Ulrike Hiltner

Dr. Ulrike Hiltner is a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher at ETH Zürich's Department of Environmental Systems Science. Her research focuses on modeling ecosystem responses to climate change and land use, particularly in tropical and temperate forests. She specializes in quantitative vegetation dynamics, decision support systems, and integrating AI/ML with ecological models. Hiltner holds a Ph.D. from FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and UFZ Leipzig, with earlier degrees from the same university. She has received awards for her Master's thesis and secured competitive scholarships.

Her key projects include the VELUX-funded PROFOREST-DSS initiative for adaptive forest management and contributions to the NCCS-Impacts program. She has co-authored over 15 peer-reviewed articles, exploring topics like drought-driven tree mortality and carbon stock dynamics in tropical forests. Teaching spans Bachelor to PhD levels in quantitative modeling and field methods, with current co-supervision of a doctoral student.

Notable achievements include co-authoring a Nature publication on African montane forests' carbon stocks and developing methodologies linking remote sensing with forest models to map biomass mortality. Her research bridges science and practice, aiming to inform sustainable forest management strategies under climate change scenarios.

• Awards: Master's Thesis Award (FAU), DBU Scholarship, FFG Scholarship
• Grants: VELUX Foundation (PROFOREST-DSS), NCCS-Impacts Program
• Labs/Teams: Forest Ecology Group (ETH Zurich), AfriMont Plot Network collaborator