News

Have a first look at our teaser for the videos about our CCbiocrust project in the Alps!

CCbiocrust: Fieldwork, filming and stakeholder workshop

Over the past two days, the CCbiocrust team headed up to our field site at the Hochtor (2528 m) in the Großglockner region to carry out a packed programme that combines our usual fieldwork with two very different yet equally rewarding activities. Joining us was Roland Radlinger from the Centre for Digital Teaching and Learning at the University of Graz, who will be producing a series of three short videos about the project. Roland spent the days filming the site, the measuring equipment and the team at work, capturing everything from the biological soil crusts themselves to the vast alpine landscape that shapes them. Having a filmmaker on site was a lovely reminder of just how visually striking this environment is, and we are already looking forward to seeing how his footage will bring the science to life. A first teaser will follow shortly! Bettina Weber, Janne Creve and Philipp Faulhammer also held a workshop for stakeholders, which sparked good discussions about alpine ecosystems, climate change and how our work relates to the wider region. It was a lovely way to round off two intense but rewarding days on the mountain.

LabSupply 2026 – Messe Graz

Our team of technical assistants had an inspiring day at the Lab Supply exhibition at Messe Graz! We really enjoyed discovering the latest innovations in the laboratory sector and exchanging ideas with other laboratory professionals and companies. Many thanks to all the exhibitors who shared their expertise with us during their presentations!

Big days at EGU26!

On Thursday at EGU26, Minsu gave an excellent overview of her work on nitrogen modelling. Friday was our big day at EGU: with Asma presenting a poster, and Janne, Ruilin, Philipp and Carlos having talks.

Award for Bettina Weber!

We are delighted to announce that Bettina was awarded the Alina Kabata-Pendias Medal at EGU26!

Luciano at EGU26

Yesterday at EGU26, Luciano presented our new soilOFM measurement setup! There, we were able to simultaneously measure the concentration of nitrogen compounds in the wet and gaseous phase

Fieldwork in Spain

Back from an exciting trip to the Tabernas Desert and Cabo de Gata in Spain to sample biocrusts for the WinMicAct project, together with Bettina Weber from the University of Graz and Dagmar Woebken from the University of Vienna! We were stunned by the amazing badlands and beautiful biocrusts and thank Emilio Rodríguez-Caballero and Raúl Román Fernández for their hospitality and support in sampling. We are already looking forward to our next trip!

5. Helsinki Day

Fascinating presentations, posters and academic discussions at Helsinki Day, the fifth mini-symposium held at the Institute of Biology! Our PhD students Asma Fathinejadposhkoohi and Ruilin Chen presented their research projects on the topics of "Biopatinas on buildings in urban environments: biofilters, CO2 sinks and cooling systems with an aesthetic-architectural effect” and “Mapping of Rodent-Induced Disturbance Impact on Biological Soil Crusts via Deep Learning-Informed Graph Cut”. Ruilin won second place for Best Talk!