Dirk Scherler from the Earth Surface Geochemistry Section has accepted the call to a W2 professorship in Cosmogenic Nuclides at Freie Universität Berlin. Between 2014 and 2022, Scherler already held a junior professorship at FU in the same subject. One of his main areas of research is the study and application of so-called cosmogenic nuclides, which are isotopes formed by cosmic rays in the atmosphere and at the Earth's surface.

Scherler uses them to answer questions about the evolution of landscapes and the influence of climate and tectonics on erosion rates. In 2018, he received a Starting Grant from the European Research Council ERC for his project COLD (Climate sensitivity of glacial landscape dynamics). In it, he combines cosmogenic nuclides with remote sensing and numerical glacier models to investigate the influence of climate change on the evolution of high mountain regions, particularly in the European Alps.