Prof. Dr Simona Regenspurg, working group leader in the GFZ's Geoenergy Section, was awarded the Patricius Medal by the German Geothermal Association for her diverse scientific contributions and her commitment to networking within the geothermal community. The award ceremony took place on 18 November 2025 during the German Geothermal Congress in Frankfurt am Main. Since 1994, the German Geothermal Association has honoured individuals ‘who have made outstanding contributions to the development of geothermal energy use’ with this medal. The award consists of a certificate and a medal. The medal is named after Patricius, Bishop of Prusa, who lived in 360 BC. Read more about this here.
Honoured achievements
At the award ceremony, particular emphasis was placed on Simona Regenspurg's achievements in researching reservoir geochemistry and water-rock interaction, as well as her enormous commitment to strengthening knowledge transfer and networking among German geothermal researchers:
Simona Regenspurg heads the German section of “Women in Geothermal” WING, an international network organisation founded in 2020 that promotes the further education, professional development and advancement of women in the geothermal community.
In addition, she is the spokesperson for the Geoenergieallianz Berlin Brandenburg (GEB²), a network of currently eight research institutions in the region, which she played a key role in promoting and co-founding in 2023. The network sees itself as the first point of contact for local authorities, energy suppliers, politicians and administrators on issues relating to geoenergy and the implementation of geoenergy projects.
Simona Regenspurg is also the coordinator of the focus group FG Geothermal Energy in Geo.X, the research network for geosciences in Berlin and Brandenburg. Her work as Senior Editor of the journal “Geothermal Energy” was also highlighted.
About the person: Research
At GFZ, Simona Regenspurg has been leading the "Geothermal Fluids" working group within the Geoenergy Section since 2020. Regenspurg researches, among other things, chemical reactions under extreme conditions (increased pressure and increased temperatures), as well as the interactions between thermal water and rock. Her research also focuses on the occurrence and extraction of critical raw materials from thermal water. She analyzes the properties of geothermal fluids to develop, together with her research group, new approaches to optimizing geothermal energy extraction. Major projects she is and was significantly involved in include “CRM-Geothermal-Critical Raw Materials from geothermal fluids: Occurrence, Enrichment, Extraction” and “REFLECT – Redefining geothermal fluid properties at extreme conditions to optimise future geothermal energy extraction”.
Career
Simona Regenspurg completed her diploma studies in Geology and Hydrogeology at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1998 and earned her doctorate from the University of Bayreuth in 2002. Her scientific career then led her as a postdoctoral researcher and scientific staff member to the USA, where she worked at the Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden (USA), then to Sweden at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, and to Switzerland at the EPFL in Lausanne. From 2004 to 2005, she worked in Hanover for the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR). Since 2009, Simona Regenspurg has been conducting research as a scientific staff member at the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, and has been active at the FU Berlin since 2013, where she completed her habilitation in 2016 and received an APL professorship in 2025. She has been leading the Geothermal Fluids working group in the Geoenergy Section since 2020, and served as interim head of the section in 2021.
