The GFZ welcomes Dr Michal Ben-Israel and Dr Camilo Ignacio Pinilla Ramos, who have joined us at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences from the USA for a two-year fellowship as part of the Helmholtz Global Fellow Program starting in December 2025.

Dr Michal Ben-Israel comes from the University of California, Davis (USA) and has an interdisciplinary background in geomorphology, geochemistry and microbial ecology. At the GFZ, she has been conducting research as a Global Fellow with Prof. Dr Jean Braun in Section 4.7 “Earth Surface Process Modelling” as a member of the “Earth Surface Signals” working group with Dr Luca Malatesta. She will also cooperate closely with Prof. Dr Susanne Liebner, head of the working group “Microbial carbon dynamics in the climate system” in Section 3.3 “Geomicrobiology”.

The focus of her fellowship is to investigate the interactions between microbial communities and surface processes. She wants to understand how microorganisms colonise and adapt to newly formed landscapes, how microbial communities influence weathering and soil development, and how these biological-geomorphological feedbacks shape landscapes over time.

Dr Camilo Ignacio Pinilla Ramos is seismologist and civil engineer. He moved to GFZ from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (USA). His fellowship is hosted by Prof. Fabrice Cotton’s in his Section 2.6 “Seismic Hazard and Risk Dynamics”. The objectives of the fellowship are to integrate rupture dynamics into regional hazard modelling and to contribute to developing next-generation physics-based hazard assessments. By the end of the fellowship, the goal is to have robust, validated rupture generator models that enhance seismic hazard predictions. Collaboration with GFZ Sections 4.5 “Subsurface Process Modelling” and 2.3 “Geomagnetism” will contribute to the success of the project.  

About the Helmholtz Global Fellow Program

The Helmholtz Global Fellow Program is aimed at outstanding international scientists and technical experts who are currently working at renowned foreign research institutions outside Europe and would like to spend up to two years conducting research at a Helmholtz Centre in Germany.

The funding is provided as part of the “internationalisation@home” objective of the Helmholtz Association's Impulse and Networking Fund, with additional contributions from the host centres. 

The fellowship is especially aimed at outstanding scientists in the middle of their careers (who have completed their doctorates but do not yet hold a full professorship or equivalent position) and technicians with excellent technical expertise and outstanding own contributions to technical developments in the past. Applicants must not have German citizenship, must not have completed their school education in Germany to the point of a degree/ no university entrance qualifications acquired in Germany, and must not currently be working in Europe.

The scholarship offers fellows an opportunity for personal scientific and technical development at research locations in Germany. The Helmholtz Centres benefit from the expertise of the fellows. In the medium to long term, the funding contributes to the establishment and consolidation of international scientific relations, particularly in the transatlantic region.