German Forest Science Award 2021
PD Dr. Sebastian Seibold is the winner of the German Forest Science Award 2021. Prof. Martin Moog, Chairman of the Prize Board of Trustees, and Robert Mayr, Chairman of the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation, presented him with the award during the Forest Science Conference at Nymphenburg castle in Munich. "With his scientific publications, the forest scientist Dr. Sebastian Seibold reaches the highest international level. In order to promote the implementation and application of the findings of his work, Mr. Seibold is also highly committed to their dissemination outside of science,” Moog explained the decision of the Board of Trustees.
Mayr emphasized the importance of the award and said: “The Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation is proud to have launched the German Forest Science Award and to present outstanding young scientists such as Dr. Seibold. We hope to give the award winner an additional boost for his scientific career. ”The award winner thanked him with the words:“ It is a very great honor for me to be awarded the German Forest Science Award. The award is a great recognition that research can help to find a better balance between wood use and preservation of biodiversity. "
PD Dr. Sebastian Seibold conducts research at the Technical University of Munich and the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg. His work aims to deepen our understanding of the ecological interactions that determine the diversity of species and their composition in our forest ecosystems. From his findings, he derives practical recommendations on how biodiversity can be preserved and promoted in all its facets, and how these measures can be implemented in terms of integrative forest management. As a result, his research makes an important and very topical contribution to ensuring that forests will continue to be suppliers of raw materials in the future and at the same time their function of providing habitats for an abundance of species is strengthened. This biodiversity is essential to maintain a large number of ecosystem processes.
The German Forest Science Award, donated by the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation, is the most valuable forest science award in the German-speaking region with a value of 15,000 euros. It has been awarded every two years since 2000 by the four forestry faculties in Germany together with the foundation as part of the Forest Science Conference. Younger scientists who have made outstanding achievements in the field of forest sciences are honored. The award ceremony, which was actually planned for 2020, had to be postponed for a year due to the Covid 19 pandemic. In addition to the prize money, an almost 40 centimeter high bronze sculpture is also presented - the Forest Science Trophy. The artist Thomas Hildenbrand designed the stylized tree.
