At the end of August, the Berlin Scientific Society (BWG) awarded its undergraduate and doctoral prizes to two members of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU). Both theses focus on the topic of water and sustainability.
Master's Thesis on the Designation of Nitrate-Vulnerable Areas in Brandenburg
Kassandra Jensch received the BWG’s EHS Undergraduate Award for her master's thesis on the designation of nitrate-vulnerable zones in Brandenburg (“Uncertainties in the designation of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones in Brandenburg”). In her thesis, supervised by Prof. Dr Tobias Krüger from the Institute of Geography, she demonstrates how uncertainties in the designation of such areas—arising from the interpolation of nitrate measurements in groundwater—can be quantified using innovative and sophisticated statistical methods (Gaussian processes within a Bayesian statistical framework). In her thesis, Kassandra Jensch addresses scientific and policy recommendations that have only recently been published, making her work highly topical and of great practical relevance.
The study prize awarded by the Erhard Höpfner Foundation (EHS) recognises outstanding Master’s theses – this year in the field of mathematics and natural sciences.
Doctoral thesis on the role of irrigation in the global land-use system
Dr Felicitas Beier received the EHS Doctoral Prize from the BWG for her doctoral thesis on the role of irrigation in the global land use system (“The role of irrigation in the global land system: Assessing land-based climate change mitigation and the global intensification potential through irrigation and multiple cropping expansion”). She was supervised by Prof. Dr Hermann Lotze-Campen from the Thaer-Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences at HU.
The thesis combines hydrological and economic perspectives and examines how irrigation and multiple cropping can contribute to increasing agricultural production whilst taking into account the availability of fresh water, ecological sustainability limits and economic conditions. Felicitas Beier works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).
The doctoral prize awarded by the Erhard Höpfner Foundation (EHS) recognises outstanding doctoral work by young researchers – this year in the fields of natural sciences, medicine and life sciences.