Michael Maerker is Professor for Physical Geography and Geomorphology at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of Pavia University (UNIPV). Michael is leading a research group that focuses on methodologies like environmental modelling, GIS, remote sensing, geostatistics and datamining. These methodological approaches are applied in the spatio-temporal assessment of surface forming processes such as soil erosion and mass movements as well as to assess soils and soil properties.