On Monday, the 2^nd of August, 2021, my alarm clock rang early in the morning. It took me around 9 hours to travel by train from Hesse to Ruegen, Germany’s largest island in the North-East. After arriving, I was happy to find myself on the second to last ferry boat of the day from the Island of Ruegen to the Isle of Vilm. After another 20 minutes running time, the other passengers and I took our first steps on the isle. The passengers were young academics who participated in the “interdisciplinary science meeting on biodiversity research under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),” which was organised by the “International Academy for Nature Conservation Isle of Vilm” (INA). The INA is part of a branch office of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), which is one of the government’s departmental research agencies and works in the area of responsibility of the German federal environment ministry. The interdisciplinary science meeting takes place every summer and mainly addresses bachelor´s, master´s and Ph.D. students. Mrs. Stadler, the meeting host, warmly welcomed the students and showed the way to the reception desk. Along the way, a big information board close to the harbour provides every arriving guest with information on the fascinating history of the isle:

• The Isle of Vilm was already settled in Stone Age 7,500 years ago.
• In Middle Ages, the isle became a Christian place of pilgrimage.
• During the 19^th and 20^th century, many artists came to the isle to be inspired by the nature, which resulted in some paintings of scenes around the isle.
• In 1936, Vilm became a nature protection site.
• From 1962 to 1990, the isle was used by the government of the German Democratic Republic to host guests.
• In 1990, the biosphere reserve Southeast-Ruegen was designated. Most parts of Vilm are covered by the core area of the biosphere reserve. In the same year, the INA was founded.
• Today, the INA organises up to 70 events and welcomes around 1,700 participants from all over the world per year.

I was happy and grateful to be one of those participants this year.
After the registration, everyone looked for their assigned house. Every house consists of several guestrooms. I was the only one at my floor because of the corona situation. After dinner, the meeting started. The programme began with an introduction, followed by a presentation about the involvement of youth and young adults in international conventions.
On Tuesday, Prof. Dr. Volker Mosbrugger gave the first presentation of the day. He mentioned some surveys and reports like the IPBES Global Assessment Report (GCE students directly reported from IPBES 7 where the report was adopted) which document the ongoing biodiversity crisis. The professor stressed that there is still much unknown in biodiversity and presented the “Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity” of the German federal ministry of education, which aims to close some of those knowledge gaps.
Afterwards, each participant of the meeting presented his or her current scientific project for 20 minutes, followed by ten minutes of discussion. The topics were wide-ranging and interdisciplinary but always with a reference to the CBD. I presented some of the results of my master´s thesis, “The accountability of biodiversity strategies at the level of the Convention on Biological Diversity, European Union and the Federal Republic of Germany,” which I had done at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ). Some topics that other participants dealt with included the wild harvesting of medicinal plants, agri-environmental policy in Bavaria, effectiveness of UNESCO biosphere reserves, environmental ethics, wild mammals in urban areas, sea use planning, and knowledge of species.

After lunch, Mrs. Stadler offered an isle tour. Because most parts of Vilm are covered by the core area of the biosphere reserve, there is only one path which leads around the northern part of the isle and guests must not leave it. Mrs. Stadler explained that animals like deer could migrate from the Island of Rugen to the Isle of Vilm (that is even smaller than one square kilometre) when the water is frozen in winter. However, the distance would be too long for smaller animals like squirrels. Our meeting host emphasised the enormous diversity of ecological conditions on that isle by giving the following example: Grapevine snails can be found on one side of the isle, but not on the other side. The reason is that one side of the isle has some lime that offers a favourable environment for the snails, whereas the other side is too acidic. I was impressed by all of the deadwood and old trees, which can rarely be found in German forests. However, the forest of Vilm cannot be considered a virgin forest in the strict sense because it was used by humans in the past. Mrs. Stadler showed us the oldest tree on the isle at roughly 600 years old. However, the tree is not alive anymore.

On Wednesday, the presentations continued.
On Thursday, the 5^th of August, 2021, the meeting came to an end. After breakfast, the ferry boat brought us back to the Island of Ruegen.
After the meeting, every participant was invited to submit a short text on his or her scientific project. Those contributions have been collected by the BfN and will be published in a BfN script soon.
I liked the meeting very much. The programme was dense and demonstrated the highly interdisciplinary subject of biodiversity with all its input. Besides the presentations, it was refreshing to talk to so many young and motivated people after a time of corona lockdowns. And, finally, it is worthwhile to visit the Isle of Vilm, with its fascinating history and nature. The Isle of Vilm is not just a place to talk about the conservation of nature – it is a place to show how nature develops if nature is allowed to be nature.

