Prof. Ingo Sass has been the new head of the Geoenergy Section at the German Research Centre for Geosciences since 1 September 2021. He succeeds Prof. Ernst Huenges, who retired at the end of 2020. Since 1 January 2021, Dr Simona Regenspurg had held the position of acting section head as an interim. Sass comes from the TU Darmstadt, where he holds a W3 professorship. This will be integrated into the cooperation between the TU Darmstadt and the GFZ in a joint appointment between the institutions.

Ingo Sass studied geology and palaeontology in Hamburg and Karlsruhe. At the then Technical University of Karlsruhe, now KIT, he received his doctorate with a thesis on wells and filters for the treatment of groundwater contamination. He has been a professor at TU Darmstadt since 2005, initially for engineering geology and geothermal laboratories, and has been head of the Applied Geothermal Energy Department since 2009. Until 2017, he also held a professorship for Geothermal Systems and Resources at the University of Iceland and Akureyri (Iceland). The scientist also brings experience in the private sector, including as project manager of a geothermal power plant.