Federal Medal of Merit for Bayreuth Geoecology Student

"This is clearly a tribute to the whole association," says Stefanie Propp, "because you can't do something like this without support! Today, Stefanie Propp has 130 comrades-in-arms in the association "Die Summer e.V.". It all started with eight geoecology students in the kitchen of co-founder Thomas Pickel. "When the Hallmann study was released in the winter of 2017/18, according to which insect biomass had declined by 75% over the last 30 years, we were totally shaken up," says Thomas Pickel today. "We said to ourselves: now we're all studying geoecology, we have to get active, on site, and in our town."

What had to happen quickly became clear: create structural diversity, create insect-friendly spaces, bring the City closer to nature, contact the City Garden Office, and found an association. Head Mayor at the time, Brigitte Merk-Erbe, was open to the ideas of the young geoecologists, and so the initiative quickly gained momentum. The association's statutes were written up in just two days. With their first "insect hotels" (to be precise: insect nesting aids), association members frequented the Campus Rondell to promote their ideas among students. Staff at the University's Ecological Botanical Garden (ÖBG) provided advice. "We had a barbecue party, we also went through the lectures and presented our plans," reports Thomas Pickel, "and these ideas were obviously well received. We gained 30 new members in one fell swoop."

Sensitivity for sustainability is traditionally high on the campus of the University of Bayreuth. On the one hand, there are numerous subjects that specifically combine classic fields of study with aspects of sustainability, such as geoecology or "biodiversity and ecology", molecular ecology, or environmental and resource technology. Research in the field is also excellent: there is the Bayreuth Centre for Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), a professorship for sports ecology, a research group for biofabrication, research groups for animal and plant ecology, and a special research area for microplastics - to name just a few examples. Now an additional degree programme in sustainability is also on offer. In addition, the University of Bayreuth has set itself the goal of integrating sustainability as a central guiding principle and thus of serving as an idea generator and pioneer for society. The University of Bayreuth was one of the first universities in Bavaria to adopt a sustainability strategy at University Governing Board level. The most important goals are to integrate sustainable development topics into teaching and research, to increase the knowledge and awareness of sustainability among University staff, to shape sustainable development in the spirit of the Third Mission with society, and to implement an environmental management system, thus supporting and intensifying the activities of the GreenCampus Office. The Green Campus Sustainability Office is committed to further sustainability projects around the campus.

These efforts are accompanied and strengthened, especially externally, by the numerous initiatives of Bayreuth students who are committed to more sustainability as part of their studies or in their free time. These are start-ups like “Bee Child Box” or associations - like "Die Summer".

What began with € 1,000 from the Merk-Erbe Foundation and an initial Bayreuth Bauverein plot is now an integral part of the transformation of the city: "We are in demand everywhere," reports Thomas Pickel. "We give guided tours, invite people to workshops, and are in constant exchange with other initiatives to develop even better ideas for nature conservation and sustainability.

More than one "Grüner Hügel" in Bayreuth

The fact that this is even recognised with the Bundesverdienstmedaille is an additional great motivation. At the beginning of June, people who are committed to nature, environmental and climate protection, protect threatened habitats, and work to preserve biodiversity were honoured at the official residence of the Federal President. "Being in Bellevue and telling Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier about our project was of course very exciting," reports association chair Stefanie Propp. She was the youngest of the award winners. Stefanie Propp wrote her bachelor's thesis at the Biogeography research group in the ECOPOTENTIAL project, in which she dealt with spruce regeneration on the high plains in the Bavarian Forest National Park. At the moment, she is studying geoecology for her master's degree, her master's thesis is still in the works. But: "The federal project 'Urban Insect Biotopes' will run until 2025. An insect-friendly city won’t develop by itself, we have to work hard on it."

Fotocredits this page (top down): Die Summer, mathiask.net, Nilas Reinhart, Leonie Gass, UBT