Research and teaching at the Chair focus on the application of economic knowledge to problems of environmental and resource management, in particular the preservation of ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Methods and approaches include, among others, ecological-economic modelling, the development of decision support software, as well as stakeholder interviews and choice experiments.

Bachelor- and Mastertheses

Dear Students, if you are interested in writing a Bachelor- or Masterthesis at our chair, you can now find a list of possible thesis topics at our homepage. You are also invited to discuss a topic of your choice with us. In case of further interest, please contact us during consultation hours.

News

The next consultation hour Prof. Wätzold: Thursday, 14.3.24, 10.00 - 12.00 a.m. online via webex. Please contact Regina Kirsche (regina.kirsche@b-tu.de)

Just for clarification - you need to keep to the deadline and submit to the responsible office (not MY office). Make sure you follow all formal regulations, otherwise you will automatically fail.

  • Paper and Conference Presentation: Schöttker, O., Sturm A., Wätzold, F. (2024): Virtuelles Zäunen und ökologische Wirkungen von Weidebewirtschaftung: Prototyp einer App zur Information der Öffentlichkeit. In C. Hoffmann et al. (2024): Biodiversität fördern durch digitale Landwirtschaft, Lecture Notes in Informatics (LNI), Gesellschaft für Informatik, Bonn, 2024, pp. 401-405. (Link)
  • Paper: Hecker, L.P., Sturm, A., Querhammer, L., Wätzold, F. (2024): Cost-effectiveness of state-dependent versus state-independent agri-environment schemes for biodiversity conservation, Ecological Economics 127, 108088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.108088
  • Paper accepted ElDidi, H. and De Petris, C. et al. (2024): "Getting Ahead of the Game: Experiential learning for groundwater governance in Ethiopia". International Journal of the Commons, 18(1), pp. 66–81. (Link)
  • Working Paper: Sturm, A., Schöttker, O., Kadir, K., Wätzold, F. (2024): SMIBe–Konzept eines softwarebasiertes Mehrebenen-Informationssystem für Behörden zur digitalen Erfassung und Evaluierung von beweidungsbezogenen AUKM. MPRA Paper No. 119741. (Link)
  • Poster presentation by Charlotte Gerling on the topic „Economics of climate adaptation for biodiversity conservation" at the status conference of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation on "Biodiversity and climate change - exploring synergies" in Berlin on the 7th of December, 2023.
  • Workshop Presentation: Ahmed Shaqfa presented the topic "Cost-Benefit Analysis of Rangelands Restoration in Jordan: The Role of Using the Contour Ridge Method under Climate Change" at the international, DAAD-funded workshop "Nature-based Solutions for Landscape Restoration" (22.11.2023)
  • Paper accepted: The paper "Commons identity crisis, can it be resolved? - Case study of Water User Associations in Jordan Valley" by Mai Nusir was accepted for presentation at the "seventh Workshop on the Ostrom Workshop (WOW7)" conference.
  • Report: Caterina De Petris contributed to the report "Strengthening Water Governance and Collective Action Through Groundwater Games" (Link)
  • Working Paper: H. Manhique, F. Wätzold (2023): Effects of Institutional Setting on Value Estimates of Stated Preference Surveys in Developing Economies: A Discrete Choice Experiment on Conserving Biodiversity in The Cape Floristic Region. MPRA Paper No. 118750. (Link)
  • Working Paper: C. Gerling, M. Drechsler, J. Leins, A. Sturm, F. Wätzold (2023): Cost-Effective Policy Instruments for Biodiversity Conservation Under Climate Change – the Need for Flexibility. (Link)
  • On October 5th an online workshop on the topic of ecological-economic modeling was held as part of the Eco2Scape project. In addition to presentations by external scientists, selected project results were presented