The European Geoscience Union honours Claudio Faccenna, Anne Glerum and Sarah Incel for their GFZ projects and their achievements in the geosciences.

The European Geoscience Union (EGU) is an interdisciplinary scientific society for researchers with the aim of promoting the geosciences and scientific cooperation. The medals and prizes for outstanding scientists have been announced. The official award ceremony will take place during the EGU General Assembly in April 2024. This year, 52 people will be honoured for their outstanding contributions to Earth, planetary and space sciences.

"Arthur Holmes Medal" for Prof Dr Claudio Faccenna

The EGU honours Claudio Facenna with the "Arthur Holmes Medal" for his numerous projects and his contribution to geological research. The "Arthur Holmes Medal" and thus honorary membership of the EGU is awarded to outstanding scientists who have achieved international renown in the field of geosciences of the solid Earth due to their scientific achievements and merits.

Prof Dr Claudio Faccenna has been Head of Section 4.1 "Dynamics of the Lithosphere" at the GFZ since 2021 and has been a professor at the University of Rome III since 2011. Before joining the GFZ, Faccenna held the Endowed Chair in Structural Geology at the University of Texas at Austin. His work focusses on deformation of the Earth's crust, subduction mechanisms and volcanism. His research is broadly diversified along the tectonic structures (Tethyan Belt), which span from the Mediterranean to the Middle East and the Himalayas. Another focus is on the Andes and Antarctica.

Faccenna uses various techniques and methods such as numerical geodynamic modelling and the interpretation of seismic lines. But experimental tectonics is also an area in which he is methodologically active: in 1996 he founded a laboratory for this purpose at the University of Rome III. Faccenna has led numerous national and some international research projects and published more than 250 articles.

"Geodynamics Division Prize" for Dr Anne Glerum

Dr Anne Glerum is a geophysicist and works on the deformation of plate boundaries. She is honoured with the "Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award" for her outstanding achievements in the development of numerical methods and their application. The committee praised her broad scientific expertise and her list of publications on topics ranging from rift tectonics to the formation of mineral deposits.

Anne Glerum is in demand at national and international level as a collaborator and team member. She is also an excellent teacher who shares her expertise in hackathons and workshops.

The "Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award" in the field of geodynamics is awarded to young scientists whose work focusses on geodynamic processes in the lithosphere, the Earth's mantle and the Earth's core.

"Earth Magnetism & Rock Physics Division Prize" for Dr Sarah Incel

Dr Sarah Incel's research focuses on how processes on the nanometre to millimetre scale can influence the deformation of rocks on the metre to kilometre scale. She investigates how metamorphic reactions change the deformation behaviour of rocks, i.e. from deformable to brittle and vice versa. For her research work, Sarah Incel receives the "Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award" in the field of geomagnetism and rock physics.

Sarah Incel studied geosciences at the FU Berlin. Part of the work for which she was honoured was written in the context of her Master's thesis at the GFZ. Sarah Incel has been working as a postdoc at the Ruhr University Bochum since 2019 and will return to the GFZ next year as a research assistant.

The EGU presents the Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award in the field of geomagnetism and rock physics to young researchers working on solid Earth processes and magnetohydrodynamics.

Further links:

EGU Assembly: 14 - 19 April 2024