If you are interested to participate in one of the next meetings, regularly have a look on the homepage of the INA.

The post Talking about Biodiversity on an Isle full of History and Nature appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Professions in nature and environmental protection

Some GCE alumni are active in research and teaching:
For example, there is Prof. Dr. Manuel Steinbauer, who was one of the very first GCE students. In August 2019 he returned to the University of Bayreuth as a professor of sports ecology and will soon be teaching GCE students himself.
Or Dr. Gesche Blume-Werry who works as a postdoc at the University of Greifswald and researches the rewetting of peatlands. Md Lokman Hossain teaches courses such as “climate change” and “ecology” at the German University of Bangladesh. Patrick von Jeetze is currently doing his doctorate at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research on global scale human-nature relationships in agricultural landscapes. In contrast, Dr. Sia Gosheva-Oney’s postgraduate journey brought her to the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. There, amongst others, she advises scientists on EU funding programs. She previously worked for the “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH” as a consultant on the water, energy and food security nexus. Asja Bernd works on the island of Vilm near Rügen at the International Nature Conservation Academy of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation where she designs and plans workshops on current national and international nature conservation issues.
Other GCE alumni, in turn, provide advice and information in companies, associations and in administration: Dr.-Ing. Albert Hans Baur works in management consulting to help develop sustainability strategies for companies. Katharina Funk works to implement the climate protection concept for the city of Erlangen. Farina Hoffmann is a project manager at the nature and environmental protection association “Grüne Liga”. Lastly, Nora Marie Zaremba writes for a daily newsletter of the Tagesspiegel, which informs, amongst others, ministries about the latest developments in energy and climate policy.

Tips from the “old” to the “new”

The GCE alumni provide current GCE students with various pieces of advice:
Asja Bernd emphasizes the wealth created by the great diversity of students of the international course, because “learning from each other is just as important as learning from lectures.”
Katharina Funk encourages students to undertake as many additional voluntary opportunities offered by the master´s program as possible, such as participating in environmental conferences and doing internships.
Md Lokman Hossain recalls the importance of “networking” by participating in environmental conferences, workshops and science schools.
Patrick von Jeetze advises giving yourself enough time to find out what you want to know more about and what you want to change in the world.
Farina Hoffmann suggests doing internships at places you might later see yourself professionally and consider already working alongside your studies.
Sia Gosheva-Oney recommends enjoying and actively organizing your studies and says: “What you learn now, during GCE, will help you during your entire career and will influence who you become as a person.”
Finally, Gesche Blume-Werry summarizes her advice to the new GCE students with one sentence: “Follow your passion and curiosity!”

The text was originally written for the Elite Network of Bavaria.
English editing kindly done by Taylor Blair

The post Study for life appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Verschiedenste Berufe im Natur- und Umweltschutz

Einige der GCE-Alumni sind mittlerweile in der Forschung und Lehre tätig:
Da ist zum Beispiel Prof. Dr. Manuel Steinbauer, der zu den Studierenden des allerersten GCE-Jahrganges gehörte. Im August 2019 kehrte er als Professor für Sportökologie an die Universität Bayreuth zurück und wird schon bald selber GCE-Studierende unterrichten.
Oder Dr. Gesche Blume-Werry, die derzeit als Postdoc an der Universität Greifswald arbeitet und zur Wiedervernässung von Torfmooren forscht. Md Lokman Hossain wiederum unterrichtet an der Deutschen Universität Bangladesch Kurse wie „Klimawandel“ oder „Ökologie“. Patrick von Jeetze promoviert zurzeit am Potsdam Institut für Klimafolgenforschung zu Mensch-Natur-Beziehungen in landwirtschaftlich geprägten Landschaften auf globaler Ebene. Dagegen hat Dr. Sia Gosheva-Oneys Weg in die Schweiz nach Zürich geführt, an die Universität Zürich und Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. Dort berät sie unter anderem WissenschaftlerInnen zu Förderprogrammen der EU. Früher arbeitete sie für die „Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH“ als Beraterin zum Nexus Wasser-, Energie- und Ernährungssicherheit. Asja Bernd arbeitet auf der Insel Vilm bei Rügen an der Internationalen Naturschutzakademie des Bundesamtes für Naturschutz und konzipiert und plant dort Workshops zu aktuellen nationalen und internationalen Naturschutzthemen. Andere GCE-Alumni wiederum engagieren sich beratend und informierend in Unternehmen, Verbänden und in der Verwaltung:
Dr.-Ing. Albert Hans Baur arbeitet in der Unternehmensberatung und entwickelt u.a. Klima- und Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien für Unternehmen. Katharina Funk setzt das Klimaschutzkonzept der Stadt Erlangen um. Farina Hoffmann ist Projektmanagerin beim Natur- und Umweltschutzverband “Grüne Liga“ und Nora Marie Zaremba schreibt für einen täglich erscheinenden Newsletter des Tagesspiegels, der u.a. Ministerien über die neuesten Entwicklungen in der Energie- und Klimapolitik informiert.

