Niels Strange

Niels Strange

Professor

I am a professor in management and planning of forest and nature and work with research and teaching in this field, including forest economics, biodiversity conservation, nature conservation funding, environmental economics and planning, environmental behaviour and decision-making under uncertainty.

I am also affiliated with the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (www.macroecology.ku.dk) at the GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen.

I am a member of the Danish Biodiversity Council.

 

Primary research areas

Forest, nature and biodiversity planning with a focus on linking biological data and models with operations research and socio-economic data and methods. In my research, I have been particularly interested in the use of this for optimal land use analysis. The research questions are about where, when and how we should use our land to achieve the optimal balance between use and protection of our natural resources. In this research, I have been interested in developing operational-analytical decision-making models (both deterministic and with uncertainty). I have also worked on integrating environmental economics into the models, including the valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Since a large part of our land area is privately owned, I am also interested in regulation, incentives and landowner behavior in relation to creating better conditions for nature.

 

Current research

Currently (2023) I am involved in projects on optimising nature conservation, valuing biodiversity and ecosystem services, financing biodiversity protection measures in forests (SUPERB, forest-restoration.eu/), the strategic research and innovation agenda in European forest research (EUFORE, eufore.eu).

 

Areas of education and guidance

Among other things, I teach the following courses and I am happy to provide guidance in these areas: Forest and Nature Management Planning (MSc), Sustainable Forest and Nature Management (MSc), Ecosystem Services from Forest and Nature (MSc), Nature, Environment and Society (BSc). In addition, I guest lecture on courses in eg. Nature and Landscape Policy (BSc) and in International Nature Conservation (MSc).

I am also head of studies at the Master's programme Sustainable Forest and Nature Management (SUFONAMA - www.sufonama.eu), which is a European education in forest and natural resource management. The programme is offered in collaboration with some of the best European university environments in the field: University of Wales, Swedish Agricultural University, University of Padova and Georg-August University Göttingen.

 

Possible conflicts of interest

Through my research, I often enter into collaborations with companies and/or interest groups. This is because they are either partners in research projects from the EU or other sources that support collaboration between research and the outside world, or because they are part of advisory functions or as stakeholder panels in connection with research projects.

In addition, I have been appointed as a member of the Biodiversity Council, which advises the government and parliament on measures that can create better conditions for the Danish nature.

 

 

 

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