An agronomist makes a start

Last year, the University of Kassel acquired 13 additional tenure-track professorships under the federal-state program for the promotion of young scientists.  At the beginning of November, the first professorship was successfully filled by Dr. Christoph Gornott.

He is an agricultural scientist and conducts research at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) on climate-related impacts on agriculture. Christoph Gornott studied agricultural economics and agricultural sciences at Humboldt University in Berlin.

His new position takes him to Witzenhausen - at the Department of "Ecological Agricultural Sciences" located there, he will take up the new tenure-track professorship entitled "Agroecosystem Analysis and Modeling". He will also continue to work at PIK - where Gornott, who worked as a farmer on dairy farms before his academic career, will remain head of the "Adaptation in Agricultural Systems" working group, which is part of the "Climate Resilience" research area. There, he continues to conduct research aimed at improving the food security and resilience of tropical agricultural systems - funded by the European Union, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, among others.

"I am very pleased to be conducting research at both PIK and the University of Kassel in the future," Gornott explains. "Both institutions are excellently positioned to jointly investigate climate-related impacts on agriculture in an interdisciplinary manner."

Prof. Dr. Reiner Finkeldey, President of the University of Kassel, is pleased with the first appointment under the new tenure-track program: "We are pleased that we have been able to attract Christoph Gornott, a proven expert in sustainability research. I am also very pleased that the department has moved this appointment process forward so quickly and purposefully. This appointment opens up excellent prospects for close cooperation with PIK in sustainability research."

Background

The aim of the federal-state program for the promotion of young scientists is to structurally establish the tenure-track model and, at the same time, to permanently increase the total number of professorships at German universities. The 'cultural change' associated with this funding is intended to help make the career prospects of scientists more predictable and transparent, thereby increasing the attractiveness and competitiveness of the German science system as a whole.

Press contact

Markus Zens
Press spokesman

Tel.: 0561 804-1961
Mail: markus.zens[at]uni-kassel[dot]de