Brief Biography: Dr. Hans-Peter Plag

After some years as carpenter, Hans-Peter Plag studied mathematics and geophysics in Berlin, where he obtained a doctor degree in Natural Sciences in 1988. Since then, he held positions at universities and research institutes in Germany, the U.K., Norway, the USA, and South Africa. Since 2013, he is a professor at the Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences and since 2014 the founding Director of the Mitigation and Adaptation Research Institute (MARI) at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA. In collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service he developed an educational program in Sustainability and Conservation Leadership that combines experiential learning with a transdisciplinary participatory approach to real-world wicked problems. His main fields of expertise are in sustainability, conservation, modern global change and catastrophic Anthropocene risks, Earth system dynamics, solid Earth geophysics, and space geodesy. Many of his current professional activities are related to the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and the implementation of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Most recently, he is the co-founder of the Earth Viability Center and engaged in the development of the novel social collaboration platform Place4Us.net that is mission-based and supports virtual communities aiming to address the global challenges humanity is facing.