Martin Sauter is very familiar with LIAG and its structures, partly due to his work on the institute's Scientific Advisory Board from 2008 to 2015. As a hydrogeologist and engineering geologist and with his experience in the use of geophysical methods and in the characterisation and modelling of georeservoirs, he combines the spectrum of LIAG's main research areas with the application topics of hydrogeology and engineering geology in order to lead the institute back into the Leibniz Association on a temporary basis. Martin Sauter has been responsible for numerous international and national research projects, including in LIAG's focal areas, such as research into the management of groundwater resources, geothermal reservoirs and underground storage facilities. Thanks to his many years of research, he is closely networked with the institute's various stakeholders. For the past 20 years, Martin Sauter has headed the Department of Applied Geology at the University of Göttingen with up to 40 members at times.
Martin Sauter studied geology at the University of Tübingen and hydrogeology at the University of Birmingham (M.Sc. 1981). After various activities in research and consulting, he returned to the University of Tübingen as an assistant at the Chair of Applied Geology, where he completed his doctorate in 1991 on the characterisation and modelling of karst aquifers. From 1998 onwards, he was Professor of Hydrogeology at the University of Jena, where he was responsible for groundwater research. Since 2002, Sauter has been Professor of Applied Geology at the University of Göttingen.
Martin Sauter took up his post at LIAG on 6 December at a ceremony held at GEOZENTRUM Hannover by Frank Doods, State Secretary of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs, Transport, Building and Digitalisation. "I am delighted that we have succeeded in recruiting such an accomplished and knowledgeable scientist as Prof Dr Sauter as the new head of LIAG. The state of Lower Saxony will support him in further developing the LIAG and providing new impetus. This includes, in particular, the challenges associated with the planned re-admission to the Leibniz Association. I wish Prof Dr Sauter all the best and every success for his work at LIAG."
"LIAG is characterised by its outstanding scientific methodological achievements in the field of applied geophysics. The institute has a high reputation in the national and international scientific community," explains Prof Dr Martin Sauter. "I am looking forward to using his many years of geophysical expertise to open up further socially relevant fields in hydrogeology, engineering geology and geotechnics in science and application in a future-oriented manner."
"We are delighted to welcome Professor Sauter, an experienced scientist and former committee member, as head of the institute," emphasises Prof. Dr Manfred Frechen, Head of the Geochronology Section at LIAG, who has been managing the institute on an interim basis until now. "Thanks to Professor Sauter's very good networking in politics, in the specialist authorities and above all in the scientific community, we hope that Mr Sauter will successfully prepare the institute's readmission procedure to the Leibniz Association."
Professor Sauter will also remain a professor at the University of Göttingen.
