University of Bayreuth

Contact point / Staff Involved and title:
Prof. Dr. Efstathios Diamantopoulos leads the Chair of Soil Physics at the University of Bayreuth. The Chair of Soil Physics focuses on understanding and characterizing mass and energy fluxes in soils. From a soil physics perspective, we explore the non-linear feedbacks between plants, soil ecology, soil chemistry, and soil hydrology. Our scientific curiosity is directed toward understanding and analyzing discrepancies between theoretical predictions and actual observations (both direct and indirect) in soils. To achieve this, we combine: Multiscale experimental quantification of water flow, solute transport, and heat flow in soils at various spatial scales (pore, column, mesocosm, plot scale) Characterization of soil physical properties at both the pore and continuum scales Advanced numerical models for simulating water flow, solute transport, and heat flow in soils, including non-equilibrium phenomena (e.g., preferential flow) Multidisciplinary modeling tools describing the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (e.g., Daisy, daisy.ku.dk) and state-of-the-art inverse modeling methods Additionally, we utilize advanced techniques to quantify parameter and model prediction uncertainty, employing both classic and Bayesian methods.

Today it clear how very farsighted it was in 1975 to found a university that advances interdisciplinary research and teaching on the basis of excellence in academic disciplines. Our globalised society is constantly faced with new and ever more complex questions. The right answers are found where there is close and above all interdisciplinary cooperation – like at the University of Bayreuth.

Today, we are one of the most successful young universities in Germany. The University of Bayreuth is ranked 38th out of the world’s top 673 universities younger than 50 in the ‘Times Higher Education (THE) Young University Ranking 2024’.

Interdisciplinary research and teaching is the main feature of our more than 186 degree programmes offered at seven faculties in the natural sciences, food sciences, engineering, law and economics, as well as language, literature and cultural studies. The University of Bayreuth has about 12,500 students, 1,601 academic staff (274 of them professors) and 1016 non-academic employees on the campus in Bayreuth and at satellite campus in Kulmbach. This makes it one of the largest employers in the region.