Thomas Knoke

Prof. Dr. Thomas Knoke is a Professor of Forest Inventory and Sustainable Use at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), leading the Department of Life Science Systems within the TUM School of Life Sciences. His research focuses on sustainable forest management, risk modeling, and land-use optimization, integrating methods from decision theory and economics. Knoke has held academic positions since the late 1990s, including a declined professorship at the University of Freiburg in 2013. He has advised forest owners and managed the University Forest of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Education:

• Doctorate in Forestry, LMU Munich (1998)
• Habilitation in Forestry, Technical University of Munich (2003)

Research Interests:

• Quantifying economic and ecological trade-offs in land-use systems
• Risk modeling for forest disturbances (e.g., storms, pests)
• Optimization of mixed-species forests for climate resilience
• Ecosystem service valuation and policy integration

Awards:

• Thurn and Taxis Award for Forestry Science (2004)
• Karl Abetz Prize (1999)

Grants and Projects: Led initiatives like C-Turn, FeNeu, and Regulus, focusing on adaptive forest management and climate impacts. Collaborates internationally on tropical deforestation, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem service modeling.

Labs/Teams: Head of a research group including experts like Logan Bingham, Elizabeth Gosling, and Mengistie Kindu, advancing remote sensing, agroforestry, and policy analysis in forest systems.