Prof. Dr. Matthias Glaubrecht

Scientific career

since October 2014 Director of the Centre for Natural History at the University of Hamburg

April 2006 – March 2009 Head of the Research Department at the Museum of Natural History Berlin

October 2002 Academic Superior Council (A 14)

July 1997 Curator for Mollusca
Head of Malakozoology Collection, Museum of Natural History Berlin

February 1997 – June 1997 Guest scientist 
Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum, Univ. Hamburg

August 1996 - January 1997 and March - April 1998 Visiting Fellow
Centre of Evolutionary Research, Australian Museum Sydney, Australien

January 1996 – July 1996 Guest scientist
Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum, Univ. Hamburg

January 1994 - December 1995 Research assistant 
Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum, Univ. Hamburg

 

Academic education and degrees

July 2011   Habilitation
at the Humboldt University Berlin
Subject of the habilitation thesis:
Evolutionssystematik limnischer Gastropoden
Habilitation lecture: on 20.4.2011
Das Erbe Gondwanas: Der Zerfall der Südkontinente im Lichte neuester Forschung

October 1990 – June 1994   Dissertation
Zoological Museum and Zoological Institute, University of Hamburg
Abschluß: Dr. rer. nat. („summa cum laude“)
(Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Gerhard Hartmann, Prof. Dr. Klaus Bandel)
Disputation: on 17.6.1994
Zur Evolutionsökologie und Systematik tropischer Süss- und Brackwasserschnecken (Mollusca: Gastropoda)
Subject of the dissertation:
„Evolutionsökologie und Systematik am Beispiel von Süss- und Brackwasserschnecken (Mollusca: Caenogastropoda: Cerithioidea): Ontogenese-Strategien, paläontologischer Befund und Historische Zoogeographie“

October 1990 – Sept. 1993   Graduate Scholarship
Konrad Adenauer Foundation, St. Augustin/Bonn

March – August 1991   Scholarship from the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation, Ladenburg, and Smithsonian Institution Fellowship, Washington, D.C., USA

June – August 1991   Research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Galeta and Naos, Panama

May 1991    Stay at the Smithsonian Marine Station, Ft. Pierce, Florida

April 1984 – Aug. 1989   Studies of Biology (Diplom-Biology), University of Hamburg
Subjects: Zoology, palaeontology, molecular genetics
Diploma examination: August 1989 (Prof. Dr. O. Kraus, Prof. Dr. K. Bandel, Prof. Dr. E. Abel)

Sept. 1989 – May 1990   Diploma thesis
„Systematik, Zoogeographie und Evolution der Landschnecke Levantina im Ostmediterranen Raum (Pulmonata, Helicidae): Intraspezifische Variation, Disjunktion und Superspezies-Konzept“

Oct. 1985 – Aug. 1989   Study of Geology-Palaeontology
University of Hamburg

 

Research Grants, Scholarships and Awards

2005 Systematics Association Research Grant, Linnean Society London

2005 Synthesys Travel Grant (EU-GB-TAF) zum Besuch des Natural
History Museum, London

1998 Ernst Mayr Grant des Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Mass., USA

1998 Visting Research Fellowship,
Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia

1996 Visting Research Fellowship,
Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia

1992 Unitas Malacologica Award for the Best Poster
Unitas Malacologica Meeting, Siena

1991 Gottlieb Daimler & Carl Benz-Stipendium,
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Naos, Panama

1991 Short Term Visitor Fellowship,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA

1990 - 1993 Promotionsstipendium der Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung

1981 Federal winner in the biology competition "Jugend forscht" with a 3.5-year field study on the biology of a buzzard population

 

Journalism Awards

2006  Bscher Media Prize of the Humboldt University Society, especially for the non-fiction book "Seitensprünge der Evolution. Machos und andere Mysterien der Biologie" (publisher: S. Hirzel, Stuttgart 2005)

1996 Werner and Inge Grüter Prize for science journalism
of the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, in particular for the
Non-fiction book "Der lange Atem der Schöpfung. What Darwin would have liked to know"
(Publisher: Rasch & Röhring, Hamburg 1995)

1984 Special Radio Prize in the "Reporters of Science" competition

 

Trips abroad and research stays

October 1987 Visiting studies Laboratoire Arago, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France

