Matthias is the PI of ‘Isodrones’ and leader of a junior research group at the University of Brunswick, Germany. Per education, he is Hydrologist, but he always was fascinated by plants and ecohydrological aspects. In his PhD, Matthias was working in the large research initiative SASSCAL in Namibia, where the focus was on improving the understanding and estimations of groundwater recharge using water stable isotopes. In this project, Matthias realized how important plants are for the hydrological cycle and that water transport and groundwater recharge in water-limited environments are mainly controlled by these.

The idea of quantifying depth and magnitude of water uptake through trees by simply taking a core sample from a tree fascinated him, and he kept working on this topic. This culminated in a proposal combining classic and novel ecohydrologic methods (e.g. sap flow measurements and insitu isotope measurements) with non-invasive methods based on drones (UAV) to understand and identify deep root water uptake, which he presented to the Volkswagen foundation in 2016. After a long selection process, Matthias was chosen for the program and is a fellow of the Volkswagen Foundation since.

In his private life, Matthias is happily married and has a little child, Moana, who means more than anything to him. His second love is the ocean, and surfing is the sport that makes him happier than (almost) everything. He also likes Traveling, Surfskates, Bouldering, Yoga and Meditation.