Julia Knapp researches water as an integrated system

At the beginning of the summer semester 2026, Julia Knapp took up the Chair of Hydrology at the University of Bayreuth. She succeeds Professor Dr. Stefan Peiffer, who will continue to co-lead the chair together with Knapp until the end of September. In connection with the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1357 Microplastics, Knapp aims to continue her interdisciplinary and integrative research at the interface between river water and groundwater – the so-called hyporheic zone.

Knapp’s academic career took her from the University of Tübingen, where she studied Environmental Natural Sciences and Applied Geosciences and subsequently completed her doctorate, via a postdoctoral position at ETH Zurich to Durham University in England. There, she worked as an Assistant Professor and later as an Associate Professor and established her own research group. Among other topics, she investigated how flood events in north-east England can be mitigated and the importance of peatlands for water and carbon budgets in the region. At the University of Bayreuth, Knapp now plans to expand her research to the landscape scale. “There are currently many problems relating to water, for example with regard to water quality or flooding. At the same time, climate change and land-use change have a major impact on water. We can only understand all of these problems if we view the water system as an integrated system – from groundwater, through soils, to surface waters. That is why I want to strengthen quantitative process understanding here in Bayreuth and embed my research within the University of Bayreuth’s excellent interdisciplinary environment,” says Knapp. In this context, she considers the close linkage between laboratory work and field research to be essential in order to enable data-based interpretation.

In addition, Knapp places great emphasis on teaching: “The next generation of academics consists of the people who will later tackle exactly these problems. My task is to equip them with the appropriate tools to address or solve these challenges. That is why close supervision is important to me – on the one hand taking individual needs into account, and on the other giving students and early-career researchers the freedom to develop their own ideas and approaches.”

A conscious decision in favour of the University of Bayreuth

“Hydrology should always be considered in the context of other systems,” says Knapp. This is precisely why her decision in favour of the University of Bayreuth was a deliberate one: “The University of Bayreuth is known for its interdisciplinary research. Moreover, it offers excellent experimental facilities, for example through the limnological station or through collaborations with the CRC Microplastics or BAYCEER, into which my research can be integrated.”