Co-operative doctorate successfully completed

Jeanette Blumröder is the first doctoral student at Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) to defend her dissertation with excellent results in cooperation with Leuphana University Lüneburg on 23 November 2021. Her doctoral thesis deals with the questions of how the functionality of forests can be quantified and evaluated and how forest management affects the functions and services related to the microclimate. The young scientist investigated the positive ecological contribution that Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification actually makes and came to an astonishing conclusion.

Jeanette Blumröder has been researching at the HNEE for 10 years in the Centre for Econics and Ecosystem Management (CEEM) and is now a mainstay in the area of forest-related projects. She once completed her Master's degree in the Global Change Management.

"Assessment of forest functionality and the effectiveness of forest management and certification systems" was the title of her doctoral thesis, in which Jeanette Blumröder developed an ecosystem-based and participatory methodology called ECOSEFFECT and applied it in Arkhangelsk, in north-west Russia.

Mrs Blumröder, how are you now after your dissertation? Has your life already changed fundamentally?
Not really, as I'm already back in the forest recording data and other publications are in the pipeline, which takes up a lot of time and energy.

It has already been briefly touched on above. Can you briefly describe in your own words what the core of the doctorate was and why the topic is important for the world?
The work is based on two research projects. The project to examine the effectiveness of FSC certification in Russia was funded by WWF Germany, among others, and implemented jointly. We also worked closely with our colleagues from Russia. The project Transparent forestry operation project is not yet complete, the final data collection is still ongoing. However, the data from the two extreme summers of 2018 and 2019 was so exciting that we have already utilised it.
Forests are not only of enormous importance for us humans and the climate because of the production of wood as a raw material, but also provide a large number of ecosystem services free of charge. However, forest utilisation can restrict the ecosystem's ability to provide functions and services - especially in times of advancing climate change. Sustainability certificates are supposed to ensure that the functionality of forests is not restricted despite wood utilisation, so it is all the more important to scientifically verify what it actually does for the ecosystem in the end. Unfortunately, our studies have shown that certified Russian clear-cuts are no better than non-certified ones.

In what time frame did you realise the work?
The work on the FSC project actually began in 2014 and we implemented the studies in stages. The transparent forestry operation project has been running since the beginning of 2017 and will last a total of 5 years.

How did the collaboration with Leuphana University Lüneburg actually work out?
Of course, it would have been easier if we could have carried out the doctorate directly at HNEE. But a co-operation with Leuphana University Lüneburg is something very valuable and also has many advantages, such as the additional exchange of content and expertise. I received very good support from my supervisors.

What advice would you give to other interested parties, despite the fact that universities of applied sciences still don't have the right to award doctorates?
I still think that it shouldn't really be about doing a doctorate for the sake of doing a doctorate per se, but about the motivation to take on a specific topic and then do everything possible to advance this topic. It is always possible to find ways and paths, even if they are not always easy, but can be bumpy.

How and in which areas will you continue? Will you remain loyal to HNEE?
For me, everything will actually stay the same for the time being, as I am still involved in various projects at CEEM and continue to develop new projects in parallel.

The dissertation was supervised by Prof Dr Pierre L. Ibisch, Professor of Nature Conservation at HNEE, and accompanied by Prof Dr Werner Härdtle, Professor of Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation at Leuphana University Lüneburg. "It is important to note that with our projects and our candidates, we are fundamentally capable of realising very high-quality doctorates. Mrs Blumröder has proven this. Her work is also special because she has already published an above-average amount of her work in international journals before submitting it," summarises Prof Dr Ibisch.

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