News

In 2025, the Forschungsverbund Berlin will celebrate a special anniversary: the Marthe Vogt Award for outstanding young women scientists turns 25. In the anniversary year, the award goes to IGB's researcher Dr. Afroditi Grigoropoulou. 

Some of these solutions are presented in the new exhibition On Water. WasserWissen in Berlin, which will be on display from 10 October 2025. IGB researcher Professor Dörthe Tetzlaff also contributed her expertise.

A study in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment has shown that most of the lakes studied worldwide are located in North America, Asia and Europe, with the Global South being severely underrepresented in lake research. 

Researchers from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) are releasing young European sturgeons into the Elbe. This extinct and strictly protected migratory fish is considered an umbrella species, meaning that many other riverine animal and plant species also benefit wherever its demanding requirements are met. 

In the summer of 2022, toxins produced by the brackish-water alga Prymnesium parvum killed around 1,000 tonnes of fish in the River Oder. IGB researchers analysed the toxic effect of the brackish water algae Prymnesium parvum on the blood cells of various fish species in the River Oder. The results revealed species-specific differences in sensitivity to the toxins.

Professor Luc De Meester is stepping down after five years of leading the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) to return to the University of Leuven in Belgium. During his time in charge, the Institute established important strategic initiatives and increased its international visibility. Professor Sonja Jähnig will take over as interim director.

Professor Chris Soulsby, researcher at the University of Aberdeen and guest scientist from IGB's Landscape Ecohydrology research group, was awarded the Langbein Lecture of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) for his lifetime contributions to the science of hydrology.

New impulses for designing water-conscious cities: The Kurt Eberhard Bode Foundation is funding a junior research group led by Dr Maria Warter. She will investigate the impact of human activity on urban freshwater ecosystems and how they can be restored.