Prof. Dr.-Ing. Annette Eicker took over as Head of Section 1.2 “Global Geomonitoring and Gravity Field” at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences on 1 March 2026. She succeeds Prof. Dr Frank Flechtner, who, during his 13 years as head of the section, played a key role in shaping and further developing the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions and who is now retiring.

Annette Eicker has been Professor of Geodesy and Levelling at HafenCity University Hamburg since 2016. Prior to this, she had been a research associate at the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation at the University of Bonn since 2002, where she obtained her doctorate and most recently held the position of an Academic Counsellor. International research stays took her to, among others, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (USA) and the Université de Rennes 1 (France).

Through her research, Annette Eicker has made a significant contribution to the further development of satellite-based Earth observation. Among other roles, she was a member of the NASA Review Panel for the Science Data System of the GRACE C mission (2024–2025) and, from 2021 to 2025, President of the Geodesy Division of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

Annette Eicker’s research focuses primarily on determining the Earth’s gravitational field based on the analysis of satellite data, on hydrological mass changes, and on methods of geodetic time series analysis. Her work contributes to our understanding of global water distribution, changes in groundwater levels and climate-induced mass shifts.

As head of Section 1.2, Annette Eicker will, among other things, assume responsibility for key research infrastructures and scientific services that are of paramount importance to the GFZ and the Helmholtz Association. These include, first and foremost, the GRACE-FO and GRACE-C satellite gravity missions, but also complementary infrastructure such as several superconducting gravimeters, a satellite receiving station and a satellite laser ranging station. Based on the geoscientific data obtained through this infrastructure, Annette Eicker will drive forward its use for quantifying mass transport processes. This enables, for example, the monitoring of large-scale changes in ice masses, groundwater levels and sea-level rise, thereby also providing data for the validation of climate models.