The German Research Foundaition has approved the third and last funding phase of the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1313 in November 2025. Porous Media research at the University of Stuttgart goes into the third round for another four years (2026-2029). We like to inaugurate FP3 with an official SFB 1313 kick-off event on 6 February 2026 at the University of Stuttgart.
Date: 6 February 2026
Time: 2:30 - 5 pm
Location: University of Stuttgart, University of Stuttgart, Internationales Begegnungszentrum, Eulenhof, Robert-Leicht-Straße 16, 70569 Stuttgart
| Programme | Time | Location |
| Welcome and overview by SFB 1313 spokesman Holger Steeb and the Rector of the University of Stuttgart Peter Middendorf | 2:30 - 3:15 pm | Eulenhof, Robert-Leicht-Straße 16, 70569 Stuttgart |
| Scientific Talk "Models and Microbes" by
Olaf A. Cirpka (University of Tübingen) and discussion |
3:15 - 4:15 pm | Eulenhof, Robert-Leicht-Straße 16, 70569 Stuttgart |
| Get-together | 4:15 pm | Eulenhof, Robert-Leicht-Straße 16, 70569 Stuttgart |
Scientific Talk "Models and Microbes" by Olaf A. Cirpka
The activity of microorganisms plays a crucial role in the natural cycling of elements and the fate of contaminants in the environment. Because microbial dynamics are always coupled to physical transport of the reactants, inter-phase mass transfer, and abiotic reactions, the level of detail by which microbial processes need to be addressed in models depends on the type of overall system control, the scale of investigation, and the research question. The presentation will show examples of bioreactive transport in porous media, in which physical mixing, mass-transfer of reactants into cells, or the microbially induced release of reactants from the matrix are rate limiting. Based on the specific rate limitation, different simplifications of bioreactive transport on scales relevant for management are permissible. The rapid development of analytical techniques, particularly compound-specific isotope analysis and molecular-biological methods, provides new opportunities to monitor microbial processes in the environment. Yet standard models have difficulties to make use of this information, and simple interpretations of the new data can be misleading if the underlying assumptions are not severely checked. The additional data come with additional processes to be represented, requiring additional parameters. Coupled modeling allows a deeper system understanding, potentially revealing unexpected nonlinearities, or hysteretic behavior. The presentation ends with persistent open questions in the modeling of microbial activity in subsurface environments.
