Dr. Berit Hachfeld

Dr Berit Hachfeld studied biology at the Universities of Darmstadt and Hamburg. She conducted research in desert ecology in southern Africa in the SFB 389 Acacia and the BMBF project BIOTA Africa at the University of Cologne and Universität Hamburg. Berit received her doctorate in botany focussing on the ecology, trade and utilisation of the medicinal plant Harpagophytum procumbens in Hamburg. Already during and after her doctorate she successfully recruited three F+E projects for the Federal Agency of Nature Conservation (BfN) on protection measures and knowledge transfer of this medicinal plant. In parallel, Berit continued to work in the research projects BIOTA Africa as a PostDoc in Namibia focussing on the desert ecology of the Central Namib Desert in Namibia for five years. She then switched her focus away from own research towards pure project management. Since 2010, Berit is coordinating the doctoral program of the SICSS Graduate School in a part time position. In SICSS, Berit in particular enjoys the international atmosphere and the joint effort to combine excellent climate research with successful career support for young researchers.  Furthermore, Berit is an enthusiastic certified yoga teacher.