Stefan Türk

Stefan Türk is a researcher at the Institute for Outdoor Sports and Environmental Research, German Sport University Cologne (DSHS Köln), with extensive experience in socioeconomic analysis of outdoor recreation and environmental management. Previously, he served as a Research Associate at Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (1991-1999) and as a publicly appointed expert for the Chamber of Agriculture of North Rhine-Westphalia (1998-2017).

His research centers on Visitor Studies and Regional Economics, with specialized focus on socioeconomic monitoring in protected areas, regional economic impacts of tourism, wind energy-tourism conflicts in national parks, and urban green space planning for sport. His work integrates methodologies from environmental economics, recreation management, and spatial analysis to address challenges in balancing conservation, recreation, and economic development.

Recent publications demonstrate consistent focus on empirical studies of visitor behavior and economic impacts in the Eifel National Park, with growing attention to pandemic-era recreation patterns and renewable energy integration in protected landscapes. His 2020-2024 output shows increasing methodological sophistication in regional economic modeling and visitor monitoring systems.

Dr. Türk has secured third-party funding for 17 research projects, including the multi-year Socioeconomic Monitoring in the Eifel National Park (2021-2024) and pandemic recreation studies in the Cologne/Bonn region. His collaborative network includes 35 joint publications with Ralf Roth and international partners, reflecting strong interdisciplinary connections. Current projects include long-term research on spatiotemporal wildlife habitat use by outdoor sports (Raum-Zeit-Nutzung von Wildtierlebensräume durch Outdoor Sport), demonstrating sustained commitment to human-wildlife coexistence in recreational landscapes.