Dr Benjamin Männel is taking the lead of Section 1.1 "Space Geodetic Techniques" at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences on April 1st, 2026. He succeeds Prof. Dr Jens Wickert. 

With Section 1.1, Benjamin Männel is responsible for significant research infrastructures and scientific services that are of utmost importance for GFZ and the Helmholtz Association. These include the GNSS station network and associated GNSS evaluation services. GNSS is the abbreviation for Global Navigation Satellite Systems. Based on the geoscientific data obtained through this infrastructure, Benjamin Männel and his team run the application of GNSS for observing geodynamic and atmospheric processes. A particular focus will be placed on the GFZ observatories and the combination with other geodetic and geophysical measurement networks.

Dr Benjamin Männel has been working as a research scientist at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences since 2016. He has been leading the "GNSS Infrastructure and Analysis" research group at the GFZ since 2017 and is a member of the GFZ’s Internal Scientific Council for the period 2023-2026. Männel also holds the position of the deputy speaker for the Modular Earth Science Infrastructure (MESI) at GFZ. After completing his studies in Geodesy at TU Dresden, he worked at the Institute for Geodesy and Photogrammetry at ETH Zurich, where he also received his doctorate in 2016. A research stay took him to the University of Nevada, USA, in 2022. Selected ongoing projects in which Dr Benjamin Männel is involved include the Galileo Geodetic Service Provider (GRSP, since 2017) and the ERC-funded project StG TectoVision. Furthermore, he has been active in the management of the Scientific Advisory Board of the ESA Mission Genesis since 2024.