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Junior Research Groups

By winning a grant for a junior research group, their leaders demonstrate their high potential for a scientific career. Leading a junior research group offers a special opportunity to develop scientific independence at an early stage, to develop one’s own scientific profile and to gain competence and experience in leadership. Therefore, ZALF offers start-up grants to support the proposal writing for a junior research group for promising early career researchers. The development of competencies for group leadership, supervision or teaching is also supported. At ZALF, independent junior research groups can in principle be located within working groups or be established directly as a ZALF separate working group - depending on the individual case and agreements.

Currently active junior research groups at ZALF:

KoReGio100 - Dr. Meike Fienitz
KoReGio100
Dr. Meike Fienitz
The Schleswig-Holstein Clean Energy Valley initiative aims to make Heide, Rendsburg, Neumünster, and Kiel, together with their surrounding municipalities, one of Europe’s key locations for the downstream utilization of renewable energy; however, regional structures and know-how to govern the ecological and social impacts of this comprehensive transformation process are lacking. To address this, KoReGio100, under the co-leadership of Dr. Meike Fienitz (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research) and Dr. Katrin Martens (Humboldt University of Berlin), is establishing a real-world laboratory that develops, tests, and institutionalizes a "co-creative region" as an innovative governance approach, based on the analysis of ecological limits, the building of social innovation capacity, and the institutionalization of conflict resolution. The results will provide urban-rural regions in Germany and beyond with a clear roadmap for how co-creative regions can be established and managed over the long term to govern socio-ecological transformations.
Soil Rob - Dr. Kathrin Grahmann
Soil Rob
Dr. Kathrin Grahmann
The BMBF Junior Research Group "SoilRob" is investigating the positive effects and possible disadvantages of small, agile field robots on soil health and soil condition in diversified cultivation systems. As autonomous robots can switch more flexibly between different plant species and work more independently in terms of time, their use makes it possible to organise smaller and more varied cultivation areas and thus promote both biodiversity in the field and the positive interactions between soil, plants, and the environment. The "SoilRob" group aims to scientifically prove how the use of agricultural robots influences soil health and whether the yields from this cultivation can be stabilised or even increased in comparison to conventionally cultivated fields. The knowledge gained should help to redesign multifunctional cultivation systems and to identify and quantify potential conflicts of interest in the use of robots.

Former junior research groups at ZALF

BioKum

Dr. Sandra Uthes & Dr. Jana Zscheischler

The BMBF junior research group “BioKum - Cumulative Effects of Bioeconomic Strategies for a More Sustainable Agriculture” uses the example of nutrient surpluses in agriculture to investigate the complex relationships, opportunities, but also risks and conflicts of bioeconomic transformation processes. he aim is to understand the cumulative effects of circular farm-level innovations using the example of four case study regions and to show possible transformation paths for a more sustainable agriculture. The groups applies an inter- and transdisciplinary research approach that combines bioeconomic modelling and methods of transformative sustainability research.

More about the project at https://biokum.de/en/1311-2/

Conflicts between humans and animals in agricultural landscapes

The use of agricultural landscapes and the provision of ecosystem services are influenced by dynamic drivers such as policies, markets, climate change and, increasingly, also wildlife. In particular, cropping-, grassland- and land-based livestock systems are increasingly subject to interactions with wildlife, which can lead to crop damages, livestock losses, or pathogen transmission, among other impacts; and thus increase the risk of agricultural production losses. We develop integrated impact assessment methods to identify and evaluate suitable policy instruments or best-practice management strategies towards the sustainability and coexistence between people and wildlife. Inter- and transdisciplinary formats are used to capture human-environment systems in a holistic manner and to translate evidence-based findings into decision support.

More about the project at https://www.agriculture-wildlife-lab.com/

PlanSmart

Dr. Barbara Schröter

The junior research group PlanSmart investigates innovative approaches for planning and implementing nature-based solutions in riverine landscapes. Co-led by Prof. Dr Christian Albert (Ruhr University Bochum) and Dr. Barbara Schröter (Leibniz- Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research) thePlanSmart team tests possible applications of transdisciplinary planning methods and technologies in a German and a Costa Rican case study, evaluates ecological, social and economic aspects of nature-based solutions, investigates governance and financing models and analyses the process of joint knowledge generation. PlanSmart is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the "Social-Ecological Research" programme within the Research for Sustainable Development (FONA).

More about the project at www.plansmart.info or Twitter: @PlanSmart_Info