Tipps der „Alten“ an die „Neuen“

Den derzeitigen GCE-Studierenden geben die GCE-Alumni verschiede Ratschläge mit auf den Weg:
Asja Bernd hebt den Reichtum hervor, der durch die große Diversität der Studierenden des internationalen Studienganges entsteht, denn „das Lernen voneinander ist genauso wichtig wie das Lernen in Vorlesungen“.
Katharina Funk ermuntert dazu, möglichst viele der zusätzlichen freiwilligen Angebote des Studienganges zu nutzen, z.B. an Umweltkonferenzen teilzunehmen und Praktika zu absolvieren.
Md Lokman Hossain erinnert an die Bedeutung des „Netzwerkens“ durch die Teilnahme an Umweltkonferenzen, Workshops und Science Schools.
Patrick von Jeetze rät dazu, sich genügend Zeit zu geben um herauszufinden, worüber man mehr erfahren und was man in der Welt verändern wolle.
Farina Hoffmann schlägt vor, dort Praktika zu absolvieren, wo man sich später einmal beruflich sehen könnte und es in Erwägung zu ziehen, neben dem Studium schon etwas zu arbeiten.
Sia Gosheva-Oney empfiehlt die Studienzeit zu genießen und aktiv zu gestalten und sagt: „Was ihr während des GCE-Studiums lernt, wird euch während eurem gesamten Berufsweg unterstützen und beeinflussen, wer ihr als Person werdet“.
Und Gesche Blume-Werry fasst abschließend ihren Ratschlag an die neuen GCE-Studierenden mit einem Satz zusammen: „Folgt eurer Leidenschaft und Neugierde!“

Dieser Text wurde ursprünglich für das Elitenetzwerk Bayern geschrieben.

The post Studieren für das Leben appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

What did you like most about GCE?
The diversity of the courses offered was very valuable for me. I gained both methodological skills, like using remote sensing, as well as technical knowledge on climate change, biodiversity or ecosystem services. Also the chance to study with people from many different countries and backgrounds, although my year was not the most international, unfortunately.

How has your career continued after GCE?
After finishing the degree, I worked as a freelancer in several remote sensing projects focused on nature conservation. From 2017 to 2019, I was part of the Chair of Biogeography of the University of Bayreuth within the research project ECOPOTENTIAL, for which I mainly did coordination and communication work. Now, I am working for the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation.

What is your current position? What are your tasks?
Currently, I work as a scientific officer at the International Academy for Nature Conservation of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation. I design and organise different workshops on national and international scale about current topics in conservation. Having a strong background in communication from my Bachelor studies, I also do public relations work for the Academy.

How has GCE supported your career?
Given that my Bachelor degree was in Science Journalism, without studying GCE I most likely would not be where I am right now. I enjoy working on interdisciplinary topics, so the possibility to choose from diverse courses was a major reason for me to study GCE. The programme has provided me with a solid basis of expertise upon which I have built in my career.

What do you recommend to the current GCE students?
Think about what you want to gain from the study programme but also remain open to topics or courses you might not have considered in advance. You can learn about quite diverse topics, so it can be valuable to dip your toes into something new – and maybe discover a new interest.
Appreciate the chance to study in an environment with – hopefully – students from many different places and different experiences. Learning from each other is just as important as learning from lectures.
Take the opportunities you have to delve into topics you are passionate about and interested in. If you know where you want to work afterwards, think about how you will get there, and consider detours as the scenic route. If you do not know yet, that is completely normal. Work on the things you are interested in.
Be ambitious about your work, if that is important to you, but also keep in mind that assignments have a certain scope for a reason.
Don’t take all courses that are interesting in the first semester. Seriously, don’t. You have a third semester as well and as soon as assignments are due, you will regret it. I was involved in GCE for long enough to have seen this again and again. And again …

The post GCE Alumni (9): Scientific officer at the International Academy for Nature Conservation appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Why did you decide to study GCE?
I wanted to study the intersection between economy and environment. 

