Curriculum Vitae (PDF version)
Experience
Senior Environmental Scientist, University of Bonn, Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, 2010 – Present
From 2013 to 2021, I coordinated research activities in two collaborative research projects “Wetlands in East Africa” (2013-2018) and “Future Rural Africa” (2019-2021).
From 2010 to 2018, together with environmental physicists from the Forschungszentrum Jülich and meteorologists from the University of Bonn, I was PI of the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 32 “Patterns in Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Systems” and partly responsible for creating interfaces between soil, vegetation and atmosphere research.
From 2014 to 2020, I also contributed to integrated plant physiology as PI in the collaborative research project ‘Prediction and Modelling of Hybrid Performance and Yield Gain in Oilseed Rape by Systems Biology’.
Finally, from 2007 to 2013, I co-led a collaborative research project ‘Small Wetlands in East Africa’.
While working on collaborative research projects in Africa, I was strongly confronted with the problem of reconciling scientific and humanistic research methods. Based on these experiences, I developed concepts and theories on environmental policy, environmental psychology and integrated plant physiology in collaboration with colleagues from different disciplines and environmental policy makers in East Africa between 2020 and 2023.
I spent 8 months in 2024 getting certified as an Artificial Intelligence Developer and Data Scientist. This brought my modelling skills up to date.
Senior Environmental Scientist. Wageningen Plant Research. Netherlands. 2009 – 2010
Agroecological scenario modeling. Expert report for private industry. Confidental.
Juniorprofessor. Humboldt-University of Berlin 2003 – 2009
A junior professorship is a permanent teaching and research position for young scientists with an excellent doctorate, based on the American tenure-track model. I was selected for a junior professorship in ‘Modelling of Plant Systems’ and, after a positive review, was awarded the title of tenured professor in 2005. Due to cost-cutting measures and the closure of the Faculty of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, the position was not made permanent despite a positive final review of my tenure track.
My work focused on growth modelling in the collaborative research centre ‘preagro’ with 26 partners from Germany, coordination of the joint research project ‘Small Wetlands in East Africa’ (University of Bonn, National Museums of Kenya, University of Dar-es-Salaam) and development of nature-based solutions for agriculture as a visiting scientist at the School of Plant Science at the University of Western-Australia.
In teaching, I have developed two new master courses: ‘Modelling Plant Systems’ and ‘Fundamentals of Quantitative Modelling’. Teaching content in the context of the students’ experience was a particular concern of mine.
Associate Professor. Leibniz University of Hannover 2001 – 2002
Student exercises ‘Systems Analysis’. Writing grant applications.
Postdoctoral Researcher. Christian Albrecht University Kiel. 1998 – 2000
Modeller in the Collaborative Research Center 192 “Optimization of plant production systems with regard to performance and ecological effects”. Support of the speaker Prof. Herbert Hanus.
Education
1997 Doctor of Philosophy – Cultural Engineering and Water Management. University of Kassel, Germany. Grade: With distinction
As part of my doctoral thesis, I supervised a trilateral project on the application of the Penman-Monteith energy balance method under different climatic conditions in Israel, Brazil and Germany. After validation with the thermoelectric method for measuring sap flow in plants, the model was adopted in the agrometeorological network of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
1995 Diplom Ecological Environmental Protection (Focus: Limnology), University of Kassel, Germany
Three years of university education in all areas of environmental ecological protection. The experimental work of my diploma thesis dealt with light extinction and microclimate at forest streams, which strongly influence the behaviour of stream organisms.
1992 Diplom International Agriculture (Focus: Agronomy), University of Kassel, Germany
Four-year university education in international agriculture. My thesis was on the experimental characterization and modelling of the crop water balance of cotton.
1987 Farmer Journeyman. Certificate of dual-education apprenticeship, Chamber of Agriculture Westphalia-Lippe, Germany
Two-year dual education. 1st year: Teaching, demonstration and experimental farm of the North Rhine-Westphalian Agricultural Extension Service at Haus Düsse near Soest: Full range of common cattle and pig rearing systems, feeding methods, milking systems, field cultivation methods, plant and animal breeding trials, slaughter and egg laying performance trials. 2nd year: Farm work on a mixed farm in the Haar hills near Soest.
Foreign Experience
Australia, Brazil, France, Israel, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Netherlands, Palestine Authorities, Rwanda, Russia, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda
Teaching Experience
Introduction to Crop Modeling, Modeling Plant Systems, Quantitative Basis of Modeling, Applied Mathematics, Agricultural Meteorology, Irrigation Science, Crop Science, Software Engineering, Systems Analysis, Physics for Agriculturists
Private activities
Hiking, reading, art, music, theatre, movies. Mentoring volunteers of Action Reconciliation and Peace Service Berlin.