CV

PLACE OF WORK

Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management
University of Copenhagen

Øster Voldgade 10
DK 1350 København K
Phone: +45 35322526 (direct), 3532 2500 (switch board), +45 20885383 (mobile)
E-mail: [email protected]

EDUCATION

2004: PhD. in Geography, University of Copenhagen.

1998: Master of Science in Physical Geography, University of Copenhagen.

POSITIONS HELD

2017 – present:     Professor at Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management (IGN), University of Copenhagen

2009: Associate professorship position at Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management (IGN), University of Copenhagen (3 months of parental leave in 2009 and 2013).

2007: Assistant professorship position at Department of Geography & Geology (DGG), University of Copenhagen (3 months of parental leave in 2007).

2004: Post doc. position at IGN (3 Years).

2000 - 2004: PhD. study at University of Copenhagen.

1999 - 2000: Consultant at the National Ministry of Hydrology in Dakar, Senegal (18 months).

EXTENDED RESEARCH VISITS

2006: Visiting research fellow at Boston University, Department of Geography (R. Myneni).

2005: Visiting research fellow at NASA; Earth Sciences Technology Center (C. Tucker).

2002: Visiting Ph.D. student at Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group, University of Montana, USA. (S. Running).

HONOURS & AWARDS

2014: Vega gratia; Swedish society for Anthropology and Geography.

2011: Sapere Aude research leader grant (The Danish Council for Independent Research career program).

2011: Invited for ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grants interview.

2007: Niels Nielsen price for young promising scientist. The Royal Danish Geographical Society.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

2018: Expert Reviewer on the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change) Special Report on Climate Change and Land (Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)).

2018: Advisory Board member of Sci (open access journal covering all research fields).

2017: Member of the editorial board of Remote Sensing (open access journal).

2017: Evaluator of the Horizon 2020 Space 2017 call (proposals under topic EO-1-2017)

2016: Lead Author of World Atlas of Desertification 3^rd edition (coordinated by the European Commission in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)).

2016: Invited Guest Editor in Remote Sensing - Open Access Journal: Special Issue "Remote Sensing of Land Degradation and Drivers of Change".

2013 - 2014: Consultant on DIVERSITY II (Supporting the Convention on Biological Diversity) European Space Agency - Data User Element project.

2010 - Present: Member (16) and chair (3) of assessment and PhD. committees in Denmark and abroad.

2007 - 2010: Member of the Steering Committee of the ENDELEO project: “Development of a remote sensing derived tool to assess drought in East African ecosystems”.

2006 - Present: Reviewer for the Belgian Science Policy, Belgian Earth Observation Programme.

2002 - Present: Peer reviewer of >30 international scientific journals covering climate change, biogeography and Remote Sensing (including Nature and Science).

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

2018 – Present: Member of the committee for Danish Space Research

2015 – Present: Member of International Soil Moisture Network.

2014 – Present: Member of SpecNet - Linking optical measurements with flux sampling around the world.

2014 – Present: Member of Management Committee COST Actions, Earth System Science and Environmental Management.

2012 - Present: Member of the Expert group for evaluation of Copernicus Land service products

2011 - 2013: Member of the International Steering Committee of the TickRisk project in West Africa (BelSpo).

2010 - 2013: Member of the IGBP (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme) National Committee.

GRANTS

2018 - 2020: “Between degradation and conservation: The carbon balance of the Chinese karst ecosystems” H2020, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Post doc. Fellowships. Grant holder. 200.000 €

2016 - 2019: “Understanding Turning Points in Dryland Ecosystem Functioning”. Belgium, Federal Science Policy, Support to Exploration and Research in Earth Observation. External partner. 130.000 €

2016 - 2019: “Greening of drylands: Towards understanding ecosystem functioning changes, drivers and impacts on livelihoods”. The Danish Council for Independent Research, Grant holder. 822.700 €.

2015 - 2017: “Biophysical Changes in the Sahel, Ground and Satellite Based Evidence Across Scales and Disciplines”. H2020, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Post doc. Fellowships. Grant holder. 200.000 €

2015 - 2017: “GlobTemperature, User Case Study for Soil moisture assessment using the triangle method with SEVIRI and AATSR land surface temperature”, European Space Agency (ESA). Grant holder. 100.000 €

2011 - 2016: “VegTrends - Earth Observation based Land Degradation Trends in Global Drylands” (The Danish Council for Independent Research, Sapere Aude Research Leader Grant). Grant holder. 1.150.000 €.

2010 - 2015:“Impacts of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and Enhancing Carbon Stocks” I-REDD+ (EU 7th Framework Programme). Co-investigator.

2010 - 2013: “A region wide assessment of land system resilience and climate robustness in the agricultural frontline of Sahel” (LaSyRe-Sahel) (The Danish Council for Independent Research). Co-investigator.

2008 - 2013: “West African Network for Studies of Environmental Change” (WANSEC) (The Danish Council for Independent Research). Grant holder. 670.000 €.