What did you like most about GCE?
Small classes, students from all over the world, interesting topics, practical experiences.

How has your career continued after GCE?
I went to Leipzig to work with the UFZ for one year, but as I have always been a journalist, I began to focus on energy and climate journalism.

What is your current position? What are your tasks?
Today, I work for the “Tagesspiegel”, a newspaper in Berlin, where I am part of “Tagesspiegel Background Energie & Klima”, a daily newsletter that informs ministries, companies, institutions and associations about latest developments in energy and climate politics. 

How has GCE supported your career?
When I graduated I felt that GCE prepared me well to work at the intersection between economy and ecocology. 

What do you recommend to the current GCE students?
It is a profound study program with small classes and encouraging professors.

The post GCE Alumni (8): Climate journalist for “Tagesspiegel” appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Why did you decide to study GCE?
After my undergraduate study program “Integrated Life Sciences”, I decided that the climate crisis is a much more pressing matter to me than studying the structure of molecules. So, I was looking for study programmes that combined the scientific knowledge of global warming with elements of climate policy – and found GCE.

What did you like most about GCE?
I really liked the opportunities to go to international conferences, such like IPBES and COP and the first-hand experience of climate negotiations.

How has your career continued after GCE?
I worked for 8 months as a Research Associate at the department of Ecological Modelling at the University of Bayreuth. After that, I started working in a local administration for climate protection in the city of Erlangen.

What is your current position? What are your tasks?
As a manager for local climate protection my main tasks are to implement the climate protection measures of the climate protection concept. This can be the installation of photovoltaic systems, public relations work, implementing ideas for a sustainable lifestyle and many more.

How has GCE supported your career?
GCE has prepared me well for my current job. Climate protection is a cross-sectional task and one has to know many things to get things done. GCE has provided me with a lot of knowledge in various fields which helps a lot.

What do you recommend to the current GCE students?
Try to take all the opportunities that GCE offers. Go to conferences, do as many internships as you can and use the GCE network. And most importantly: Don’t forget to have fun.

The post GCE Alumni (7): Manager for local climate protection in Erlangen appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Exciting Time

In the spring of 2020, I did my internship at the division of “International Cooperation on Biodiversity” of the “Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety” in Bonn for twelve weeks. Three reasons that made it a very exciting and special time were:
– Germany prepared itself to takeover the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (second half of 2020);
– The draft of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework has been developed – which originally was planned to be adopted during the CBD COP 15 (15th “Conference of the Parties” to the “Convention on Biological Diversity”) in Kunming, China, in October, 2020, within the German EU Presidency. However, the COP 15 has been postponed to 2021 due to the corona pandemic;
– The corona pandemic has started to spread in Germany.

Corona and the Internship

At the beginning of the internship, I was mainly involved in the preparations for the CBD COP 15. However, the CBD COP 15 process was shifted because of the corona pandemic. Concerning my internship alone, the corona pandemic had disadvantages as well as advantages:
The biggest disadvantage was that I could not enter the ministry building anymore after my first weeks. Instead, I had to work from home like my colleagues did but it turned out to work surprisingly well.
The biggest advantage was that I got insight how a federal ministry is working during a crisis. Due to the crisis, I could witness how the ministry handles a totally new, dynamic situation right from the start and I was closely involved. My tasks switched from the topic “CBD COP 15” to the new topic “nature destruction and zoonoses”.

Tasks

Some of my tasks were:
– Review of comments on the latest IPCC (“Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”) Assessment Report (AR6) within the peer review process;
– Analysis of preparatory documents for the CBD COP 15 and defining and evaluating indicators;
– Contributing to the preparations of a Federal Press Conference held by the Environment Minister;
– Preparation of an interview with the Environment Minister;
– Involvement in the creation of an internal strategic discussion paper;
– Responding to citizen´s e-mails;
– Preparation of an internal expert talk and giving an internal presentation;
– Preparation of speaking notes for the Minister and Parliamentary State Secretary;
– Preparation of the participation of the Minister in an online-panel;
– Review of different working papers, amongst others, within the interdepartmental coordination.

