ZMT - Leibniz Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung

16.1.17 | On January 16, 2017, the management board of the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) is expanded by the appointment of Dr. Nicolas Dittert as managing director. Alongside the scientific director, Prof. Dr. Hildegard Westphal, the geologist will be responsible for the areas of administration and infrastructure. Nicolas Dittert comes to the ZMT from the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) of the University of Bremen.

In his new position, Dr. Dittert will head the Department of Infrastructure, which includes the administration, the IT units, the workshops, laboratories, the library and the diving research center. Together with Hildegard Westphal, he will moreover be responsible for the strategic orientation of the ZMT. Through the expansion of the management board, the ZMT is not only strengthening its strategic development, but is also introducing the dual leadership which is customary at the research institutes of the Leibniz Association.

"Nicolas Dittert has extensive knowledge of the German and European science landscape and proven expertise in project data management, and we are pleased to welcome him as administrative director of our institute," said Hildegard Westphal. "He has the ideal prerequisites, together with our staff, to optimally position the ZMT for the future. With the newly established dual leadership, the ZMT will be in an even stronger position to optimally expand our research.”

Nicolas Dittert commented on his new role at the ZMT: “I am very excited about the new challenges in the scientific management of such an important institution. I have known Hildegard Westphal and appreciated her work for many years, and I look forward to working with her and the entire ZMT team.“

During the past almost nine years, Dr. Nicolas Dittert has been administrative director of the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (marum) of the University of Bremen. There he directed the areas of human resources, administration and financial management, was responsible as a consultant for EU applications and project administration, and assisted scientists in legal and financial matters. Prior to this position, Dr. Dittert worked in the field of science management at the University of West Brittany in France. He earned his doctorate in 1998 at the University of Bremen with a dissertation in the field of sedimentology and paleoceanography.