The Department

The Department

With the rebuilding of the department since 2008, four priorities are going on:

  • the development of a modern physical-geographic site features (soils and sediments, water, air),
  • the development of a geo-ecological laboratory equipment (soil and water analysis),
  • the development of GIS-workstations,
  • the establishment of a laboratory for empirical social research.

All four areas are used for both the professional students' education as well as the processing of externally funded research projects. The student theses are closely linked to the ongoing research activities.

The laboratory equipment and laboratory use is cost-effective together with the department of Biology and Chemistry; especially the Geography together with this department carries the B.Sc- "Environmental security" and M.Sc. "Environmental Science, Nature conservation and Education for Sustainable Development".

Research

In the Department of Geography, both physical geographical/geo-ecological and human geographical research projects are carried out. The focus is on issues of sustainability research.

I. Landscape Ecology
This major provides students with extensive knowledge of research approaches and methods that are required to study in the context of applied geo-ecological issues.
In the field of physical geography the focus of interest is landscape research in the context of applied geo-ecology. Here, the interactive structure of the causes, extent and consequences of the development of landscape stands in the center. Methodological developments are the use and applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and geostatistical methods.
Research topics include urban and landscape ecology, soil science, soil and water conservation, Geoarchaeology, Geomatics/GIS.

II. Human Geography
In the field of human geography we seek to better understand processes of sustainable rural and urban development. Our aim is to analyze how transitions towards more sustainibility come about and can be upscaled, and what role rural and urban regions play in this context. Our research is concentrated on economic geography, and we especially focus on themes such as "sustainable entrepreneurship", "sustainability innovations", and "network theory". On the basis of a relational perspective we analyze economic actors , their actions which are embedded into social networks, as well as the spatial consequences by integrating quantitative and qualitative empirical methods.