Prof. Niels Hovius has been appointed a member of the 'National Academy of Science and Engineering' (acatech). The General Assembly decided on the election. Researchers receive such appointments on the basis of their scientific achievements and reputation. The currently more than 600 acatech members, which now include Niels Hovius, work on projects with external experts from science and industry. They are involved in the Academy's thematic networks. Among other things, Acatech prepares papers on specialised topics in the technical sciences. In those studies, socially relevant issues arising from technological developments are discussed in a fact-based manner while debating also their political dimension.

Niels Hovius has a longstanding academic career. His international academic career includes the University of Cambridge, where he did research and taught for more than ten years, postdoctoral positions in Ireland and the USA, and visiting professorships in France, Norway and Switzerland. His research focuses on the dynamics of the Earth's surface, in particular erosion processes and their effects on the Earth system.

From November 2020 to May 2022, he was the acting Scientific Director of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and, in particular, oversaw the launching phase of the new research program "Changing Earth - Sustaining our Future". The program brings together several thousand researchers from seven Centres in the Helmholtz Research Field Earth and Environment. At the GFZ, he will once again head the Geomorphology Section from January. At the same time, Niels Hovius holds a professorship at the University of Potsdam.