Greater Munich Metropolitan Area
The combination of scientific work and practical application has always fascinated me. My experience includes academic teaching, capacity building, and expert advisory on many projects. I have over thirtyfive years of experience in flora and vegetation research, teaching botany and nature conservation in Germany and the Middle East, botanic garden management, environmental impact assessments, conservation and restoration biology, propagation and cultivation of native plants, nursery management, herbarium and seed bank management, team management, and conservation assessments. As a senior lecturer for botany, assistant professor, IUCN expert and expert consultant, my work experience includes the academic, private, and public sectors. I have comprehensive knowledge of native and cultivated plants, with an emphasis on the flora of Central Europe (Germany) and the Arabian Peninsula. On a global level, I am the first authority on the flora and vegetation of Oman. I have instructed various botany and vegetation ecology classes at universities and I have published extensively over my carrier, including 4 books, numerous academic publications, book chapters and flora accounts. From 2006 to 2021, I was a key member of the Oman Botanic Garden design and management team. The botanic garden masterplan and detailed design is ambitious and outstanding on a global scale. The design includes two large state of the art glasshouses, visitor centre, habitats pavilion, research centre, offices and education spaces, external carefully created naturalistic habitats, and extensive amenity landscape spaces. Since 2022, I work as senior lecturer for botany and vegetation ecology at the University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf. I teach courses at the faculty of landscape architecture in BSc and MSc programmes.
Arid lands horticulture Biodiversity research and conservation Biodiversity surveys Botanic garden design, operation and management Capacity building and teaching Collections management (living collections, seed bank, herbarium) Design and implementation of plant conservation strategies Environmental Impact Assessments Habitat and plant species surveys Horticulture IUCN Red Listing Oil spill recovery monitoring Plant Conservation Propagation and cultivation of native plants Protected area design and management Regional, national and local plant diversity assessments Restoration of habitats Restoration programs
I was the senior botany advisor and director of science for the Oman Botanic Garden, a major international visitor attraction currently under construction. From 2006 onwards, I was a key member of the Oman Botanic Garden design and master planning team and have worked very closely with the international multidisciplinary team made up of global experts. I have been an integral part of the advisory team, ensuring the integrity of the design intent and connecting the scientific goals with the multidisciplinary team, to build a world-class botanic garden. I built up and led the operations team (botany and conservation, living collections, education and interpretation), provided strategic leadership, set up a unique plant collection, a seed bank and a herbarium. I lead a wide range of operational activities, including staff structures, developing operational protocols, staff recruitment and training, procurement, and business planning. Specific tasks include plant identification, data management, plant collection management, staff management, training and mentoring, delivering in-house training modules in vegetation ecology and plant taxonomy, organising and conducting seed collection and field research trips, red list assessments, and important plant areas assessments. I advise on education and interpretation as well as on horticultural management, including propagation and cultivation. I have a wide range of experience in HR management and recruitment, including conflict resolution, and management of diversity and inclusion to support a diverse workplace. In addition, I delivered numerous public lectures and seminars, guided visitor groups and was expert adviser to a range of national and international committees.
Teaching ‘Angiosperm Biology‘, ‘Economic Botany‘, ‘General Biology‘ (lectures, excursions, practical work) Research on flora and vegetation of Oman, nature conservation and endemic and rare and threatened species Expert consultancy Organisation and management ‘Sultan QaboosUniversity Botanic Garden’ Organisation and management ‘Sultan Qaboos University Herbarium’ Supervision of student’s project work, Bachelor- and Masterthesis Organisation and management of numerous botanical field trips