Together with my group and our international partners, I study formal and computer-based methods and their possible applications for tasks and questions in the humanities and cultural studies. I am particularly interested in the history of human cultures and societies so that we, as people of the 21st century, can understand how we got to where we are and thus gain better orientation as to where we should go. We focus on computational historical ecology.
I look with great concern at what we might leave to our posterity. For me, scientists have a special responsibility to shape this future. It is important to me to take this into account in my work with students, in my research and in my private life.
I also comment (far too rarely) on scientific, science policy and social issues in my personal blog: https://denkstaette.hypotheses.org/.
I am also an affiliated scientiest at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology.
ORCiD: 0000-0002-3252-0604
Computational, digital, and environmental history / historial ecology; Historical Data Studies esp. AI in historical research; theory and methodolgy of science; cultural heritage digitization; history of man, technology and environment
since 2013: Chair of Digital Humanities, Universität Passau; 2013: Appointment as Professor of Digital History, Universität Luxemburg (rejected); 2012-13: Assistant Professor of History (tenure track) and Fellow, Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA; 2012: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Victoria, Canada; 2009-2012: Postdoc, Universität Würzburg; 2009: PhD in medieval and modern history, Universität Göttingen; 2007-2009: Marie-Curie Research Fellow, National University of Ireland, Galway; 2004-2007: Senior Management Consultant, Siemens AG; 2001-2002: Intensivkurs Betriebswirtschaftslehre, Fernuniversität Hagen; 2001-2004: Project Manager, debis Systemhaus and T-Systems; 1999-2000: Software Developer, Bundesdruckerei; 1996-1999: Student Researcher, Historical Information Science, Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte, Göttingen; 1993-1999: Studium der Geschichte und Mathematik, Universität Göttingen; 1990-1993: German army officer training and service
Founding Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Cultural Studies (2023); Dean, Faculty of Arts and Humanities (2019-2023); Vice Dean, Faculty of Arts and Humanities (2017-2019); Speaker, Fachgruppe III Geisteswissenschaften (2017-2018); Speaker, Departments Governance und Historische Wissenschaft (2017-2018); Speaker, Fachkollegiums Geschichte (2017-2019); Member Executive Board, Digital Humanities im deutschsprachigen Raum DHd (2012-2018); Director, Deutsche Biographie (until 2024); Mentor, Bavarian Elite Network Max Weber-Programm
Scientific Council of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (since 2026)
Scientific Committee of the European Green Belt Initiative
Scientific Council of the Deutsches Museum (2018-2025, Vice Chair 2024-2025)
Editorial Board Histories; Academic Editor PLOS ONE; Community Reviewer Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
NFDI4Biodiversity (Partner); NFDI4Memory (Participant); Historical Commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (elected member, resigned 2025); Fachinformationsdienst (FID) Geschichtswissenschaften (Scientific Advisory Board, member): Forum InformatikerInnen für Frieden und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung (FIfF) (member); Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftler (member); Digital Humanities im deutschsprachigen Raum DHd (Board of Directors, member 2012-2018); DFG-Graduate School "Privatheit" (associated member); Institut für Kulturraumforschung Ostbaierns und der Nachbarregionen (Board of Directors); Clio-online - Historisches Fachinformationssystem e.V.; READcoop (Transkribus); Verband der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands (VHD); Amercian Society for Environmental History; European Society for Environmental History; Gesellschaft für Ökologie