Function and Responsibilities:

Martin is head of the Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics section at GFZ Potsdam and full professor of Remote Sensing at University of Potsdam  since 2022 (de/en). He holds a PhD from the University of California-Santa Barbara (2004) on urban monitoring and completed a habilitation (FSU Jena, 2009) on a topic on operational global land cover observation and assessments. From 2010-2021 he was full professor at Wageningen University (WU) leading the Laboratory for Geoinformation Science and Remote Sensing and continues as special WU Professor until 2027.

His research focuses on the development and implementation of large-area monitoring systems of land surface dynamics. He is involved in various activities and initiatives on measuring and monitoring of terrestrial dynamics and change, the integration of ground, near- and remote sensing data streams, and on accuracy assessment and uncertainty management procedures for remote sensing data and products for uptake in geo- and nature-based solutions for sustainability and climate-smart land use. Examples are his contributions to global land cover and forest monitoring (Copernicus services, Worldcover, RADD), biomass and carbon stock analysis (ESA CCI Biomass & Forest Carbon), and in linking ground and satellite data for calibration and validation (ESA QA4EO). He successfully supervised 30 PhDs, published more than 250 scientific papers (Publons, GoogleS) and is recognized as “highly cited researcher”.

Martin enjoys his role in international collaboration and partnerships. He leads the land cover team of Global Observations of Forest Cover and Land Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD), coordinates the R&D component of the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) and is supporting capacity development initiatives for moving innovative satellite and ground-based approaches into practice. He has been a lead author for the 2019 refinement of the IPCC Good Practice Guidelines for GHG inventories (AFOLU), co-leads the Terrestrial Observation Panel for Climate (GCOS/WMO), and a member of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on the Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGS) - Working Group on Geospatial Information.