On 27 November 2024, Prof. Dr Vera Luthardt gave her last lecture after 32 years at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) in an auditorium packed with around 200 students, alumni, researchers, lecturers and numerous other companions. The Last Lecture format, which originated in the English-speaking world, took place for the first time at HNEE and focuses on the special merits and achievements in the numerous areas of work and the professional view of the future of Prof. Dr Vera Luthardt

In his laudatory speech, Prof. Dr Ulrich Schulz paid tribute to her work in a comprehensive, humorous and affectionate manner. He described the life and work of the botanist Vera Luthardt using the example of the three-leaved clover. With the first sheet, he described her career up to the completion of her doctorate with the highest grade of "summa cum laude". The topic of the thesis was "Ecological investigations on agriculturally utilised deep fen sites with different soil development". Fens were and are the central field of work of Prof Dr Vera Luthardt.

The second sheet describes her work at HNEE. She came to HNEE in 1992 to start building up the Landscape Management and Nature Conservation faculty. At the end of 1993, she was appointed Professor of Vegetation Science and Applied Plant Ecology. For more than 30 years, she taught botany, plant identification, vegetation science, applied plant ecology, peatland management and environmental monitoring in various degree programmes such as Landscape Management and Nature Conservation (Diploma, later Bachelor), Organic Farming & Marketing, International Forest Ecosystem Management, Regional Development & Nature Conservation and Sustainable Regional Development. In addition to her teaching activities, she also helped to shape teaching, research and life at the university in numerous committees: She served on the Faculty Council for 29 years from 1993 to 2021, plus 6 years as Vice Dean from 1993 to 1999 and 3 years as Dean from 1999 to 2002.

With the third cloverleaf, companion Ulrich Schulz took up Vera Luthardt's work externally. In the period from 1993 to 2024, she managed over 40 projects with a third-party funding volume of 6 million euros and 57 employees (including 42 HNEE graduates). Among the numerous projects on the topic of peatlands, one stands out in particular, which ran on 38 permanent monitoring sites from 1997 to 2022: "Establishment, implementation and further development of ecosystem-based environmental monitoring in the UNESCO biosphere reserves of Brandenburg".

This resulted in over 80 publications in specialist journals, numerous conference proceedings, individual chapters in books and other articles in popular science journals, a dozen brochures for practitioners and scripts for the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation.

6 doctoral theses, 72 diploma theses, 80 bachelor's theses and 45 master's theses were supervised by Prof Dr Luthardt. Over 10 per cent of these theses were awarded prizes, and 80 practice partners from different regions and contexts were involved.

In addition, Prof Dr Vera Luthardt was and is active on over 20 advisory boards such as the Nature Conservation Advisory Board of the Barnim district (since 1995), as Chairwoman of the Brandenburg Nature Conservation Advisory Board (since 2011) and as a member of the National Committee of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMU) (since 2018). She was honoured with the Carl Albert Weber Medal for her commitment to science, society and natural areas.

The figures and activities mentioned do not reflect the range of content, contacts and the energy expended in providing intensive human and professional support. However, they also show the will to not only follow her personal guiding principle of "knowledge grows from observation", but also to share the knowledge gained and translate it into action. Practice partners, students and researchers have been able to experience the intertwining of research, practice and teaching through Vera Luthardt.

With this last lecture, however, Prof Dr Vera Luthardt is not retiring completely, but will continue to use her knowledge and experience in a socially effective way. In addition to lectures, ongoing projects and other commitments, she has been a scientific advisor to the Michael Succow Foundation since this year.

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