This project is funded by the European Research Council through a consolidator grant to Joern Fischer.
Joern Fischer has been professor of sustainable landscapes at Leuphana University Lueneburg since 2010. His interdisciplinary activities combine landscape ecology, research of ecosystems and biodiversity as well as ecosystem services. He is responsible for the design and scientific management of this research project, as well as for the supervision of other members of the research team.
Jan Hanspach is a postdoc. He has an ecological background and is interested in biodiversity conservation in farming landscapes. Jan will be primarily responsible for work package 1 (global questionnaire targeting experts on food security and biodiversity). He will also contribute to many other parts of the project, including design and analysis.
Neil Collier has a background in ecology and the analysis of livelihoods. As part of this project, he will conduct systems mapping workshops with regional experts around the world, to conceptually map specific social-ecological systems. The workshops will characterize social-ecological system properties, and will generate information on food security and biodiversity. These models will be used to identify external drivers and internal dynamics and highlight leverage points and feedbacks.
Jannik Schultner has been a postdoc at Leuphana University since 2014. He has a background in ecology, enjoys dealing with statistics, and is interested in the bi-directional interactions between people and the environment. He is motivated by both the urgency of ‘real world’ problems as well as his fascination with nature and people.
Ine Dorresteijn is also a postdoc on this project. She is interested in animal diversity and interactions, especially in the context of human-wildlife interactions. For this project, Ine is working on the Ethiopia case-study and is responsible for understanding the conflicts between mammals and humans, as well as co-supervision of PhD-students, and field logistics.
Patrícia Rodrigues is a PhD student on this project. She is a biologist with a background in ecology. She is interested in the effects of land use changes on biodiversity and ecosystem services and on the understanding of human-wildlife interactions and sources of conflict. She will use birds and mammals as models to look at these issues in the Ethiopian case-study.
Aisa Manlosa is a PhD student in the project. She has a background in environmental science with a focus on social systems. Her interest is in the role of gender and social norms in shaping locally differentiated access to livelihood resources and what this implies for the well-being of rural households. She will be responsible for studying livelihood strategies and food security of different social groups in Ethiopia.
I am Tolera Senbeto currently pursuing PhD study under this project. I have a background in Rural Development and Forest Management. I am professionally interested in institutional analysis and governance of natural resources. My PhD work under this project is on “Governance of food security and biodiversity in South Western Ethiopia”.
Girma Shumi Dugo, a PhD student on this project. I am a forester with a background in ecological sustainability, mainly tropical forestry and management. I am interested in the effects of land use changes (food production) on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and thus, I will be responsible for investigating the distribution and composition of woody vegetation in the Ethiopian case-study.
Identifying Social-Ecological System Properties Benefiting Biodiversity and Food Security 