Biography

• Since July 2020: Lecturer in Geography and Environment, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
• 2018 - 2020 PostDoc at the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape on further developing the Swiss Landscape Monitoring Programme for the Federal Office of the Environment
• 2017 -2018 PostDoc at the Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, UK. Project on mapping tranquillity as a landscape quality in a Scottish national park using interviews and social media data. Funded by SNSF.
• 2016 -2017: PostDoc at the Geography Department, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Project on combining quantitative and qualitative methods for assessing cultural landscape values from bottom-up descriptions. Funded by the cogito foundation.
• 2012 -2016: PhD in Geography at the University of Zurich. Title: From Space to Place in the Bolivian Amazon – Representing Landscape Perceptions with Ethnographic and GIS Approaches.
• 2009-2012 Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Development and Cooperation at nadel, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• 2009-2012 Programme Coordination at the NGO Biovision Foundation: coordination and monitoring of sustainable development projects in East Africa
• 2009 Master in Geographic Information Science at the University of Zurich, Switzerland

Research Overview

Broadly, my research interests revolve around the relationship between society and nature, including nature conservation, protected area management, landscape assessment, cultural landscape values, sense of place, landscape restoration and rewilding.

In my research I use interdisciplinary approaches and a variety of data sources, including interviews, public surveys, social media photographs, digitised text sources (e.g. hiking blogs) and participatory GIS.

Recently, I have also worked on developing interdisciplinary approaches for mapping tranquillity. This research was recently featured in the Geovisualisation blog by the Royal Geographical Society. 

Current Research

I am currently supervising a QUADRAT DTP funded PhD on decision-making in rewilding and ecological restoration projects in the UK.

Furthermore, I am working on research projects commissioned by the Swiss Ministry for the Environment on: 

• analysing the national public survey data on landscape perception (LABES)
• investigating the relationship between sound/noise in public green spaces, sense of place and recreation in densifying peri-urban areas

I'm also involved in an EU Horizon project on investigating pathways towards sustainable agriculture in different European agricultural contexts. 

Teaching Responsibilities

I teach on nature-society relations, social aspects of conservation and participatory GIS and mapping across undergraduate and Master's level (see course list).

Supervision

I am interested to supervise students pursuing UG/PG and PhD dissertations on a range of topics, including, but not limited to: cultural landscape values, integrated landscape assessments, use and perception of urban green spaces, public attitudes on landscape change, rewilding, and conservation.

I was student-nominated as best undergraduate dissertation supervisor in 2022.

Im currently seeking UG/PG students to work on the following topics (but come and talk to me if you have other ideas not listed here):

• Improving our understanding of place-based cultural values within existing Marine Protected Areas (in collaboration with Prof. Tavis Potts, Geography & Environment)
• Public attitudes towards the Aberdeen Beach front development

Previously supervised:

PhD theses:

• Cary, Emma (ongoing): Factors influencing decision-making for rewilding and ecological restoration projects. Main supervisor. Co-supervisors: Ana Payo Payo (School of Biological Sciences, UoA), and Paul Caplat (Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast)
• Bär, Manuel (2022): Capturing Perceived Everyday Lived Landscapes through Gamification and Active Crowdsourcing. Geocomputation Group, Geography Department, University of Zurich. Committee member. Main supervisor: Prof. R. Purves.
• Komossa, F. (2020): Outdoor Recreationists and Where To Find Them: Quantifying Outdoor Recreation Preferences In European Landscapes. PhD Thesis. Environmental Geography, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Co-supervisor.

Master dissertations:

• Baghel, P. (2022): Challenges for Sustainability Transitions in the Scottish Wedding Industry. Dissertation for MSc in Sustainability Transition, University of Aberdeen. Main supervisor.
• D’Aloia – Thompson, M. (2022): Waste management challenges in transition towards a circular economy – Case of Malawi with recommendation of a waste analysis and characterization study in Area 24, Lilongwe. Dissertation for MSc Sustainability Transitions, University of Aberdeen. Main supervisor.
• Fulop, A. (2022): Aberdeenshire Council: An assessment of resource demand and opportunities for circularity. Dissertation for MSc Sustainability Transitions, University of Aberdeen. Main supervisor.
• Mills, F. (2022): Funding Scottish rewilding: an assessment of current and future funding sources utilised by open-ended ecological restoration projects. Dissertation for MSc Land Economy, University of Aberdeen. Main supervisor.
• McLennan, C. (2021): Perceptions of the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) reintroductions in Scotland. Dissertation for the Master in Land Economy, University of Aberdeen. Main supervisor.
• Cumming, S. (2021): Investigating the relationship between new entrants to agriculture and diversification: a focus on Scotland's agritourism. Dissertation for the Mater in Land Economy, University of Aberdeen. Main supervisor.
• Arnet, H.T. (2021): Forest boundaries. Where does the forest start and where does it end? A case study on forest policy and forest delineation in the Canton of Aargau, Switzerland. MSc in GIScience, University of Zurich, Co-supervisor.
• Hartmann, M. (2019): Automated recognition of outdoor recreation activities from social media photographs. MSc environmental and forest management, MSc Forest management ETH Zurich and WSL. Main supervisor.
• Henzi, M. (2017): Mapping and GIS analysis of Seri place names along the Sonora coast in Mexico. MSc in GIScience, University of Zurich. Main supervisor.
• Bär, M. (2017): Real-time Multiplayer Online Location-based Game for Geographic Information Mining. MSc in GIScience, University of Zurich. Co-supervisor.
• Huldi, R. (2015): Automatically Extracting Landscape Descriptions from Trip Reports. Introducing a Method based on Sentiment Analysis and Valency Grammar. MSc in GIScience, University of Zurich. Co-supervisor.

Undergraduate dissertations:

• Ogg, G. (2022): Spatially analysing the use of aesthetic terminology in historical accounts of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. Dissertation for MA in Geography, University of Aberdeen. Main supervisor.
• Ritchie, E. (2022): Investigating sense of place experienced in greenspace locations on the Deeside Way. Dissertation for MA in Geography, University of Aberdeen. Main Supervisor. 
• McReal, C. (2022): Sense of place and use of outdoor spaces in Dundee: Investigating Covid-19’s impact. Dissertation for MA in Geography, University of Aberdeen. Main supervisor. 
• Smith, J.A. (2021): The role of green spaces in Aberdeen City during an ongoing pandemic. Dissertation for MA in Geography, University of Aberdeen. Main supervisor.
• Leafstedt, E. (2021): Identity, Sustainability, and the Growth Machine - Discourse Analysis of Urban redevelopment– A Case Study of the 2015 Aberdeen City Centre Masterplan. Dissertation for MA in Geography, University of Aberdeen. Main supervisor.