Jul. - Aug. 1988 Visting studies Bermuda Biological Station for Research, Bermudas
(“Tropical Marine Invertebrate Course”)

March/April 1989 Field work in Greece: Dodecanese (Rhodes, Samos, Karpathos)

May 1990 Fieldwork Turkey: Bordrum Peninsula

March - May 1991 Research work at the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA

June - August 1991 Research work at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama

March 1993 Fieldwork Spain: Andalusia

February - March 1995 Field work Tanzania (Lake Tanganyika) and Malawi (Lake Malawi)

August - Dec. 1996 Research work at the Centre of Evolutionary Research, Australian Museum and März - April 1998 Sydney, Australien

July 1999 Fieldwork USA: East Coast (PA, VA)

August 1999 Fieldwork Indonesia: Sulawesi

March 2000 Fieldwork USA: Southwest (AL, FL)

July 2000 Fieldwork USA: West Coast (CA)

March 2001 Field and research work USA, Ft. Pierce Marine Research Station, Smithsonian Institution, Ft. Pierce, FL

May - June 2002 Fieldwork Australia: Queensland & Torres Strait Islands, AMS Sydney

June 2002 Fieldwork Fiji Islands: Viti Levu

August 2002 Fieldwork USA: East Coast (SC)

March 2003 Research stay at the Bell Museum of Natural History und Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (USA)

Sept. - Oct 2003 Fieldwork Indonesia: Sulawesi + Nusa Tenggara (Bali - Flores)

March/April 2004 Fieldwork Indonesia: Sulawesi

May - June 2004 Fieldwork Australia: Northern Territory & Western Australia

May 2005 Fieldwork Indonesia: Sulawesi & Bali

September 2005 Fieldwork Australia: Northern Territory & Western Australia

October 2005 Fieldwork Indonesia: Sulawesi & Bali

November 2005 Research stay at the US Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. (USA)

March 2006 Congress and field work Indonesia: Java

August 2006 Fieldwork Kenya, East Africa: Lake Turkana

May 2007 Fieldwork Indonesia: Sulawesi

Sept.- Oct. 2007 Fieldwork Australia: Northern Territory & Queensland

Oct.- Nov. 2008 Fieldwork Molukken & Sulawesi, Indonesia 

Sept. - Oct. 2009 Fieldwork Australia: Northern Territory & Queensland

April 2010 Research stay at Siplakorn University, Nakhok Patom, Thailand (cooperation with Dr. Duangduen Krailas)

July-August 2010 Research and field stay as part of the cooperation at Siplakorn University, Nakhok Patom, Thailand

Sept. - Oct. 2010 Research and field work Australia: Queensland

Sept. - Oct. 2011 Research and field work Australia: Northern Territory

 

Scientific publishing activities

1988-2009  seven non-fiction book publications 
including the publishing houses Econ (1988, 1990), Rasch & Röhring (1995), Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag (1990, 1991), Hirzel Verlag (2002, 2005), Prestel Verlag (2007) and Herder (2009) as well as foreign-language translations

since 1984 science journalist for national daily and weekly newspapers, including Die Zeit, Die Welt, FAZ, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau and Der Tagesspiegel as well as for magazines (including Geo, bild der wissenschaft, Spektrum der Wissenschaft, kosmos, Naturwissenschaftliche Rundschau), and - until 1997 - for the educational programmes of Norddeutscher Rundfunk (Hamburg) and Süddeutscher Rundfunk (Heidelberg)

Editorial work

since 2007 Editor-in-Chief
Zoosystematics and Evolution (formerly Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für
Naturkunde in Berlin, Zoologische Reihe) Publisher Wiley-VCH.
(responsible for development & implementation of new concept, title and layout of the magazine)

since 2010 Editorial Board
Bonn Zoological Bulletin
Publisher: Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn

since 2005 Editorial Board
Malacologia - International Journal of Malacology
Publisher: Institute of Malacology, USA

since 2007 Editorial Board
Species, Phylogeny and Evolution
Publisher: Universitätsverlag Göttingen

2003 - 2006 Editor-in-Chief (Zoology, Palaeozoology)
Organisms, Diversity & Evolution
Verlag: Elsevier
Publisher: Gesellschaft für Biologische Systematik

