Sophie Koch
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Vita
Sophie Koch is a guest scientist as part of the team Marine Food Security at the Center for Ocean and Society. Her main research focus is on seaweed cultivation, aiming at quantifying and valuing its ecosystem services as well as the carrying capacity a coastal ecosystem has for aquaculture, particularly seaweed cultivation. She is currently finalizing her doctoral thesis and has gained, for this, experience in marine data collection as well as vast literature searches including the socio-economic and ecological dimension of aquaculture. She is involved in international consortia, closely collaborating with the team of the Marine Food Security group at CeOS and other experts in the field of seaweed aquaculture.
Prior to this marine research she built a career in development cooperation with GIZ and worked there for 5 years, mainly in Cameroon and Madagascar. Her university studies with a Bachelor in Oceanography and a Master in Mediation of environmental sciences, prepared her for both work paths. The ocean is always at the centre of interest, but she explored the implementation of projects and then later switched to research, aiming to find truly sustainable project ideas. Her research has thus always a practical component, keeping the implementation and feasibility for practitioners in mind.
Research questions
· What are the impacts from seaweed aquaculture, positive and negative?
· Where are the limits of unacceptable impacts (carrying capacity) on the economic, social and ecological dimension?
· How can further data on ecosystem services support the business case of seaweed aquaculture?
· How can we best quantify the biodiversity impact of seaweed aquaculture?
· How much carbon can be sequestered from seaweed aquaculture? And can this be monetarily valued?