Katharina Schulze is a PhD candidate in the Environmental Geography department, part of the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM). Her research focuses on the competing claims of land resources and how those will affect future land use patterns. This includes the spatial implications of the 'Life on land' SDG (Goal 15). Next to finishing her PhD, she works as a consultant for the UNCCD.
Katharina's previous reserach includes an assessment of threats to protected areas, a global spatial allocation of different forest uses and classes, as well as, projecting future areas of wood harvest and how changing wood consumption will affect biodiversity. She is currently researching how the Land Degradation Neutrality framework from the UNCCD translates for application in land use modelling, using Turkey as case study. Additionally, she analyzes, how future climate change will impact the suitability of short rotation wood plantations.
Before starting her PhD, Katharina finished the dual master’s programme ‘Environmental Science’ at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BoKu), Vienna and at the University of Copenhagen. She specialized in ‘Biodiversity and Ecosystems’, as well as in ‘Environmental Management’.
