The Faculty for Landscape Management and Nature Conservation pursues research in many areas and has one of the highest ratios for third-party funding among the University's four faculties. In this way, the Faculty makes an important contribution to the University's strength in third-party fundraising - the University for Sustainable Development in Eberswalde is regularly ranked one of the top German universities of applied sciences for third-party funding.

The German Higher Education Act (Hochschulgesetz) from 18 December 2008 paved the way for appointing research professors at universities of applied science in Brandenburg. Since 2009, the University for Sustainable Development in Eberswalde has had four research professorships. Three research professors have since been working in the Faculty for Landscape Management and Nature Conservation - which is also a positive reflection of the Faculty's strength in research and its above-average third-party fundraising.

The Faculty and its staff are involved in individual projects as well as in larger joint projects of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung - BMBF). Two examples of our involvement in joint projects: the BMBF project INKA BB (Innovation Network of Climate Change Adaptation Brandenburg Berlin) and the BMBF joint project ELAN (Development of an Integrated Approach to Land Management for Sustainable Use of Water and Matter in North-Eastern Germany): the University for Sustainable Development in Eberswalde was represented in the INKA BB project with 24 sub-projects - five of the six INKA BB projects were handled by the Faculty for Landscape Management and Nature Conservation. In the joint ELAN project, half of the 14 sub-projects are based at the University for Sustainable Development in Eberswalde - the Faculty is involved in 5 of these 7 sub-projects.

The cooperative graduate programme Adaptive Nature Conservation under Climate Change was established in cooperation with the University of Potsdam and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Two of the six doctoral candidates are researching strategies for preserving biodiversity under conditions of rapid environmental change.

Under the auspices of the BMBF competition "Aufstieg durch Bildung: offene Hochschulen" (Advancement through Education: Open Universities), the Faculty submitted a project which was the only one of 16 applications from Brandenburg to be accepted (AdB@HNE).

In addition to these project examples, the Faculty works on many individual projects that we will present on the next few pages. At the beginning of the winter semester, a Faculty Open House is held regularly - another opportunity to learn about the status of research activities and talk to staff in the Faculty of Landscape Management and Nature Conservation.

Linking research and the classroom: Through the many research projects, doctoral candidates and project staff, the clear link between research and the classroom is further encouraged.