• since 10/2011: Professor of Geography and Disaster Risk Research, University of Potsdam, Germany
• 10/2025: one of the Top100 Scientists in Berlin, awarded by the newspaper “Der Tagesspiegel”
• 04/2025: Plinius Medallist, awarded by the European Geosciences Union (EGU) here 
• 04/2025: Nomination for the SUPERvisor Award of the University of Potsdam
• 06/2024: Expert for the public hearing on “Climate change and crisis management” of the Enquete-Commission of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia here
• 06/2023: Short-listed for the WISPOP-award on science communication
• 06/2022: Expert for the public hearing on “Improvements of Warning and Civil Protection” by the committee on internal affairs of the German Parliament here
• 01 – 03/2022: Expert review for the committee of inquiry on the floods in July 2021 of the Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia here
• 11/2021 – 10/2025: Scientific networking and synthesis project within the funding programme WaX – Hydrological extreme events (BMBF-project Aqua-X-Net) here 
• 11/2021 – 02/2025: Scientific contributions to the recovery processes after the flood in 2021 (BMBF-projects KAHR and HoWas2021 here
• 04/2020 – 12/2024: Speaker of the DFG Research Training Group “Natural Hazards and Risks in a Changing World” (NatRiskChange) here
• 09/2017 – 10/2024: Lead of the BMBF-joint research project “Urban resilience against extreme weather events - typologies and transfer of adaptation strategies in small metropolises and medium-sized cities” (ExTrass) here
• 10/2016 – 12/2017: Visiting Professor, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
• 12/2015 – 12/2019: President of the German Committee Disaster Risk Reduction (DKKV), Bonn, Germany
• 03/2013 – 12/2015: Chairwoman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Committee Disaster Risk Reduction (DKKV), Bonn, Germany
• 07/2010 – 09/2011: Deputy Director of Germany’s Climate Service Center (now: GERICS) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht GmbH (now: hereon), Hamburg, Germany
• 03/2008 – 06/2010: Professor of Natural Hazard and Risk Management, University of Innsbruck, Austria
• 03/2008 – 06/2010: Scientific Director of the alpS – Centre for Natural Hazard and Risk Management GmbH, Innsbruck, Austria
• 05/2008 – 01/2009: Examination of the Habilitation thesis: “Floods, flood losses and flood risk management in Germany”, University of Potsdam, Germany, to obtain Dr. rer. nat. habil.
• 10/2002 – 03/2008: Senior Scientist, Engineering Hydrology Section, GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ – Germany’s National Research Centre for Geosciences)
• 05/2000 – 09/2002: Post-Doc, German Research Network Natural Disasters (DFNK), GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), Germany
• 07/1996 – 04/2000: Junior scientist, Environmental Geology, University of Halle, Germany PhD-Thesis: “Pollution patterns of the regional groundwater contamination in the industrial and mining area Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Central Germany”, (examination passed in December 2001 to obtain the title Dr. rer. nat.)
• 09/1993 – 07/1994: Environmental Studies, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands (supported by a DAAD scholarship)
• 10/1989 – 06/1996: Study of Geo-ecology (Environmental Sciences), TU Braunschweig, Germany (Diploma)

A full list of research projects at the University of Potsdam can be found here