Présentation de Martin Wiehle (Dr. rer. nat.) University of Kassel- Germany, jeudi 16 septembre 2021

Abstract

International research offers a perfect opportunity to train intercultural skills, to break down stereotypes and prejudices and to sow the seeds for development. Especially the citizens of developing countries with their mostly different mentalities and educational backgrounds, but also their realities with partly limited infrastructural means as well as fragile political and economic situations, can make the work difficult but also very enjoyable. During my 15 years of academic career, I had the opportunity to get to know a number of people of different cultural and social constellations. Being a member of and teaching topics on sustainable resources, agrobiodiversity, and good scientific practices at the Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences of University of Kassel, I participated in a number of internationally operating research consortia which has broadened my understanding of different scientific approaches. In addition to teaching, the supervision/mentoring of international students from BSc to PhD level and my involvement as editorial board member of two in-house journals, helps particularly young scientists from developing countries to develop professionally, to submit and publish manuscripts, and to get recognized internationally.

Although I never actively planned for these experiences and achievements, they have profoundly shaped my research approaches and the locations of past and current studies. Field visits on my own or with foreign students occur exclusively in semi-arid regions of the tropics, subtropics, and temperate zones. I focus almost exclusively on perennial plant species, collect mostly morphological and genetic and increasingly also social-economic data. My desire to continue working in such countries and with this plant category is also driven by the goal of working in a more applied and transdisciplinary manner to tackle global change processes, which affect these species and their ecosystems. The use of ecological niche models, which I am trying to refine after a bloody start in a date palm study, is a scientific door opener to make past and future changes visible especially also to policy makers and stakeholders – and not only in developing countries.