2023 Garmisch Summer School on Land Use andEcosystem Change

2023 Garmisch Summer School on Land Use andEcosystem Change

2023 Garmisch Summer School on Land Use and Ecosystem Change

1-8 August 2023, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will run an international Summer School at its ‘Campus Alpin’ in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Germany, on the topic of land use and ecosystem change during August 2023. The summer school will introduce students to a wide range of issues related to land use change, socio-ecological systems, and ecosystem functioning by covering:

  • Different aspects of land use change processes across geographic scales in response to past, present and future drivers of change.
  • Both the biophysical and human processes and concepts needed to understand the broader issues
    within socio-ecological systems.

The summer school will include a mix of webinars, group and individual exercises and student presentations. The course is open to students currently studying for an MSc or PhD degree with backgrounds in environmental sciences, geography, environmental economics, geo-ecology, meteorology and ecology. There is a maximum of 35 student places available in 2023.

Applications are open until Monday 15 May 2023. Please send your CV and a letter of motivation (limited to one page) in one PDF document, signed by your supervisor, to: sylvia.kratz@kit.edu.

Event Recap: Creating the Behavioural Models of Land Systems Working Group

Event Recap: Creating the Behavioural Models of Land Systems Working Group

Workshop Recap: Creating the Behavioural Models of Land Systems Working Group

Date: 16 February 2023 at 14:00 GMT
Organisers: James Millington (working group coordinator), Calum Brown, Tatiana Filatova, Birgit Müller, Derek Robinson, Mark Rounsevell, Maja Schlüter

Workshop overview

On Thursday, 16 February, the BeModeLS GLP/AIMES working group held their first online webinar to help shape the group’s aims and activities. After an overview introduction from lead co-ordinator James Millington (slides here), the 32 participants broke into groups to discuss key questions about priorities and perspectives (notes here). The working group steering committee will now work with the feedback to develop future plans. For those that were unable to join the meeting, feel free to add your comments to this open padlet (or email the lead co-ordinator). Look out for news about future activities in due course. 

Watch the video

View the workshop materials

Partners

Funders

GLP/AIMES Webinar: Creating the Behavioural Models of Land Systems Working Group

GLP/AIMES Webinar: Creating the Behavioural Models of Land Systems Working Group

GLP/AIMES Webinar: Creating the Behavioural Models of Land Systems Working Group

Date: 16 February 2023 at 14:00 GMT
Organisers: James Millington (working group coordinator), Calum Brown, Tatiana Filatova, Birgit Müller, Derek Robinson, Mark Rounsevell, Maja Schlüter

The BeModeLS working group coordinator and steering committee have developed a set of aims and objectives, as shown on our webpage. One of these is to foster an inclusive, active, diverse and cooperative community of social-ecological land system modellers. If we are to do this properly we need input from our members to refine our original aims and objectives and to share their vision for activities that will help to develop the community and its work. Join us on 16 February 2023 for an online workshop to share your views and help shape the working group. Please register for the workshop using the link below. If you have ideas in advance of the workshop, do contact the working group coordinator, James Millington.

Partners

Funders

2023 Garmisch Summer School on Land Use andEcosystem Change

Garmisch Summer School on Land Use and Ecosystem Change

Garmisch Summer School on Land Use and Ecosystem Change

16-23 August 2022, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will run an international Summer School at its ‘Campus Alpin’ in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Germany, on the topic of land use and ecosystem change during August 2022. The summer school will introduce students to a wide range of issues related to land use change, socio-ecological systems, and ecosystem functioning by covering:

  • Different aspects of land use change processes across geographic scales in response to past, present and future drivers of change.
  • Both the biophysical and human processes and concepts needed to understand the broader issues
    within socio-ecological systems.

The summer school will include a mix of webinars, group and individual exercises and student presentations. The course is open to students currently studying for an MSc or PhD degree with backgrounds in environmental sciences, geography, environmental economics, geo-ecology, meteorology and ecology. There is a maximum of 35 student places available in 2022.

Applications are open until Friday 27 May 2022. Please send your CV and a letter of motivation (limited to one page) in one PDF document, signed by your supervisor, to: sylvia.kratz@kit.edu.

