Melvin Lippe

I am senior researcher and senior scientific advisor working at the Thünen Institute of Forestry in Hamburg, Germany. My research is firmly rooted in land system science and advances a systems-oriented understanding of resilient multifunctional landscapes under the increasingly deep uncertainty of the Anthropocene. I conceptualise landscapes as coupled social-ecological systems in which interactions between land resources (e.g., climate, soil, water), ecosystem functions, biodiversity, and human land use generate scale-dependent trade-offs and synergies. Central objectives of my work are firstly to analyse how current and future global change dynamics affect biodiversity and ecosystem services relevant to the “4 Fs” (food, feed, fibre, fuel), and secondly to how translate these insights into robust, decision-relevant knowledge for policy processes across scales.

Methodologically, I position my work at the interface of computational landscape ecology and land system science. Over more than fifteen years, I have conducted independent research on agroforestry systems, carbon leakage and spill over effects, land-use change impacts on ecosystem functions and services, the potential of nature-based solutions to mitigate landscape degradation, and risk-based monitoring services among others. This work is computationally grounded in the systematic use of open-access toolboxes, the programming languages Python and PCRaster; spatiotemporal modelling including agent-based, cellular automata, system dynamics and hybrid modelling frameworks; cloud-based infrastructures such as Google Earth Engine; and Earth observation data, particularly from the Sentinel and Landsat missions.

Despite the increasing role of data-driven methods and workflows, my work remains firmly grounded in empirical research, often carried out in multidisciplinary partnerships. I combine hypothesis-driven fieldwork and in situ measurements through mixed method approaches, large-scale spatial analysis and stakeholder-centred research using diverse co-design and participatory engagement strategies. My extensive research experience in Brazil, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Zambia, and to a lesser extend Germany, demonstrates my ability to address diverse socio-ecological contexts and to carry out fieldwork under often challenging conditions.

In teaching, I possess extensive experience at Bachelor, Master, and doctoral levels in interdisciplinary and international programmes. I am certified in higher education pedagogy and teach confidently in both German and English. My courses cover diverse areas of land-system science, geospatial analysis, and environmental modelling, with a strong emphasis on research-based and project-oriented learning formats.

Beyond research and teaching, I actively engage in academic self-governance and institutional service, including committee work, mentoring of early-career researchers, and coordination of collaborative research structures.