Prof. Dr. Jan-Peter Duda
Research interestsI am deeply fascinated by the long and eventful histories of life and Earth. As a geobiologist, I explore the complex interrelationships between organisms and environment across scales by combining approaches from geomicrobiology, paleontology, sedimentology, mineralogy and biogeochemistry. My research is directly related to various other fields such as origins of life research and astrobiology (habitability, biosignatures).
Professional career
2022 – today Full Professor (W3) of Geobiology & Head of the Department of Geobiology, University of Göttingen
2021 – 2022 Juniorprofessor (W1) of Sedimentology & Organic Geochemistry, University of Tübingen
2020 – today DFG Emmy-Noether Research Group Leader University of Tübingen
2018 – 2019 Visiting Scholar University of California Riverside
2014 – 2020 Assistant Professor, Department of Geobiology, University of Göttingen
2011 Visiting Doctoral Student, NIGPAS, Chinese Academy of Sciences
2010 – 2014 Dr rer. nat., University of Göttingen, Germany; with “summa cum laude”
2007 – 2010 MSc Geosciences, University of Bremen
2004 – 2007 BSc Geosciences, University of Bremen
Academic honors
2025 Elected corresponding member, Göttingen Academy of Sciences & Humanities, Germany
2023 Visiting Professor Northwest University Xi’an, PR China
2020 DFG Emmy-Noether Fellowship (DU 1450/7-1)
2018 DFG Research Fellowship (DU 1450/4-1)
2014 Best Oral Presentation Award, 3rd Int. Conf. of Geobiology, Wuhan, China
2013 Young Scientist Award, Paläontologische Gesellschaft & Palaeontological Society China
2011 DAAD PhD fellowship
University service (including Göttingen Campus)
- Faculty board member (Faculty of Geosciences & Geography)
- Institute board member (Geoscience Center)
- Teaching faculty member (IMPRS for Solar System Science, MPI for Solar System Research)
- Study committee member (Faculty of Geosciences & Geography)
- Spokesman & member “Origin of Life” group (Göttingen Academy of Sciences & Humanities)
Professional service
Functions in Scientific Societies & Committees, e.g.
- Vice president, Paläontologische Gesellschaft (PalGes) (since 2025)
- Panel member, Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF) (since 2024)
- Overseas Academic Expert 111 Center at Northwest University Xi’an, China (since 2023)
- Voting member, Subcommission on Precryogenian Stratigraphy, International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) (since 2022)
- Spokesman, Geobiology section, Paläontologische Gesellschaft (PalGes) (since 2016)
- Corresponding member, Terminal Ediacaran Stage Working Group, Subcomission on Ediacaran Stratigraphy, International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) (since 2015)
- Advisory board member, Paläontologische Gesellschaft (PalGes) (2015–2024)
Editorial work
Reviewer scientific journals & books, e.g. Astrobiology (Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.), Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France (BSGF), Cambridge Elements (Cambridge University Press), Carbonates and Evaporites (Springer), Geobiology (Wiley), International Journal of Earth Sciences (IJES, Springer), Marine and Petroleum Geology (Elsevier), Nature (Nature Research), Newsletters on Stratigraphy (Schweizerbart), Organic Geochemistry (Elsevier), PalZ (Paläontologische Zeitschrift) (Springer)
Reviewer scientific institutions & foundations, e.g. Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF); German Research Foundation (DFG), Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowships
Research Funding (principal investigator)
2022 DFG Project (DU 1450/8-1): “Linking Redox-Cycling to Hydrogeology: Sedimentological
Controls on the Capacity of Aquifers to Reduce Nitrate and other Dissolved Electron
Acceptors” (part of DFG-FWF project within Weave initiative)
2020 DFG Emmy-Noether Project (DU 1450/7-1): “Reaching for life in the distant past – deciphering
the geobiology of modern and ancient hydrothermal sulfides”
2018 DFG Project (DU 1450/3-2): “Kerogen in Archean rocks: Biotic vs abiotic signatures – Pt. II”
(within DFG SPP 1833 "Building a Habitable Earth")
2017 DFG Project (DU 1450/5-1): “Paleoecology vs taphonomy: Unraveling the molecular fossil
record of the Mesoproterozoic Lakhanda Lagerstätte (SE Siberia, Russia)”
2015 DFG Project (DU 1450/3-1): “Kerogen in Archean rocks: Biotic vs abiotic signatures” (within
DFG SPP 1833 "Building a Habitable Earth")
Publications (Peer Reviewed Only)