1997 - 2006 Co-Editor
Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Zoologische Reihe
Verlag: Wiley-VCH
(Erarbeitung und Umsetzung der verbesserten Konzeption der Zeitschrift)

1999 - 2003 Member of the editorial board of Theatrum Naturae, a popular science magazine from the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin

1995 - 2003 Employee at Der Falke – Das Journal für Vogelbeobachter (Aula-Verlag) 

Public relations and exhibitions

since 1997 Collaboration in the AG Public Relations at the Museum of Natural History, Berlin Journalistic support of the PR activities of the MfN

Nov. 1998 – May 1999 Assistance in the conceptual planning and preparation of the exhibition "100 Years German Deep Sea Expedition 'Valdivia'", Museum of Natural History

Sept. – Dec. 2000 Collaboration in the preparation of the exhibition "Theatrum Naturae et Artis - Chambers of Wonder of Knowledge", Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin

Jan. - May 2003 Conception and participation in the implementation of the "Humboldt-Exploratorium" as part of the permanent exhibition at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

2004 - 2006 Participation in the DVD ROM project "Vorstoß ins Innere" (Andreas Kratky & Hanns Zischler), with financial support from the Federal Cultural Foundation

2004 – 2007 Draft of the overall concept for the permanent exhibition "Evolution in Aktion" as well as cooperation in the implementation at the Museum of Natural History Berlin in the context of the redesign of the exhibitions financed by Efre funds of the EU
(Total volume: € 17.7 million; opening: 13 July 2007; 750,000 visitors in the first year)

2008 – 2009 Concept and realisation of the special exhibition "Darwin's Journey to Knowledge" at the Museum of Natural History Berlin
(Opening: 12 February 2009)

Furthermore: Numerous interviews for radio, television and print media;
Participation in various television productions, including ZDF (TerraX series), WDR (Planet wissen), 3Sat (nano), BR, Deutsche Welle/Berlin.

 

Activities in scientific or academic bodies

2008-2011  Review Board of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
(Review Board 203-01: Zoology)

1997-2009 Member (since 2004 as Chairman) of the Board of Trustees of the Werner and Inge Grüter Foundation, Munich (promotion of science journalism in the German-speaking world by awarding an annual journalism prize)

since 2006 Member of the Board and founding member of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Genetic Variability and Adaptability (IZGenVA) at Humboldt University Berlin

2005/2006 Participation in the editorial board of the Institute of Biology, Humboldt University Berlin, within the framework of the preliminary proposal "DEVILS - Humboldt Graduate School for Dynamics and Evolution in Living Systems

1998-2002 Member of the Institute Council of the Institute of Systematic Zoology, Museum of Natural History, Berlin

1999-2003 Deputy Chairman and member of the Executive Board of the
Society of Friends of Natural Research in Berlin (founded 1773)

 

Activity as academic reviewer (without Humboldt-University)

2004-2011 Reviewer of dissertations at the universities of Amsterdam (Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark), Leiden (Netherlands), Potsdam (Germany) & Siena (Italy)

1997 - 2008 Consultant for the following institutions:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Israel Research Council
Wissenschaftsfond Österreich

Reviewer for the following journals, (among others):
African Zoology, Biological Journal Linnean Society, Biological Letters (Royal Society London), Corax, Frontiers in Zoology, Hydrobiologia, Journal of Biogeography, Journal of Conchology, Journal of Molluscan Studies, Journal of Ornithology, Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, Marine Biology, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Malacologia, Molluscan Research, Polar Biology, Organisms, Diversity & Evolution, Proceedings of the Royal Society London, The Nautilus, The Veliger, Zoologischer Anzeiger, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Zoologia Scripta, Zootaxa, Zoologische Medelingen (Amsterdam), Zoosystematics and Evolution.

 

Memberships in scientific societies

German Zoological Society, Society for Biological Systematics (founding member), Unitas Malacologica, The Malacological Society of London, American Malacological Society, The Malacological Society of Australasian, German Malacozoological Society, The Society for the History of Natural History, German Society for the History and Theory of Biology, German Society of Ornithologists, Society of Friends of Natural Research in Berlin (vice-chairman, 1999-2001), Natural Science Society in Hamburg