Wehrli, Bernhard

Biography

Bernhard Wehrli is Professor for Aquatic Chemistry at the Department of Environmental Sciences at ETH Zurich and a member of the Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics (IBP). His main research group is located at Eawag.Bernhard Wehrli studied chemistry at ETH Zurich and sanitary engineering and water protection in an ETH graduate course. In 1987 he finished his Ph.D. in the group of Werner Stumm. He had the opportunity to spend one year as a postdoc at Caltech in Pasadena and additional time as a guest scientist at universities in Paris, Toulouse and Jerusalem. In Switzerland, he was appointed assistant professor for Aquatic Chemistry at ETH Zurich in 1991. He was a member of the research council of the Swiss National Science Foundation and of the Eawag directorate. Advancing interdisciplinary collaboration in teaching and research is the most important challenge in his daily business.

Research Interest

The research of his group is focused on the assessment of biogeochemical processes in rivers and lakes. His research team is studying lake and river systems in Europe and Africa, and - more recently - South America. The group combines chemical sensors, stable isotope techniques and molecular ecology to quantify the cycles of carbon, nutrients and pollutants in aquatic systems.