Dr Hannes Hofmann, who conducts research in Section 4.8 - "Geoenergy" at the GFZ, has been appointed W1 Professor for Reservoir Engineering. He took up this joint appointment by the German Research Centre for Geosciences and the Technische Universität Berlin on 1 December 2021.

In his position as a junior professor at TU Berlin, Hoffmann's wants to highly encourage students to deepen their knowledge in the field of geothermal energy and truly enable them to support the expansion of deep geothermal energy in Germany after their studies. After all, deep geothermal energy can make a significant contribution to the energy transition in Germany.

In addition, Hofmann aims to intensify the cooperation between the GFZ Potsdam and the TU Berlin in order to provide comprehensive scientific support for the increased regional use of the underground in the Berlin-Brandenburg region.

Hannes Hofmann already studied geotechnology at TU Berlin and completed his doctorate at the University of Alberta in Edmonton (Canada) as part of the Helmholtz-Alberta Initiative. He then spent two years at the University of Groningen as a PostDoc in the Netherlands. Since 2017, he has been working at the GFZ as part of the EU project "DESTRESS - Demonstration of soft stimulation treatments of geothermal reservoirs" on the planning and implementation of hydraulic stimulation experiments at various geothermal sites. Since 1 July 2020, Hofmann has headed the junior research group "ARES: Advanced reservoir engineering concepts for a controlled utilization of geothermal energy in urban areas".