1983-1989

Studies in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands

1989-1993

PhD student at Department of Soil Science and Geology, Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands

1993-1996

Postdoctoral researcher at the ‘International Institute of Tropical Forestry, US Forest Service, San Juan, PR, USA; based at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica

1996-1997

Postdoctoral researcher at the ‘Complex Systems Research Centrum’, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH, USA

Since 1997

Professor of Ecopedology of the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Göttingen, Germany

Since 1999

Member of the Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use (CBL), University o Göttingen, Germany