Research Assistant in the nexus between biodiversity, climate, water, food and health at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Research Assistant in the nexus between biodiversity, climate, water, food and health at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Research Assistant in the nexus between biodiversity, climate, water, food and health at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

We are seeking a Research Assistant to undertake an assessment of the interactions among biodiversity, climate, water, food and health (the nexus). You will contribute to the European Commission funded (Horizon Europe) BIONEXT project (The Biodiversity Nexus: Transformative Change for Sustainability), and to the IPBES nexus assessment1. The position will be held within the Land Use & Climate Change Research Group (https://landchange.imk-ifu.kit.edu/) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), located at KIT’s attractive ‘Campus Alpin’ in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Your specific tasks will be to:

1. Support knowledge and science brokerage for IPBES assessments and EU environmental policy, including,

  • Analysing the implications of transformative change in the biodiversity nexus for EU environmental policy options,
  • Communicate and collaborate with IPBES bodies;

2. Act as a Chapter Scientist within chapter 3 (Future interactions across the nexus) in the IPBES nexus assessment, including,

  • Undertaking a review and assessment of the literature on biodiversity nexus scenarios;
  • Supporting the assessment authors in writing and editing text and managing bibliographies.

The position will also entail small contributions to teaching and group administration.

Research Assistant in the nexus between biodiversity, climate, water, food and health at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Two postdoctoral researchers in land-based, climate change mitigation modelling for the European forest sector (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

Two postdoctoral researchers in land-based, climate change mitigation modelling for the European forest sector (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)

                                                                  

Overview

We are seeking two postdoctoral researchers in the field of land-based, climate change mitigation modelling for the forest sector in Europe. The positions will contribute to the European Commission funded (Horizon Europe) ForestPaths project, held within the Land Use & Climate Change Research Group (https://landchange.imk-ifu.kit.edu/) and the Global Land Ecosystem Modelling Group (https://lemg.imk-ifu.kit.edu/) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), located at KIT’s attractive ‘Campus Alpin’ in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Specifically, we seek to employ:

  • A land use modeller to further develop, test and apply the CRAFTY agent-based model of land use change (see: https://landchange.imk-ifu.kit.edu/CRAFTY) in evaluating land-based, climate change mitigation scenarios and policy options for the forest sector in Europe. You will contribute to the coupling of CRAFTY with the LPJ-GUESS vegetation model within the LandSyMM modelling framework (https://landsymm.earth/) and use the model to explore policy pathways, including engaging with key policy stakeholders (ref: FP-LUCCG);
  • An ecosystem modeller to further develop, test and apply the LPJ-GUESS vegetation model (https://lemg.imk-ifu.kit.edu/themes/land-climate-interactions) in evaluating vegetation dynamics and carbon cycling for the forest sector in Europe. You will contribute to improving and testing forest management implementation in LPJ-GUESS and explore, for a range of scenarios, how these affect carbon uptake as well as habitat structural diversity (ref: FP-LEMG).

Your specific roles will be to contribute to the further development and application of these models individually, but also in an integrated way within the LandSyMM modelling framework (https://landsymm.earth/). The positions will also entail small contributions to teaching and group administration. We offer a multi‐disciplinary, highly collaborative and friendly team, well connected to national and international research networks and activities. Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV‐L EG13). The positions are available from June 2022 for 2 years initially with the potential for extension beyond this period.

Qualifications

You will have a PhD degree in a relevant discipline and strong quantitative skills in computer modelling and coding (e.g., Fortran, C, C++, Java, Python) and the analysis of large-scale datasets in the environmental sciences (GIS experience alone is insufficient). Depending on the position applied for, experience with statistical analysis, scenario analysis, ecological economics, ecosystem modelling, computational social sciences and/or computer programming is desirable. You will need to have proficiency in the English language, both spoken and in writing and preferably a working knowledge of German. Willingness to travel to interact with consortia partners is required. Further information can be obtained from Prof. Mark Rounsevell (mark.rounsevell@kit.edu) for FP-LUCCG and Prof. Almut Arneth (almut.arneth@kit.edu) for FP-LEMG.

Applications

Applications should be sent by email to Sylvia Kratz (sylvia.kratz@kit.edu) by Friday 18 March 2022, quoting the relevant reference, FP-LUCCG or FP-LEMG. Applications should be submitted within a single PDF document that includes your CV, publications list (with citations), a short (1-2 page) letter of motivation and contact details for 2 referees. The motivation letter should clearly state your computer modelling experience and how your research interests relate to the job specifications provided above. Please also indicate where you heard about this job opportunity. Applications that are incomplete or do not address these criteria will not be considered. Interviews will be held remotely on Thursday 31 March or Friday 1 April 2022. KIT strives to achieve gender balance at all levels of employment. We therefore particularly encourage female candidates to apply for this position. With appropriate qualifications, applications from persons with handicaps are treated preferentially.