Working as Policy Officer

I am very grateful that my unit and subdivision had confidence in me and handed tasks with high responsibilities over to me. Those sometimes challenging tasks allowed me to get deeper insights into policy and now I feel better prepared for a job position after the university.
I hold the employees of the Ministry in high esteem. They have to deal with a high workload and oftentimes must fulfil their demanding tasks, which have a high responsibility, in a little while. Those experiences were very valuable to me because I could feel the work as policy officer very closely.
In my opinion, the advantages of being a policy officer in the Ministry outweigh clearly. For example, one can participate in international conferences all over the world, one has to manage changing, challenging tasks and topics and is close to the highly topical political events. But most of all, the greatest advantage is that I had the feeling that one’s work can really help to improve the protection of nature. And that’s what is necessary to keep alive the underlying motivation for the daily work.
I appreciate very much that I was treated like a normal member of the team and am very happy that I can continue to support the Ministry together with my new very nice team of the GIZ (German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH) as student assistant.

If you are interested in an internship at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, check the latest organisation plan and application requirements (the German language is a precondition).

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Why did you decide to study GCE?
The general topic of Global Change Ecology combined with the diversity of branches of the topic one could pick and delve into.

What did you like most about GCE?
When I started studying GCE, we were 7 people altogether in my year, which allowed for a very intensive supervision from the side of the GCE profs; additionally, the study course supported our education by enabling us to visit international conferences and to participate in summer and winter schools. One amazing experience I had was a summer school in the Brazilian Amazon, where we did research with international students, experienced new cultures, and lived on a boat.

How has your career continued after GCE?
After I graduated GCE, I started working as a junior policy advisor for the GIZ at the headquarters in Eschborn and later in Bonn. During this time, I advised the BMZ on the water-energy-food security nexus topic.
Later on, I continued with obtaining my PhD degree in PhD program Ecology in Zurich. After I obtained my PhD degree, I worked shortly as a scientific assistant on project funded by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. After that I left academia.

What is your current position? What are your tasks?
I am a research manager at a joint office of UZH and ETH Zurich. The office is part of the offices of the vice-presidents for research at both universities. In my role, I advise researchers on EU funding schemes. Also a big part of my work is the negotiation of contracts and agreements.

How has GCE supported your career?
I loved that there was a good mixture of mandatory and optional courses, ensuring that all students get a very good overall quality of knowledge and yet still have the option to go into their own specific area of interest. Furthermore, I won friends for life with the people I got to know there. Last but not least, we could always discuss openly with our professors about politico-scientific topics but could also always give input to the structuring of the study course.

What do you recommend to the current GCE students?
What you learn now, during GCE, will help you during your entire career and will influence who you become as a person. Enjoy it as much as you can and be active!

The post GCE Alumni (6): Research manager at UZH and ETH Zurich appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Why did you decide to study GCE?
Because of its interdisciplinary setting and the option to study the social and natural sciences dimensions of socio-ecological systems. 

What did you like most about GCE?
The liberty of choosing most of the curriculum, including Science Schools, freely and according to my interests. GCE also provided an array of opportunities to partake in high-level meetings such as IPBES and the UNFCCC COP. Since GCE is embedded in the Elite Network of Bavaria, this provides further chances for networking and exchange with peers from various backgrounds. 

How has your career continued after GCE?
I am pursuing a PhD at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

What is your current position? What are your tasks?
Currently, I am employed as a research assistant and PhD student in the Land Use Modelling Group at PIK. I use a global land system model to study human-nature relations in agricultural landscapes at the global scale. My focus is on programming and data analysis.

How has GCE supported your career?
It supported me, because during my study I was often able to freely choose the subjects I was most interested in.

What do you recommend to the current GCE students?
Try not to feel overwhelmed by the many choices and options that GCE provides. Try not to rush things and let the game come to you. Give yourself time to find something that you really want to change or know more about! Also, don’t get caught up with talking too much trash about the shitty weather in Bayreuth. Remember, it’s only the current state of the atmosphere and will only last for days or weeks. The climate, however, is shaped by you! Enjoy the time with your peers and make Bayreuth a beautiful memory!

The post GCE Alumni (5): PhD at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research appeared first on Global Change Ecology.

Why did you decide to study GCE?
International student body, interdisciplinarity, connections to UN bodies and conferences, students from different backgrounds.

What did you like most about GCE?
International students, student coordination was fantastic and always helpful, community among the students.

How has your career continued after GCE?
Started working for “GRÜNE LIGA e.V.” since 06/2020 as a project manager.

What is your current position? What are your tasks?
Project manager at GRÜNE LIGA for a project on gypsum mining, I manage the project, by getting in contact with people in the industry and civil organizations, organizing events, overlooking the finances.

How has GCE supported your career?
It has given me a good backround knowledge on current issues on the environment.

What do you recommend to the current GCE students?
Try and pick internships that are really interesting to you for a future job, maybe even start working at a place next to the studies.

Cover picture: Pixabay License

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