GCE Alumni (14): PhD in Soil Physics at the ETH Zürich

The Elite Network of Bavaria master’s programme “Global Change Ecology” (GCE) started in 2006 at the University of Bayreuth. Since then, several GCE students have already completed their degree. In 2020, we started the GCE Alumni series to check in with our past students and foster connection within the programme. Here we get updates (and […]

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Bringing Nature Forward: The BiodiverCities by 2030 report

The Davos Agenda, the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting to address the most pressing global challenges, took place over the last week. There, the BiodiverCities by 2030: Transforming Cities’ Relationship with Nature report was first released on Monday (17.01.2021). BiodiverCities by 2030(1) is an initiative of the World Economic Forum and the Alexander von Humboldt […]

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Wishing you a merry Christmas: A Winter Poem

The pulse that brings life The beginning of the world A life-changing decision The start of a new season ______ I see nature enduring winter With the beauty of the snow The lost leaves in Autumn Leading to future growth ______ It’s a time to hibernate And a time to reflect Moment to celebrate And […]

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Five Weeks at a Climate Change Hotspot

As part of a Master’s course at the University Centre of Svalbard, I spent five weeks on Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the High Arctic. The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) is the world’s northernmost higher education institution, located in Longyearbyen at 78º North, only about 1300 km from the North Pole. UNIS offers research-based […]

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COP26 Summary of Week 2

This article will give you insights into the outcomes of the COP26 including personal experiences from us students.  Ahead of COP26, expectations were high. These hopes were born out of urgency — the window to avert the worsening effects of climate change is rapidly closing. We know what is happening and we know why. The question […]

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COP26 Summary of Week 1

The United Nations Climate Change conference has been held every year since 1995. At the Conference of the Parties (COP), organized by the UNFCCC, parties come together to discuss solutions for combating climate change. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, COP26 was delayed one year. The pandemic and all that has come along with it makes […]

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Global Change Ecology at COP26

On Sunday, the 31st of October, governments, industries, NGOs, and other stakeholders, come together in Glasgow for the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP). Expectations for this year’s COP are high, some voices even say too high, preparing for a failure because they believe that the countries will not be able to deliver.   Why are expectations so high?   Since Paris, Glasgow is the […]

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GCE students explore the Fichtelgebirge

At the end of a week full of informative and fun events for the new GCE cohort, all GCE students were invited to go on an excursion with Prof. Carl Beierkuhnlein. We visited various places in and around the Fichtelgebirge, and learned a lot about the area’s geology, flora and history.  When the excursion started […]

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