The Council Members
Prof. Martin Faulstich (Chair)
Prof. Dr. Martin Faulstich (Chair) is Professor of Resource and Energy Technology at the Technische Universität München and Director of Straubing Center of Science for Renewable Resources. He serves as Chairman of the Board of the ATZ Development Center in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany, an independent research institute developing processes and materials for the decentralized generation of energy from biomass and waste. He formerly held a professorship for waste treatment and residual-materials recycling at the Technische Universität München. His work focuses on thermal and biological processes of biomass and waste for materials reprocessing and energy utilization. Professor Faulstich has been a member of the SRU since 2006.
Prof. Dr. Heidi Foth (Vice Chair) is Professor of Environmental Toxicology and Director of the Institute of Environmental Toxicology at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Halle (Saale). She is also President of the German Society for Toxicology and a member of the expert panels for Assessing Pharmaceuticals for Approval (German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, BfArM) and Evaluating Chemicals (BUA). She has been contributing to SRU endeavours since 2004. Her areas of expertise include health, pharmaceuticals, risk factors, the effects of chemicals, toxicology and ecotoxicology. An important focus of her work is assessing the risks that chemical substances pose for people and the environment.
Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess is Professor of Public Law and European Law at the Freie Universität Berlin and Director of the Institute for Public Law. He was previously Professor at the Universität Göttingen where he directed both the Institute for International and European Law as well as the Institute for Agricultural Law. Professor Calliess’ research focuses primarily on European, constitutional and environmental law. He is co-editor of a commentary on European law in which he analyses European environmental legislative provisions. His work explores legal issues that arise from the tension between the requirement to implement EU environmental law on the one hand and the latitude for Member States decisions on the other. Recent examples include the control of particulate matter emissions, integrated pollution control and transport policy. His book "Rechtsstaat und Umweltstaat" (Constitutional State and Environmental State) presents an in-depth analysis of the constitutional requirements for the balancing of economic freedom and environmental protection.
Prof. Dr. Olav Hohmeyer is Professor of Energy and Resource Management at the University of Flensburg and Director of Studies of the degree programme “Energy and Environmental Management”. He is also a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). As vice-chair of Working Group III (“Mitigation of Climate Change”) he participated in compiling the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC. Currently, he is lead author for the Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation. Prof. Hohmeyer is internationally renowned for his work on the social costs of energy consumption.
Prof. Dr. Karin Holm-Müller is Professor of Resource and Environmental Economics at the Department of Agriculture at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Her research focuses on the effects of land use related agricultural and environmental policies on, for example, agri-environment programmes and policies for renewable resources. Other core topics of her work include the use of economic instruments for wildlife conservation and the valuation of environmental goods.
Prof. Dr. Manfred Niekisch has been the Director of Frankfurt Zoo since March 2008. In July 2010 he was appointed also professor of International Conservation at the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt.
From 1998 to 2008 he had the correspondent professorship at the University of Greifswald (Germany). He also teaches at both the University of Hanoi (Vietnam) and the Universidad Internacional de Andalucía (Spain). In addition, Manfred Niekisch holds a number of honorary positions, including President of the Society for Tropical Ecology (gtö), Vice-President of the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) and Chairman of the OroVerde Foundation. He is a member of the Administrative Council of the Senckenberg Natural History Society (SNG) and International Advisor to National Geographic’s Committee for Research and Exploration. He is also co-editor of the Journal for Nature Conservation.
In his scientific work he focuses on strategies and instruments for the sustainable use of natural resources, especially for the conservation of biodiversity.
Geographically, the focus of both his scientific and practical conservation work lies in Europe, Latin America and Vietnam.
Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs is Professor of Comparative Politics and Director of the Environmental Policy Research Centre at the Freie Universität Berlin. She is also Vice-Chair of the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC). Previously, she was Associate Professor at the University of Maryland and remains affiliated to the University of Maryland Law School. Her research is focused on the comparative analysis of international political systems, environmental and energy policy, and the role of civil society, governments and economic actors. Important topics in her work are climate change, air and marine pollution, renewable energy and energy efficiency and environmental movements and parties. Professor Schreurs also studies questions of environmental security and regional cooperation. She has expertise on Germany, the European Union, the United States of America and East Asia (particularly Japan, China and South Korea).