News

New paper: Moving beyond simplistic representations of land use in conservation

In a new paper published in Conservation Letters, THESys Member Tobias Kümmerle discusses how land use is often oversimplified in conservation assessments, policy, and planning—and how integrating Land System Science and Conservation Science can help overcome this. Specifically, he highlights how limited data on (global) land use, weak consideration of land-use dynamics and actor diversity,…

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Successful PhD: Congratulations to Ana Buchadas

On September 09, 2024, Ana Buchadas successfully defended her PhD thesis “Understanding deforestation frontiers in the world’s tropical dry woodlands” at the Geography Department of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Her thesis was supervised by Tobias Kuemmerle and Patrick Meyfroidt. Ana graduated with summa cum laude. This doctoral research sought to understand the patterns, processes, and consequences…

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Call out: THESys Award 2024 for Bachelor and Master theses 

Since 2015, the IRI THESys has been awarding prizes for excellent Bachelor and Master theses in the field of human-environmental research. Now, all bachelor and master graduates of HU Berlin are again cordially invited to apply! Applications for the THESys Award 2024 can be submitted during the application period from 15 July to 01 November…

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Public Event: KOSMOS-Lesung by Prof. Philippe Baret

In his KOSMOS-Lesung, Prof. Philippe Baret shows how agroecology can help to rethink agriculture. From Policies to Practices: An Agroecological Approach to Transition 09.10.2024, 18.00-19.30 HU Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, Senatssaal Agroecology offers a framework to rethink agriculture within the broader context of food systems and proposes a pathway to reconcile agricultural practices with…

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Themenklasse: Final Report on the Rights of Nature

As part of the Humboldt-Scholarship “Sustainability and Global Justice”, an interdisciplinary group of students spent a year working on the topic of “Rights of Nature”. Their final report has now been published. Is the current legal framework sufficient for effective nature and climate protection? Do we need to change our Eurocentric understanding of nature and…

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Outstanding research: Heidi Kreibich honoured with Volker Medal

THESys Member Heidi Kreibich is honoured with the Volker Medal, the International Hydrology Award. Congratulations! An outstanding contributions to analysing and managing flood risks The International Association for Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) honours the promotion of hydrological sciences across all disciplines. Heidi Kreibich receives the prize for her outstanding contributions to analysing and managing flood risks…

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We Wrap Up a Unique Programme: The Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership

In July, after five successful cycles, the coordinating office of the Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership at IRI THESys closed its metaphorical doors. The Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership was a career development and capacity-building programme for postdoctoral researchers at European universities, co-led by four academic centres. Partners at the IRI THESys, Leuphana University Lüneburg,…

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Open Access: towards the City of the Future

THESys Member Dr. Ina Säumel has contributed a chapter on geographies of the edible city in international comparison to the newly published volume ‘Unterwegs in die Stadt der Zukunft: Urbane Gärten als Orte der Transformation’, edited by Andrea Baier, Christa Müller and Karin Werner. Discovering the transformative power of urban gardens From pioneering projects to…

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Successful PhD: Congratulations to Nadine Jenny Shirin Schröder

On July 22, 2024, Nadine Jenny Shirin Schröder successfully defended her PhD thesis, “Order with and without design in polycentric governance systems: Exploring the role of independence and multiplicity in decision-making for WFD implementation processes.” Her thesis was supervised by Prof. Wolfgang Dickhaut and Prof. Nigel Watson at the Environmentally Sound Urban and Infrastructure Planning…

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