Two MARUM scientists new in the marine research think tank

Apr 24, 2023

New members of the Future Ocean Forum: Dr. Alice Lefebvre and Prof. Dr. Elda Miramontes from MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen. Photo A.Lefebvre: WFB Bremen/ Jonas Ginter; Photo: E.Miramontes: Matej Meza/Uni Bremen.

The challenges facing humanity in the wake of climate change, species extinction, and increasing resource use are immense. To meet them, it is essential to mobilize global scientific and political cooperation. In 2020, the German marine research community founded the Future Forum Ocean (ZFO) for this purpose. The forum discusses overarching scientific and research strategy topics with high societal relevance in the field of oceans and coastal seas as a "think tank" and develops them further. It is a joint initiative of the German Marine Research Consortium (KDM) and the German Alliance for Marine Research (DAM).

The nearly forty members of the ZFO have been appointed from over twenty institutions - including universities, government agencies, research institutes, and museums - to represent the German marine research community. Since spring 2023, two MARUM scientists are new members: Dr. Alice Lefebvre and Prof. Dr. Elda Miramontes.

Alice Lefebvre's research interest is the interaction between geomorphology, hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics. In recent years, she has studied the complex relation between large underwater dunes and currents. Her research now extends to the interaction between oceanography and particle transport in shallow and deep water. She is also an advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion in science.

Elda Miramontes joined the Department of Geosciences at the University of Bremen in 2019 as Junior Professor of Sedimentology and is a member of MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences. The main goal of her research is to better understand the processes that control sedimentation in deep-sea environments of recent geological time. This will improve paleoreconstructions based on sediment archives. It also examines how plastics distribute in the marine environment, as well as processes that transport particles to the seafloor. This will help to better write how they affect the environment.