On 3 September 2026, meteorologist, climate researcher and astronaut candidate Insa Thiele-Eich will give a lecture entitled “Time to Act – Changing Course on Spaceship Earth” as part of the “Sustainability Days 2026” organized by the Sustainability Working Group of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Cologne. The lecture will explore how scientific findings on climate change can be translated into concrete action and societal transformation.
Insa Thiele-Eich holds a doctorate in meteorology and is a scientific coordinator at the Institute of Geosciences at the University of Bonn. There, she heads the University Partnership for Atmospheric Sciences (UPAS) and conducts research on, among other topics, the health impacts of climate change. She is also involved in local politics, advocating for effective climate action at the municipal level.
Her perspective on Earth is also shaped by spaceflight: she views our planet as a shared spaceship with a vulnerable atmosphere, a limited life-support system and a crew that must take responsibility. In her lecture, Thiele-Eich will explain why addressing climate change is no longer simply a matter of knowledge, but above all of putting that knowledge into practice, driving societal change and having the courage to take the first step.
The lecture will take place on 3 September 2026 at 5:30 p.m. in Lecture Hall I of the WiSo Building, Universitätsstraße 24, 50931 Cologne.
The event is organized by the Sustainability Working Group of the Faculty of Medicine and supported by the Sustainability Action Fund of the University of Cologne’s Sustainability Office.
Further information (DE): https://medfak.uni-koeln.de/aktuelles-details/vortrag-von-meteorologin-und-klimaforscherin-insa-thiele-eich