Press Release, 12. November 2025

Three UFZ scientists among the most influential scientists worldwide

In the annual scientific ranking of the most cited researchers (Highly Cited Researchers), three scientists of the UFZ are represented in 2025: Prof. Jakob Zscheischler, Dr. Tesfaye Wubet and Prof. Josef Settele. Among the 6.868 selected scientists worldwide is also Prof. Dagmar Haase. She started her scientific career at the UFZ and continue to be closely connected to the UFZ through a guest contract.

The Highly Cited Researchers™ list from Clarivate™ identifies scientists and social scientists who have demonstrated significant influence through publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. Each researcher selected has authored multiple Highly Cited Papers which rank in the top 1% by citations for their field(s) and publication year in the Web of Science Core Collection over the past eleven years. However, citation activity is not the sole selection indicator. This list, based on citation data, is then refined using other quantitative metrics, as well as qualitative analysis and expert judgment.

The full 2025 Highly Cited Researchers list and executive summary can be found here.

Highly Cited Researcher 2025 at the UFZ:

Prof. Jakob Zscheischler
The earth systems scientist has headed the “Compound Environmental Risks” department at the UFZ since 01/2024 and is Professor of Data Analytics in Hydro Sciences at TU Dresden. His research focuses on combined weather and climate events, which have not yet been adequately taken into account in risk assessment. This includes describing and modelling the interaction of various meteorological factors, evaluating the role of combined weather and climate events in the development of social/ecological risks such as floods, forest dieback or crop failures, as well as predicting heatwaves, extreme precipitation, storms, droughts and their effects. He also contributes this expertise as lead author of the 7th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=48052

Dr. Tesfaye Wubet
The microbial ecologist is Senior Scientist in Environmental Genomics and Metagenomics at the Department of Community Ecology. His research investigates how plant–microbe and microbe–microbe interactions mediate plant species coexistence and ecosystem health. He particularly examines how global change drivers – such as land-use intensity, climate change, plant species identity, and genetic diversity – shape plant-associated and rhizosphere soil microbiomes. His work is embedded in multidisciplinary biodiversity and ecosystem functioning projects, including the Biodiversity Exploratories, BEF-China, and TreeDi. https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=37874

Prof. Josef Settele
The agricultural biologist is head of the UFZ Department of Conservation Biology and Social-Ecological Systems and Professor (apl.) at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). His research focuses on the Conservation and Evolutionary Biology of Insects, Biodiversity and Land Use and Interdisciplinary Cooperation and Project Co-ordination in the field of biodiversity. In the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) he was one of the three co-chairs of the Global Assessment and since 2022 is member of the Multidicsiplinary Expert Panel (MEP). He also is member of the German Advisory Council on the Environment (Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen - SRU) and of the Advisory Body for Nature-Based Climate Protection (WBNK) of the German government. http://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=38572

Prof. Dagmar Haase
The geographer is professor for landscape ecology at the Institute of Geography of the Humboldt University Berlin and guest researcher at the UFZ. https://www.geographie.hu-berlin.de/de/Members/Haase_Dagmar

(updated version from 13^th November)

Further information

UFZ press office

Susanne Hufe
Phone: +49 341 6025-1630
presse@ufz.de