A brief portrait

“Acting economically in environmental governance” is the object of our scientific work in research, teaching, further education and practical scientific consulting.

“Dealing economically in forestry” is understood by us in a broader sense. We see our research as problem-oriented and practical. We regard forest enterprises as sub-systems of a total system of socially interdependent systems, whose dynamics and complexities should be considered the background of forestry. In our research, interdisciplinary teamwork thus plays a central role.

Our four course and research focuses have investigated the partial aspects of the interrelation between humans, forest enterprises and society.
 

Multifunctional forest management

• Optimization of forest management systems taking into account timber production and other goods and services  (C-sequestration, biodiversity, recreation, protection...)
• Application of advanced heuristics (genetic algorithms, artificial neural networks, simulated annealing,..) for the optimization of multifunctional forest management
• Integration of multi-criteria decision making methods (MCDMs) in forest management planning models
• Integration of uncertainty into the management of forest enterprises
• Economic aspects of decision support systems

Forest economics and global change

• Integration of multiple risks into forest economic models based on empirical/mechanistic risk models using advanced growth simulators
• Economic analysis of extreme events on forest enterprises and the production of goods and services
• Economic effects of climate change on forestry
• Insurance models for forest enterprises under changing environmental conditions
• Reaction of timber markets on changing framework conditions
• Adaptation of forest management to climate change, mitigation vs. adaptation

Economic analysis of transformation and conversion of forests

• Economic analysis of forest transformation and conversion (change of silvicultural systems, change of species mixture, ...)
• Management and economics of uneven-aged, close-to-nature forests
• Eco-efficiency of forestry under changing management regimes
• Mixed vs. pure forests
• Segregative vs. integrative approaches

Analysis of risk and uncertainty from a social science point of view

• Climate Change as a state of emergency ?
• Dealing with risk, uncertainty and complexity within strategic management of organisations in forestry and environmental sciences
• Planning and decision theory, management theory, organizational sociology
  
   

Since 2007, the institute has been a member of the university “Centre for Renewable Energy”. In an expansion of the four teaching and research fields listed above, we have been working

• in the field of Socio-economic Aspects of Bioenergy.