I studied Forest Sciences at the University of Dresden with stays in Canada, Ecuador and Sweden. During my doctoral and postdoctoral research I worked at the University of Freiburg in the field of forest ecology and was active in the graduate school "Environment, Society and Global Change". Inspired by my private study of Buddhist meditation and psychology with teachers from India and Nepal since 2009, I am still fascinated by the question of what we can learn from this ancient psychology for ourselves personally and for the transformation towards social and ecological sustainability.
Over time, my private and professional interests grew together, so that in 2016 I initiated the seminar "Linking Mind and Environmental Sustainability" at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Fribourg. I later trained as an MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) teacher at Bangor University and with the Mindfulness Network, Wales, UK, respectively, and as a Mindfulness Teacher for Schools (MISP) in London. Since 2024, I have also been working as a PostDoc at the Systemic Health Research Section at the University Medical Centre Freiburg, and as a research assistant at the Chair of Forest Growth and Dendroecology, University of Freiburg, Germany.
I am interested in humanity, meditation, forests and 'nature and environment'. On the one hand, from the perspective of the natural sciences and specifically in relation to forests and their role in climate change and the global network of life. The insights we gain in this way are an important basis for making decisions about how to deal with natural resources, for example. Apart from that, however, they do not provide an understanding of why people and societies behave considerately and sustainably or why they do not. Nor do they explain why scientific findings are or are not implemented in society.
In the search for answers to such questions, I also devote my work to the role of our human experiential reality. Last but not least, our world of experience is the only world that we really have access to. In it, we cultivate the ways in which we encounter ourselves (health, well-being, meaning in life, etc.), our fellow human beings (benevolence, consideration, co-operation, etc.) and the world as a whole. Whether and how we are committed to a healthy and peaceful world therefore does (of course) not depend solely on our knowledge of scientific facts, but more on our familiarity with our individual realities. In anderen Worten, wie sehr in Verbindung wir stehen mit "unseren Herzen".
This forms the background for my interest in the role of meditation as a method for gaining access to and insight into our experiential realities, ourselves.
Together with my colleagues and partner institutions, I discuss these questions on a scientific level and in relation to sustainability. This discourse, combined with my personal experience, has resulted in various publications, lectures, workshops, a conference, university courses and other practical educational programmes.
My scientific background comes from the classical forest sciences and in particular the growth of forests under climate change. The psychological and philosophical roots of my work can be found particularly in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and later in the contemplative psychology. This content-related journey and combination of specialised topics has its origins in my personal desire for more genuine and honest goodwill and consideration towards "nature and life". Not least because man and nature are inextricably linked.