2006 - 2009:“Developing an improved early warning system for Africa using a new generation of Earth Observation data.” (The Danish Council for Independent Research).Grant holder. 360.000€.

2005 - 2008: “KISS - Kenyan Integrated Satellite Savanna Survey.” (The Danish Council for Independent Research). Grant holder. 320.000 €.

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

PUBLICATIONS

Peer reviewed journal papers; 135

Peer reviewed book chapters; 4 

7081 citations; H index; 39

(Google scholar citations, 28/08 2019)

SUPERVISION

30 completed M.Sc. projects, 14 PhD, 3 Post. Doc.

Currently supervising 6 PhD’s and 4 Post-docs.

Short presentation

Remote sensing/Earth observation ecology studies of terrestrial ecosystems.

Overarching research goals: Quantitative assessment of carbon/water fluxes of terrestrial vegetation and advancing our knowledge about forcing mechanisms (human vs. climate induced) of changes in functioning of vegetation ecosystem services.

Research relates to: global change studies, land system science, climate change, primary productivity monitoring, carbon stocks, forest degradation, plant water stress, land degradation, land surface phenology.

Relevant publications:

[1] Fan, L., Wigneron, J-P., Ciais, p., Chave, J., Brandt, M., Fensholt, R., Saatchi, S.S., Bastos, A., Al-Yaari, A., Hufkens, K., Qin, Y., Xiao, X., Chen, C., Myneni, R.B., Fernandez-Moran, R., Mialon, A., Rodriguez-Fernandez, N. J., Kerr, Y., Tian, F. and Penuelas, J. (2019). Satellite observed pantropical carbon dynamics. Nature Plants, 1, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-019-0478-9

[2] Zhang, W., Brandt, M., Penuelas, J., Guichard, F., Tong, X., Tian, F. & Fensholt, R. (2019). Ecosystem structural changes controlled by altered rainfall climatology in tropical savannas. Nature Communications, 10, 671.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08602-6

[3] Chen, C., Park, T., Wang, X., Piao, S., Xu, B., Chaturvedi, R.K., Fuchs, R., Brovkin, V., Ciais, P., Fensholt, R., Tømmervik, H., Bala, G., Zhu, Z., Nemani, R.R. & Myneni, R.B. (2019). China and India lead in greening of the world through land-use management. Nature Sustainability, 2, 122-129.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0220-7

[4] Grogan, K., Pflugmacher, D., Hostert, P., Mertz, O. and Fensholt, R. (2019). Unravelling the link between global rubber price and tropical deforestation in Cambodia. Nature Plants, 5, 47–53.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-018-0325-4

[5] Tian, F., Wigneron, J.P., Ciais, P., Chave, J., Ogée, J., Peñuelas, J., Ræbild, A., Domec, J.C., Tong, X., Brandt, M., Mialon, A., Rodriguez-Fernandez, N., Tagesson, T., Al-Yaari, A., Kerr, Y., Chen, C., Myneni, R.B., Zhang, W., Ardö, J. and Fensholt, R. (2018). Coupling of ecosystem-scale plant water storage and leaf phenology observed by satellite. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2(9), 1428.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0630-3/

[6] Brandt, M., Wigneron, J.P., Chave, J., Tagesson, T., Penuelas, J., Ciais, P., Rasmussen, K., Tian, F., Mbow, C., Al-Yaari, A., Rodriguez-Fernandez, N., Schurgers, G., Zhang, W., Chang, J., Kerr, Y., Verger, V., Tucker, C., Mialon, A., Rasmussen, L.V., Fan, L. and Fensholt, R. (2018). Satellite passive microwaves reveal recent climate-induced carbon losses in African drylands. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2(5), 827.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-018-0530-6

[7] Brandt, M., Rasmussen, Hiernaux, P., Herrmann, S., Tucker, C., Tong, X., Tian, F., Mertz, O., Kergoat, L., Mbow, C., David, J., Melosic, K., Dendoncker, M., Vincke, C. and Fensholt, R. (2018). Reduction of tree cover in West African woodlands and promotion in semi-arid farmlands.  Nature Geoscience, 11(5), 328.https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0092-x

[8] Tong, X., Brandt, M., Yue, Y., Horion, S., Wang, K., Keersmaecker, W.D., Tian, F., Schurgers, G., Xiao, X., Luo, Y., Chen, C., Myneni, R., Shi, Z., Chen, H., and Fensholt, R. (2018). Increased vegetation growth and carbon stock in China karst via ecological engineering. Nature Sustainability, 1(1), 44.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-017-0004-x

[9] Brandt, M., Rasmussen, K., Penuelas, J., Tian, F., Schurgers, G., Verger, A., Mertz, O., Palmer, J.R.B. and Fensholt, R. (2017). Human population growth offsets climate-driven increase in woody vegetation in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1(4), 0081.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0081