of the 'Bern model' for planetary system formation. Involved in the CHEOPS and PLATO missions.

Brice-Olivier Demory

Exoplanet detection and characterisation, planetary atmospheres, planetary dynamics, statistical analysis, stellar and brown-dwarf physics, ground-based instrumentation, data analysis, large surveys

Anna Walde

I’m working on applying atmospheric retrieval methods involving machine learning techniques to the atmospheres of brown dwarfs and directly imaged exoplanets. In doing so, I’m explicitly interested in combining Brown Dwarf theory with astrostatistics methods like Bayesian statistics.