Thomas Rellensmann

Thomas Rellensmann, M.Sc., is a doctoral student and research associate in the Department of Environmental Economics at the University of Osnabrück. He holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Systems Research and is pursuing a Ph.D. focusing on behavioral and experimental economics applied to agricultural and environmental policies, particularly the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). His work emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, bridging fields like agroecology, environmental psychology, and policy design. He is based at the Institute of Environmental Systems Research, contributing to projects such as FRAMEwork (EU Horizon 2020) and ZA-NExUS, which explore sustainable agricultural policy frameworks and farmer clusters for biodiversity management.

Thomas's research interests include Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), participatory resource management, and social-ecological systems dynamics. He employs economic experiments, qualitative analysis, and participatory approaches to investigate farmer behavior and policy effectiveness. Notably, he co-authored technical reports on public and private incentives in agri-environmental measures, and his studies often address regulatory challenges and the ethical implications of policy interventions.

He has advised multiple students on theses related to pro-environmental behavioral change in agriculture, policy design, and the ethical dimensions of nudging. His involvement in the FRAMEwork project highlights his focus on collaborative approaches to achieve landscape-scale environmental benefits through agri-environmental programs. Thomas also contributes to the Experimental Economics Laboratory at Westerberg, enhancing his methodological rigor in policy analysis.